Vaccine reaction after one week

Jonireed

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I’ve noticed a few people talking about delayed reaction from kitty shots. We believe our Fancy Pants is going through this. If someone is willing to chat- id be most grateful. Fancy got her 2 year shots - rabies and distemper a week ago. She is indoor only and was perfectly healthy. Exactly 7 days after her shots, she was severely lethargic and a fever spiked. This week she has been to the vet 5 times with fevers ranging from 105 to 107. She got fluids and prednisone to bring it down. The next day we took her it was 102.9 but that night after prednisone wore off, it went to 105.
the pattern continues...prednisone brings fever down and she uses bathroom and eats a few bites. Once temp goes up...I won’t see her until her next dose. Blood panel came back very good and nothing wrong at all. I am convinced it was her vaccinations. I am so worried and I want a happy ending. She’s only 2 years old.
 

Jemima Lucca

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Hello and I’m sorry about how your cat is doing 🙁. There’s a veterinarian in Australia (I think) named will Falconer who has a lot to say about rabies shots. Look him up and read what he has to say about this issue. That said: I’ll never get my kittens a rabies shot. I’m not a veterinarian and I know I’m not qualified to tell you what to do. You’re being a great “mommy” to your feline baby and are responding appropriately to her care. We do have choices and knowledge is power 😉🙏🏻
 

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Hi. I have no experience with this, but has the vet given you any idea how long they think this might go on? If they don't know, have they considered consulting with a vet university about any reports/recorded incidents of vaccine reactions a week past the administration of same - and, what actions were taken to resolve them?

Does Fancy have any sort of auto-immune issues? I have read that might have some bearing on certain vaccines/boosters causing a high fever - in that it actually triggers either a virus or immune issue to become active. I would ask your vet about this as well.
 

Jemima Lucca

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Hi. I have no experience with this, but has the vet given you any idea how long they think this might go on? If they don't know, have they considered consulting with a vet university about any reports/recorded incidents of vaccine reactions a week past the administration of same - and, what actions were taken to resolve them?

Does Fancy have any sort of auto-immune issues? I have read that might have some bearing on certain vaccines/boosters causing a high fever - in that it actually triggers either a virus or immune issue to become active. I would ask your vet about this as well.
That’s what I mean, it (rabies shot) basically ruined my dog’s immune system. This is a dog and not a cat, but it definitely affects both species. And sometimes the affects are not good...
 

FeebysOwner

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That’s what I mean, it (rabies shot) basically ruined my dog’s immune system. This is a dog and not a cat, but it definitely affects both species. And sometimes the affects are not good...
I actually was referring to an underlying immune issue - that existed beforehand, and hadn't been identified - that was triggered into an active status with the vaccine/booster.
 

Jemima Lucca

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I actually was referring to an underlying immune issue - that existed beforehand, and hadn't been identified - that was triggered into an active status with the vaccine/booster.
That’s kind of what I mean. The question is: why did it get triggered? It’s bothered me forever. He went from healthy puppy to unhealthy puppy in 3 months. But sorry I misunderstood what you meant. I sometimes don’t pay close enough attention...😐
 
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Jonireed

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She has cold symptoms all the time. Watery eyes, sneezed mucus up for the first 6 months we brought her home. (Not anymore) and she does have some gas issues, but nothing we were 100% aware of.
Hi. I have no experience with this, but has the vet given you any idea how long they think this might go on? If they don't know, have they considered consulting with a vet university about any reports/recorded incidents of vaccine reactions a week past the administration of same - and, what actions were taken to resolve them?

Does Fancy have any sort of auto-immune issues? I have read that might have some bearing on certain vaccines/boosters causing a high fever - in that it actually triggers either a virus or immune issue to become active. I would ask your vet about this as well.
thats a great idea. I live in Indiana and Purdue university has a great vet program.
If fancy had an auto-immune thing, we weren’t aware. She does have watery eyes and used to sneeze all the time when we first got her. She does have some gas issues as well. But nothing diagnoses.
 

FeebysOwner

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That’s kind of what I mean. The question is: why did it get triggered? It’s bothered me forever. He went from healthy puppy to unhealthy puppy in 3 months. But sorry I misunderstood what you meant. I sometimes don’t pay close enough attention...😐
The vaccine just set off an immune response that caused whatever underlying viral issue to become active. It happens, and sometimes there is never a way to know about it ahead of time or why it actually happens when it does.
 

FeebysOwner

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thats a great idea. I live in Indiana and Purdue university has a great vet program. If fancy had an auto-immune thing, we weren’t aware. She does have watery eyes and used to sneeze all the time when we first got her. She does have some gas issues as well. But nothing diagnoses
The watery eyes and sneezing could be some sort of viral condition/immune issue.
Are you going to see if you can purse reaching out to Purdue? Let us know if you do, and what is going on with her in the meantime!!
 
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Jonireed

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The watery eyes and sneezing could be some sort of viral condition/immune issue.
Are you going to see if you can purse reaching out to Purdue? Let us know if you do, and what is going on with her in the meantime!!
I have always wondered if she had some sort of immune problems with the consistent watery eye. We clean it daily! As well as her gut...doesn’t tolerate certain foods. luckily the sneezing has subsided since she turned around 1.5 years. It was really nasty and nobody could tell me what what going on. They told me the herpes virus.
I will look into contacting Purdue tomorrow...I might even look into the manufacturer of the vaccine and see what reports they show. Last week I thought the worst (having her put down) because her fever wasn’t able to be controlled (107- deadly fever for cats) until we found that prednisone brought it down to almost normal. My husband is a pharmacist and he said prednisone would absolutely work for someone with a compromised immune system. I’m hoping we are like little Pawnee and can pull through this in a couple more weeks....hopefully less.
My vet did contact the manufacturer of the distemper vaccine to see if they could offer info or pay for any vet bills. We haven’t heard back yet. Also- fancy had her rabies shot last year and didn’t react...BUT she had that distemper with the Rabies. I just wonder if it was too much for her little body to fight off.
 

kittenmittens84

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The vaccine just set off an immune response that caused whatever underlying viral issue to become active. It happens, and sometimes there is never a way to know about it ahead of time or why it actually happens when it does.
Researchers believe that there might be some stress-related component of FIP, ie that the cat either already carries the mutated virus and it’s just dormant or they carry FCOV that hasn’t yet mutated, and a stressful event like moving to a new home, getting spayed or neutered, getting a new cat/dog, or visiting the vet/getting a shot can allow the mutated virus to take hold and the cat can’t mount a proper immune response to fight it off.
 

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OK first, my cat has coronavirus and the vets where I live do not recommend her any vaccine in fear of her corona mutating into FIP. This is not a proven risk. There just hasn't been enough studies on corona so it's not well-understood and they just consider stress might be a factor. But, they are fine with rabies vaccine. Rabies virus in the vaccine is dead and it has very minimal to no risk. Some vets are also OK with other vaccines for corona cats and even believe if a cat can't survive a vaccine, it would get worse if she were to actually get that disease. Usually they make individual pros-cons calculation based on the cat like which diseases are a thing in the area, if the cat goes out or interacts with other cats in any way, etc

With that said, my cat Hima even without any procedure done, gets so stressed on the way to the vet and at the clinic, she gets a health issue within the next 7-8 days. Usually dental issues flare-up as that seems to be her weakest spot. How does your kitty do? Because if she gets stressed as well, going there five times a week might be making it more challenging to get rid of what is making her temperature go down. Of course if she needs care it's necessary to provide but is it possible to have the vet or vet tech come over if you need them for medicine? And if you haven't already using something to boost her immune system, could you ask the vet for a multivitamin supplement?

I will leave these two here

Fever of Unknown Origin for Cats

Fever in Cats

As you will see there too, dehydration also cause fever going up. 107 F is too high to be caused by dehydration if I'm not mistaken unless the kitty was severely dehydrated but, if she's not feeling well enough to drink water and eating dry food only, that might also contribute to the fever going up. (When my own cat got ill and had fever, she was also very dehydrated. They put fluids in her at the clinic and her fever went down within hours. She DID have other health issues going on but the fever turned out to be at least partially due to dehydration.)
 
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Jonireed

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I am becoming fearful of FIP in the back of my mind. What if the vaccines triggered the virus in her body. I’ve heard it’s incredibly hard to diagnose. I don’t want her to suffer, but I also want to help her get through this if we can. I want my happy playful kitty back! Ugh! I’m praying FIP is not the outcome. This is excruciating😞



Researchers believe that there might be some stress-related component of FIP, ie that the cat either already carries the mutated virus and it’s just dormant or they carry FCOV that hasn’t yet mutated, and a stressful event like moving to a new home, getting spayed or neutered, getting a new cat/dog, or visiting the vet/getting a shot can allow the mutated virus to take hold and the cat can’t mount a proper immune response to fight it off.
[/QUOT
 

MissClouseau

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I am becoming fearful of FIP in the back of my mind. What if the vaccines triggered the virus in her body. I’ve heard it’s incredibly hard to diagnose. I don’t want her to suffer, but I also want to help her get through this if we can. I want my happy playful kitty back! Ugh! I’m praying FIP is not the outcome. This is excruciating😞
Did she get tested for coronavirus?
 

MissClouseau

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I don’t think so. The think she has the feline herpes virus. Is that an easy test they could do?
There is a fast kit that gives only Positive - Negative result. There is also an antibodies test which is more expensive where I live but it also gives antibodies count. Both tests are done with a little blood.

If she doesn't have coronavirus, she can't have FIP. FIP is the mutation of coronavirus and happens to only a minority of cats who carry coronavirus.
 
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Jonireed

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There is a fast kit that gives only Positive - Negative result. There is also an antibodies test which is more expensive where I live but it also gives antibodies count. Both tests are done with a little blood.

If she doesn't have coronavirus, she can't have FIP. FIP is the mutation of coronavirus and happens to only a minority of cats who carry coronavirus.


Thank you for that info! I will see if my vet can test her for that! The only things fancy has been actually tested for are FeLV and FIV which both were negative
 

kittenmittens84

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I am becoming fearful of FIP in the back of my mind. What if the vaccines triggered the virus in her body. I’ve heard it’s incredibly hard to diagnose. I don’t want her to suffer, but I also want to help her get through this if we can. I want my happy playful kitty back! Ugh! I’m praying FIP is not the outcome. This is excruciating😞
Getting a CBC and blood chemistry would be a first step of your vet suspects FIP, but if she doesn’t have other symptoms of FIP besides a fever I would really try not to worry about it - it’s a fairly rare disease all things considered, and if she has feline herpes that seems like it could be related to this. The vast majority of pet cats carry feline coronavirus so that test may not be that useful.
 
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Jonireed

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Fancy update-
We are currently on day 13 after onset symptoms started. Fancy is on the mend!! My vet has helped us with Zoetis! They are refunding our vet bills because she falls in the 1% of cats that experience this reaction. She will never get this vaccine again! Thank you all for you advice/comments! I was thrilled to find this sight! She’s been back to a lot of her normal daily habits:)
 
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