From The Blog, Puppy Power

A sick puppy – vaccination reaction


My instincts were right, we had a sick puppy on our hands. Once home Freya’s snuffles developed into a hollow cough and she was refusing food and, more worryingly, water.

I contacted Alison immediately by email sending her a video of Freya so she could see exactly what the issue was. She responded within 10 minutes and advised on her initial care saying if the symptoms worsened to bring her straight back so they could monitor her and have their vet assess her when he next visited.

Then the penny dropped and I checked Freya’s vaccination card; this stated she had had her second injection the day before – Raffles had very kindly given her the injection as it had been due and we’d collected her a little later than was usual. I remembered my children having adverse reactions to their injections, including loss of appetite, and so I went online and discovered a useful, professional website that advised about the common side effects of inoculations on puppies.

Essentially, Freya had the symptoms of all the nasties in the injection and was having a Systemic Reaction:

Systemic reactions include fever, depression, loss of appetite, lethargy and weakness. They usually appear within 1-2 days of vaccination and then disappear.

You can read more on From The Expert: Puppy vaccinations – What to expect

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