Lepto Warning

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Archived Message

Lepto Warning
by
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
Lepto Warning My maltese got his vaccination yesterday and it was a day of disaster. Prior to his shot, he was a very very active, lively and healthy dog. He was due for his annual booster shot about a week ago and we finally got him the booster yesterday afternoon. About four hours after the vaccination, he suddenly developed severe vomitting and excreted bloody stool. Several minutes after that, he started to acquire seizures and subsequently his entire body started to become very stiff. I then saw his pupils dialate and his breathing become weakened. Not having any second thoughts, I brought him to the emergency pet clinic. After diagnosing the cause of his severe analphylitic attack was due to the allergic reaction of the lepto vaccination, he was given epinephrerin and kept on IV the entire night. His reaction was so severe that the vet had to administer a jungular IV instead of injection through the leg. He was also kept in an oxygen tank for the entire night to facilitate with his breathing. Fortunately, he started to recover slowly hour by hour after a miracously recovery (he had a 50-50 chance of survival as an initial prognosis). The following morning I took him directly to my regular vet(not where he got his vaccination) for further observations. He then gotten amoxcillin injection to prevent any gastrointestinal secondary infections along with additional prescriptions for antibiotics. The only reason I thought of having him obtaining a lepto vaccination was because he had it when he was a puppy for two vaccinations and did not have any allergic reactions. However, when he is now a year old, he developed severe reaction to this vaccination. Currently, he is recovering slowly and seems to be weak. I hope that he will get a full recovery (as the vet had told me) without any subsequent gastrointestinal complications. Therefore, just because the dog had prior lepto shots and did not have any allergic effects, it does not represent that it will be safe to do so in the future.

DISCUSSION:

What a horrible experience! I'm so glad the poor little fellow made it through the worse of it OK. I hope for continued and complete recovery. Thanks for the warning and for sharing your experiences. You described the symptoms in great detail, and this kind of information is important for all pet owners (not just Maltese) to know.
Aimee

What an awful experience! My heart goes out to you. I'm so relieved to hear your baby is doing better. Thanx so much for sharing this with us. Hope everything goes well...keep us posted
Libby & Buster

I'm so sorry to hear about your baby. To my knowledge most people don't give Lepto to Maltese. You have to way the pros and cons. Ask your vet if they know of any Lepto in the area. In most cases the odds are better not to give the Lepto at all opposed the the possibilty of them actually catchiing it. I also have wolf-hybrids and they are very subjectable to Lepto also and I only give them and my Maltese DHPP no Lepto. I do find it strange that the Wolf-Hybrid and Maltese are so different yet so much alike.
Kathy S.

I do hope your little guy has a full recovery, what a scary thing for both of you. I also thank you for such detail, as we do never know what can happen it's always good to be forewarned. Blessings.
Leslie R

I hope your baby will be o.k. Check the archives for information on the lepto vaccine. We had a detailed talk about it some months ago. Some dogs including Maltese are highly sensitive to this vaccine. While this is a personal decision between an owner and her vet, my vet does not routinely give this vaccine without first discussing it with the owner. I chose not to get it for my Maltese.
April B.

Actually I did check the archive before I took (Cupid) my maltese to the vet. I didn't know what was wrong with him but suspected that it was probably due to the vaccine from the way the archive has described. The systoms resembled very much the way cupid's systoms were. The malteseonly site is very helpful! I really wanted to thank the owner of this site for having all the wonderful information available. 4 days ago days ago my Cupid would have died. Today he is recovering. However, he still have to take antibiotic and pepsmouth to help him from having secondary infections and prevent vomiting. I feel so sorry every time I look at him. He is so innocent and trusting, and I almost killed him. You see I was trying to save money by going to a cheaper vet. We live in Southern California where there is such thing as mobile vaccine, and that is how he got his vaccine. It only cost about $7 dollar for the vaccine. I ended up paying $280. Because he have to go to emergency for a night and also his regular vet which kept him for half a day. This will never ever happen again.

So sorry for all that you went through with your baby. This weekend, I too had Truffles boosters. Due to her having a bad reaction last year to having all the boosters together, we selected to only giving her two; distemper and Parvo. About 1 hour after the injections, she again had a bad reaction. She began shaking her head and scratching. Her face puffs up around her jaw and her skin gets very pink. They gave her 2 shots; one, benadryl, the other an anti-inflammatory and we waited there for about 30 minutes to be sure she was OK. Has anyone else had this problem? Also wanted to tell you all about this wonderful brush I found this wekend at Petsmart. It has wooden bristles, by Canine Element and was $5.99. It claims to brush without damaging the coat and it really works. Truffles likes it, I think it must feel like a massage to her and it never pulls the hair. It just glides through the hair and makes it look so pretty.
Linda P

I just spoke today to a maltese breeder and vet- across the country from me- who does not vaccinate for Lepto - in fact, she said that the cases of lepto that are occurring are not covered by the current vaccination. I was speaking to her trying to get more info on auto immune hemolytic anemia. My sweet Sugar died 6 days ago, 2 weeks after her annual vaccinations... she was only 2 years old . I am heartbroken and jsut found this site. I am trying to find info re diseases common to malteses. Her disease was triggered by her vaccinations. Good luck to you with your maltese.
Linda

I HAVE 3 PET MALTESE AND THEY ARE ALL MY BABIES.RE/ LEPTO- I ALSO HAVE APUPPY THAT IS 7 MO.S AND HAD A SEVERE REACTION TO HER LAST SET OF SHOTS. SHE HAD THE SWELLIN OF HER NOSE, MOUTH AND ITCHING AND HER GENITAL ARE. IT BECAME EXTREME AND SHE ITCHE DALL OVER AND WE RUSHED HER TO THE VETS. FORTUNATELY WE LIVE IN A SMALL TOWN AND KNOW HIM AND HE CAME OVER AFTER OFFICE HOURS AND GAVE HER INJECTIONS TO RELIEVE HER JUST IN TIME. I WAS VERY WORRIED AND THANKFUL SHE'D OKAY. I HAVE A FEELING THAT REACTIONS TO SHOTS IN MALTESE AND ALLERGIES ARE NOT UNCOMMON. I TOTALLY SYMPATHIZE WITH THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE LOST OR HAVE SUFFERING BABIES DUE TO THES PROBLEMS.
SALLY

Linda, I am so sorry to hear about Sugar, how awful. My Taffy will be 2 this spring, I can't imagine what I would do if I lost her. I just wanted to let you know there are many caring hearts here, if you need to talk more. Take care of yourself.
Robin K.

Dear Linda, I am so sorry to hear about Sugar. I never thought about maltese getting AIHA. It is a very sad thing to see it in human babies, I am devastated at the thought of it happening in a precious fur-baby. There is no way you could have known that vaccinations would trigger this so please do not think you could have prevented it. You may possibly find some info at this site: http://www.healthgate.com/HealthGate/MEDLINE/search.shtml By finding Jay's Maltese Website you have taken the first step in helping to heal your heartbreak. Take care.
Deanna (Moose & Squirrel)

Dearest Linda...My heart hurts for you in your loss. I am so terribly sorry. I hope you will find comfort in knowing that so many loving people who read this website are concerned about you and feel for your loss. I'm so sorry.
Linda P.