Bad Day
 

So I had the scariest day ever. We went to the vet today for the last set of shots, and I thought that they weren't going to give Linus his rabies shot until next week. Well they decided since he handled all of his other shots so well, and because he's been gaining weight like someone on an all-chocolate diet, that they would go ahead and give him his rabies shot. When they gave it to him, they vet said the odds of him having any problems were slim, but to watch him closely.

So we drove the 45 minutes home from the vet, and we got out of the car. I put him on the ground so he could do his business, and he started scratching his face. The winds blowing at a steady 35 mph here, so I figured "no prob." Well, he kept doing it when we got in, so I called the vet. He had an allergic reaction to his rabies shot!!!! So I drove the 45 minutes to the vet (which only takes 20 when you are going 30 over the speed limit) and they gave the poor baby 2 more shots! He's a trooper though. He came home and ate and even played a little bit, and is sleeping now but sore as snot. Things are ok, but I thought I would share. I think I was worse than he was :rolleyes:

aww poor linus!!

I know! I have no idea what he was thinking! I think it's time to find a new vet, I need one closer to home anyway. The only thing is that my other dog gets free services from him because she was a pound baby, so that's the nice part. Ugh, I'm so frustrated.

Poor linus ...toby sends him lots of kisses and hope he feels better so he can come see us at petco on saturday

I'm so glad Linus is okay. It must have been so scary! :eek:

Aww, Winus! Sowwy to hear yoo felt bad. I don't wike gettin shots eeder. But werse than that, I hate getting my temacher taken! Haha.

But I'm gwad to hear yoo are feewin better now. Take a nice nap and be bak to yer old self tomowwow, ok Winus!

Wuf,

Suwwy

Oh, my goodness! What a day! I think I would have been terrified! I am glad that Linus is doing better!

Awww poor baby, i hope he feels better soon.. Zoey sends many hugs and kises..

My little one is 10 weeks this last Wed. and I have to see the Vet today because "Dennis The Mennace" is due for some shots.

I am not going to let them give him a rabbies shot till he is at least a year, and the Breeder said not to give him Lepto because she has lost some of her babies due to this shot.

You have me a little scared!

Glad it all worked out for you though and he is alright now.

Sue

My little guy looks a lot like yours too!

I'm really sorry about your little ones reaction but glad he's ok.

I'm just a little curious.. Any idea who the manufacter of the vaccine is? I've heard of a certain brand that causes more reactions and would love someone to do a survey just to see if this certain brand is the same one everytime one has a reaction.

that's Awful for you ! This seems to happen alot and I wonder why a vet would do this...these guys are so small they should know to space out the shots - or at the very least monitor them afterward so if a reaction happens - they can be right there....I'm so glad he's ok !!

Having lost my Half-Pint over a rabies vaccination my heart always stops when reading posts such as yours.

I am so relieved to hear that Linus's reaction is under control, whew!

Schatzie sends puppy hugs Linus's way. :aimeeyork

I just wanted to thank everyone for their support...Linus thanks you too. He's doing great by the way. He got up at about 2 this morning from some pretty nasty storms, and ate and played and ran up and down the hall, so he's back to normal now at least. I had a word with the vet today. Even though he gave me his antihistamine and steriod shots for free, I was still pretty mad. We came to the agreement that he would only get rabies once every 2 years and that he would get those 2 shots before his rabies to prevent that from happening again. I wish I knew what brand it was though...I forget to ask stuff like that sometimes. I'm so sorry to hear about your loss schatzie, I'm so thankful mine didn't end up that way.

Aww! I feel so bad for your baby! But, everyone is saying how it was bad on the vets part not to wait, but even if the vet would've waited, the puppy would have still had the same reaction to the shot if it was an allergic reaction. I don't mean to offend anyone here, but if you think about it, the vet had to give the puppy his rabies vaccine, so even if he would've waited, the puppy would have had the same reaction, he just wouldn't have had all those other shots on the same day. TJ was really sore when he got his shots. I hope I didn't offend anyone here. I don't want to start any big argument, I was jnust stating my opinion.

Glad Linus is OK!!! ;)

I am glad Linus is doing better. Neither of my dogs had a reaction to the rabies. Jewels had aterrible reaction to the bordatella shot however. I really wonder about the necessity of these vaccines verse the reaction. Schatzie I am sorry about your half pint. I have heard you mention her death before and wondered what happened.

Schatzie:

Sorry to hear about Half Pint. Would it help to tell the story here? I am curious if you have any advice for people after your experience that might help prevent a similar tragedy for someone else.

Chai had her rabies in Texas at 15 weeks and when I took her to the vet here, they wanted to repeat it because, under California law, they cannot have it until 4 months. I refused, and the vet was not at all understanding. She said I was breaking the law, etc and that if my baby bit someone they would destroy her. I just carry her tags from Texas with me as I carry Hefners. The tags are too big for them to wear. LOL

It is not true that they will destroy the dog if it's not vaccinated either. The dog may be quarantined to test it for rabies, but if it does not have rabies, it will not be euthanized. I did research it and called the animal control here and there is actually a way to get a "waiver" from the rabies shot law if your vet writes on his letterhead that the dog had a previous allergic reaction and it would be hazardous to your dog's health to have it again. You might ask your vet to do that for Linus. I would research the most recent reports of rabies in your area too. The law here only requires a rabies every THREE years so two years is over kill in my opinion. What does your state require.

Another option is to get a titre test to determine the levels of the vaccine after three years and if they are sufficient then no additional vaccine is required. In other word the dog still has enough immunity without another vaccination. You can do this with any vaccine I believe.
Vets are in favor of lots of vaccines because it is their bread and butter do to speak.

I agree with you on the first half of your post. I think the vaccines should be spaced out, especially for small dogs, but, I just posted what I did above because the earlier posts made me think that everyone was blaming the vet because they didn't wait a week and the dog had an allergic reaction. I do not think vets should give multiple shots in one day, but, no matter how they space them out, the puppy spoken about in this thread would still have had the allergic reaction. And, for the second part of your post, I do think that the rabies vaccine is necessary. Even though it might be unlikely, a Yorkie can get out of the house, possibly bite someone, and even break the skin. My vet told me that if the dog that bites someone does not have the rabies vaccine, they will kill the dog just to check for rabies. In my opinion, I would definitely rather my puppy get an allergic reaction the shot than have to have it killed because it bit someone. I am just going by what my vet told me. I do not want to start a big controversial agrument here, I am just stating the information that I was told. Thanks for not being offended. :D

Hi Midge

After you posted what your vet told you about killing a dog who is unvaccinated with the rabies vaccine when they bite someone, I did an online search of Ohio dog laws and found the following. The bolded areas were highlighted by me.

Ohio is the same as California and they can not kill the dog, they can only quarantine it. The quarantine is to your home. Vets tell us this to scare us and I think it is wrong for them to do this. I guess thay just expect people to believe them and not look it up or they maybe just don't know the law themselves.

Also there is no state law in Ohio requiring a rabies vaccine but some individual counties have enacted county laws requiring it so you must live in one of those counties. You can check by calling your county health Department as they are the agency in Ohio that handles this.

Hope this helps.

Making Sparky legal: Ohio Dog laws
licenses, leashes and rabies shots--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A generation or two ago, owning a dog was a simpler matter. License laws weren't enforced, few people complained when Sparky ran loose, and no one worried about litters of pups born under the porch or in the upstairs closet.

Things are different in these latter years of the century: dog wardens pick up stray dogs and cart them off to a shelter; neighbors resent canine calling cards in their lawns and gardens; and spay or neuter your pet is the slogan du jour. Unwanted litters have decreased dramatically, but dogs are still running loose and dog owners are still skirting the law that requires annual licenses for their four-legged friends.


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Ohio law
Ohio law requires dogs to be licensed in the county of residence and to under the control of the owner at all times. License renewals are due between December 1-January 20; new licenses must be obtained within 30 days of arrival in the county or when a puppy reaches the age of three months. License programs are administered by county auditors; license fees are set by the commissioners according to a formula set by the state.

License money is deposited in the dog and kennel fund to pay farmers for livestock lost to unidentified dogs, finance the administration of the program, and fund the incarceration of stray dogs for five days (unlicensed) or 14 days (licensed).

The law also requires dog to be under the control of their owners at all times. Loose dogs can be impounded and the owners cited for violation. About 2.2 million stray dogs enter animal shelters each year, and only about 600 thousand are returned to their owners. Many dogs never find their way home because they lack identification, and the best bargain in town for identification is the state-mandated dog license.

Some counties have separate animal control agencies, but many contract with an animal shelter to house the strays. Larger counties tend to choose separate agencies; Montgomery County (Dayton, Ohio); Lucas County (Toledo, Ohio); and Franklin County (Columbus, Ohio) all operate an animal control division separate from the county humane society. Some counties have integrated programs in which the dog wardens and the humane society share facilities but are compensated separately. Hamilton (Cincinnati. Ohio) and Clermont (Near Cincinnati) counties are even more closely tied; both have animal control programs run by the local humane society.

License fees near Cincinnati range from $8 (Franklin County) to $12 (Lucas County), with most set at $10. Hamilton County's license fee is $9.


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Clermont County, Ohio
Clermont County Commissioners just raised the license fee from $8 to $10 because compliance in the county is not enough to fund the work of the dog warden.

Last fall, the county commissioners ceded responsibility for animal control to the Clermont County Humane Society in a deal that requires the organization to vacate the current shelter on Filager Road by the end of 1997. The society has proposed renovation of the abandoned IGA store outside Amelia as a new shelter.

But CCHS faces other problems as a result of the switch. The experienced team of dog wardens resigned when the transfer of authority was made and it took several months to replace them. The financial problems involved in searching for a new shelter site and paying for renovations are difficult ones of the society.

In the past — except for the 1996 license year — the county has not sent license renewal forms, so compliance with the law has been sparse. Dog wardens have gone door-to-door to increase compliance, but the numbers are still low — fewer than 20,000 licensed dogs in a county of 150,000 residents.


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Enforcement
Failure to license a dog in Ohio results in a citation for violation of the law. Cost of the citation varies by county but can be as much as $75 — not counting the cost of a license. In addition, if the dog is picked up as a stray because the owner failed to keep it under control, the warden issues a second citation and the SPCA levies board fees for the number of days the dog is in the shelter. Licenses purchased after the renewal period or as a result of violation are double the cost.

Although most counties do not have the staff to actively search out license scofflaws, complaints about stray dogs can bring a neighborhood or community crackdown. Residents in the Cincinnati suburb of Terrace Park reported problems caused by loose dogs, so dog wardens checked about a dozen homes and issued several $68 citations for failure to license. In the days following the warden visits, Terrace Park residents hurried to buy their licenses.

Rhodes said he would like to increase compliance with education, not a visit from a dog warden, but said he will use them if necessary to increase awareness that licenses are required by law. The alternative to increased compliance is another source of revenue for state-mandated dog control — increased fees or an allocation of funds from the county's budget.


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Rabies vaccinations
Ohio law does not require rabies vaccination of dogs unless they have bitten someone and no proof of rabies vaccination is available. Dog bites are reported to the health department, and the dog is placed under quarantine for 10 days. Following the quarantine period, the dog owner must show proof of rabies vaccination.

Health departments in each county can require that dogs be vaccinated against rabies. In October, the Hamilton County Board of Health adopted a resolution that requires rabies vaccination for all dogs and cats more than three months old. The animal must be given a booster vaccination one year later, but subsequent boosters can be up to three years later.

Veterinarians are required to provide rabies tags to the animal owner and to keep records of rabies vaccinations that can be made available to the health commissioner on request. Dog and cat owners are also required to provide a copy of a rabies vaccination certificate to the health department upon request.

If a pet bites a person or another animal and is suspected of being rabid, the health commissioner can allow the owner to keep his pet in strict quarantine for a minimum of six months. If the animal dies during the quarantine, the head must be made available for rabies testing. If the animal does not show signs of rabies, it must be vaccinate at least a month before the end of the quarantine.

Animals must wear their tags; those that are found off their owner's property without a tag can be impounded.

Norma Bennett Woolf