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Cubbe report: Allergies



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 2nd 05, 02:43 AM
Julia Altshuler
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Default Cubbe report: Allergies

I'm bopping in here after an absence of several months because I need to
tell y'all about Cubbe. (Jim and I are fine. We had a lovely weekend
at a folk music festival in Maine recently. My folks are fine too. But
y'all aren't interested in reading about me.)


Cubbe got her annual 3 weeks ago. She got all scheduled vaccinations, a
quick exam, and a clean bill of health. The doctor seemed surprised
that we had so little to say. We have a healthy, problem-free dog. Vet
visits are hard on Cubbe. She gets stressed and needs a muzzle, but I
insisted that if the doctor worked fast, we'd hold her, and it needn't
be too awful. When Cubbe realized that she'd lost the battle and was
just going to have to put up with the injections, she made a noise I'd
never heard a dog make before, something between a howl and a whine.
When we were done, Jim took her out the side door to avoid the dogs in
the front office while I paid the bill. I got a laugh at the people in
the waiting room standing to look out the window to see what sort of dog
had made that sound. They imagined that Cubbe had to be much bigger.


One week ago we dropped Cubbe off to board at the same vet while took
off for our weekend adventure in folk music. As awful as Cubbe is when
she's getting poked and prodded, she's a dream dog to board. The staff
loves her. They compliment me on what a nicely behaved dog I have.
They say she doesn't bark while there, eats politely, goes in and out of
her crate without struggle, etc. I delivered them a healthy dog and was
pleased at her enthusiasm when we picked her up.


Almost as soon as we got her home, I noticed that she was scratching her
right ear. That shouldn't have been a big deal since it was such a
slight scratching, but Cubbe is as fastidious as any cat and practically
never does such a thing. By evening, I saw that she had that raw look
around her eyes. Our weather has been humid, and Jim and I have been
feeling itchy too so I gave her the prescribed antihistamines that I
keep on hand for her and waited. The next day she was acting listless
and sick. She did make it around the block for a walk, but anyone who
knew her could see that she had no energy. I kept up with her
antihistamines.


By the next morning, she had a furless spot next to her nose, and her
ears were feeling scabby. I called the vet. Here's where the detective
work comes in. My first guess was that she was reacting to something at
the office. I wondered if she could be allergic to cats. The doctor
politely considered the possibility but then pointed out that they're a
hospital. They don't just clean; they sterilize, and they have no
carpets or soft surfaces. She said that her own cat allergies are worse
at home than at work.


The last time this happened was 2.5 years ago in the dead of winter when
all we could figure was that she'd gotten bitten by some sort of weird
bug. At that time, we put her through a number of tests for parasites
and had to knock her out to look into her ears. The vet finally
prescribed steroids, antibiotics and ear ointment which did the trick,
but she was horrible sick before we arrived at the right solution. Her
ears were a scabby mess.


This time we didn't go through the diagnosis business and just started
her on the Prednisone, antibiotic and ointment. Cubbe seems to be
getting better but not as fast as I'd like. She's still showing
precious little interest in what goes on outside the window. She's
always been well-behaved in the house, but this is ridiculous. She just
lies around in the other room.


The vet noted that the first time she got a rabies shot in that office
she got a bump at the injection site that turned out to be, after an
expensive test for cancer, an allergic reaction to the shot. The last
allergy attack was also after her annual exam, specifically the 3 year
rabies vaccine. Ditto this time.


We think we have a dog who is allergic to her rabies vaccines.
Realistically, we can only expect her need 1 or 2 more in her lifetime,
but the thought still freaks me out. The law says she must have that
shot though it seems to be hurting her. (At the same time, I thought
the whole discussion of vaccines for human infants was over, but I've
seen new evidence linking them to autism and other neurological
disorders. Scary stuff.) I'm confident that Cubbe will take this round
of medicine and bounce back, but I'm still freaked about this. The vet
said that you can expect allergic reactions up to a month after the
injection, but that she hasn't seen them this severe and with symptoms
that include sore ears. We hoped that the life would come back to her
after we got her off the antihistamines that can cause drowsiness in
dogs as they do with humans, but she's still moping.


--Lia

  #2  
Old July 2nd 05, 11:25 PM
Marie
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I have a Westie who is allergic to all vaccines except rabies. He almost
died because we didn't figure it out until almost too late. He's fine now
but does have a Titer test done annually. If he needs a vaccine, my
holistic vet administers it and uses a detox afterwards.

Good luck.


"Julia Altshuler" wrote in message
...
I'm bopping in here after an absence of several months because I need to
tell y'all about Cubbe. (Jim and I are fine. We had a lovely weekend
at a folk music festival in Maine recently. My folks are fine too. But
y'all aren't interested in reading about me.)


Cubbe got her annual 3 weeks ago. She got all scheduled vaccinations, a
quick exam, and a clean bill of health. The doctor seemed surprised
that we had so little to say. We have a healthy, problem-free dog. Vet
visits are hard on Cubbe. She gets stressed and needs a muzzle, but I
insisted that if the doctor worked fast, we'd hold her, and it needn't
be too awful. When Cubbe realized that she'd lost the battle and was
just going to have to put up with the injections, she made a noise I'd
never heard a dog make before, something between a howl and a whine.
When we were done, Jim took her out the side door to avoid the dogs in
the front office while I paid the bill. I got a laugh at the people in
the waiting room standing to look out the window to see what sort of dog
had made that sound. They imagined that Cubbe had to be much bigger.


One week ago we dropped Cubbe off to board at the same vet while took
off for our weekend adventure in folk music. As awful as Cubbe is when
she's getting poked and prodded, she's a dream dog to board. The staff
loves her. They compliment me on what a nicely behaved dog I have.
They say she doesn't bark while there, eats politely, goes in and out of
her crate without struggle, etc. I delivered them a healthy dog and was
pleased at her enthusiasm when we picked her up.


Almost as soon as we got her home, I noticed that she was scratching her
right ear. That shouldn't have been a big deal since it was such a
slight scratching, but Cubbe is as fastidious as any cat and practically
never does such a thing. By evening, I saw that she had that raw look
around her eyes. Our weather has been humid, and Jim and I have been
feeling itchy too so I gave her the prescribed antihistamines that I
keep on hand for her and waited. The next day she was acting listless
and sick. She did make it around the block for a walk, but anyone who
knew her could see that she had no energy. I kept up with her
antihistamines.


By the next morning, she had a furless spot next to her nose, and her
ears were feeling scabby. I called the vet. Here's where the detective
work comes in. My first guess was that she was reacting to something at
the office. I wondered if she could be allergic to cats. The doctor
politely considered the possibility but then pointed out that they're a
hospital. They don't just clean; they sterilize, and they have no
carpets or soft surfaces. She said that her own cat allergies are worse
at home than at work.


The last time this happened was 2.5 years ago in the dead of winter when
all we could figure was that she'd gotten bitten by some sort of weird
bug. At that time, we put her through a number of tests for parasites
and had to knock her out to look into her ears. The vet finally
prescribed steroids, antibiotics and ear ointment which did the trick,
but she was horrible sick before we arrived at the right solution. Her
ears were a scabby mess.


This time we didn't go through the diagnosis business and just started
her on the Prednisone, antibiotic and ointment. Cubbe seems to be
getting better but not as fast as I'd like. She's still showing
precious little interest in what goes on outside the window. She's
always been well-behaved in the house, but this is ridiculous. She just
lies around in the other room.


The vet noted that the first time she got a rabies shot in that office
she got a bump at the injection site that turned out to be, after an
expensive test for cancer, an allergic reaction to the shot. The last
allergy attack was also after her annual exam, specifically the 3 year
rabies vaccine. Ditto this time.


We think we have a dog who is allergic to her rabies vaccines.
Realistically, we can only expect her need 1 or 2 more in her lifetime,
but the thought still freaks me out. The law says she must have that
shot though it seems to be hurting her. (At the same time, I thought
the whole discussion of vaccines for human infants was over, but I've
seen new evidence linking them to autism and other neurological
disorders. Scary stuff.) I'm confident that Cubbe will take this round
of medicine and bounce back, but I'm still freaked about this. The vet
said that you can expect allergic reactions up to a month after the
injection, but that she hasn't seen them this severe and with symptoms
that include sore ears. We hoped that the life would come back to her
after we got her off the antihistamines that can cause drowsiness in
dogs as they do with humans, but she's still moping.


--Lia



  #3  
Old July 3rd 05, 01:47 AM
bethgsd
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Lia wrote:

The vet noted that the first time she got a rabies shot in that office
she got a bump at the injection site that turned out to be, after an
expensive test for cancer, an allergic reaction to the shot. The last
allergy attack was also after her annual exam, specifically the 3 year
rabies vaccine. Ditto this time.


There is a one year vaccine out that my vet uses for cats. It is
supposed to reduce the risk of vaccine related fibrosarcomas. Maybe
next time your vet could try that instead.

Beth

  #4  
Old July 3rd 05, 02:25 PM
Julia Altshuler
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

bethgsd wrote:

There is a one year vaccine out that my vet uses for cats. It is
supposed to reduce the risk of vaccine related fibrosarcomas. Maybe
next time your vet could try that instead.



I'll check with my vet about all options, but I'm more worried about
these episodes in which ears get infected than the bump on her back
which goes away by itself. Cubbe is obviously on the mend. Her face
still looks a mess, but her energy is back. I'm wondering if the yearly
shot (as opposed to the 3X/year) would give her these episodes more
often or not at all or the same thing but to a lesser degree.


--Lia

  #5  
Old July 4th 05, 11:50 PM
Em
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


Lia wrote:

I'll check with my vet about all options, but I'm more worried about these
episodes in which ears get infected than the bump on her back which goes
away by itself. Cubbe is obviously on the mend. Her face still looks a
mess, but her energy is back. I'm wondering if the yearly shot (as
opposed to the 3X/year) would give her these episodes more often or not at
all or the same thing but to a lesser degree.


--Lia


You should be more worried about the affects that you can't see right now.
Your vet either won't know about them or doesn't believe that vaccines could
possibly do any harm.
I would recommend the following site and yahoo group:
The Truth about Vaccines group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TruthAboutVaccines/
and
The Truth about Vaccines website
http://www.truthaboutvaccines.org/

Well, I'll go back to lurking now.
Em


  #7  
Old July 5th 05, 06:24 PM
Rocky
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Posts: n/a
Default

Mary Healey said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

One option to check is some kind of pre-shot treatment --
maybe starting the antihistimes a day or two before the
shot, stuff like that.


Yup - 3 years ago Rocky reacted to his 3 year rabies shot and/or
his other regular vaccinations. As it turns out, it looks like
it was the combo because this year we gave the rabies a few
weeks after the others. The other option was to give Benadryl a
day or two ahead of each series of shots, but I preferred the
option which involved fewer drugs.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.
 




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