Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just had my 4 month old Border Collie vaccinated for rabies on Saturday 2/19. He began throwing up that evening about 6 hours after the shot. He hasn't wanted to eat or drink much since. Before this he was drinking ALL KINDS of water. Actually the week before I was instructed to limit his water intake to check to see if it was behavioral (after all the blood/urine tests were negative of course). This was a crazy puppy who would always stop to play. Now all he does is sleep. He will still play, but not with the same enthusiasm. He will only eat canned food, and not with the same excitement as he used to eat his dry food. This is NOT the same dog I had come to love. He has had diarrhea since Saturday. It is now Wednesday night. Behavioral and appetite changes 48 hours after the shot I'd be okay with, but the vet can't really tell me why his personality now sucks. Sure he loves to snuggle now, but I want the driven, crazy, bounds of energy border collie I had before. Have you seen this type of change before? Am I going to eventually get my baby back?

While these types of reactions to rabies vaccinations are not very common, they do occur. Rabies is a virus that attacks the brain, so any adverse reaction would likely affect that area. You could try giving homeopathic Thuja 30c once a day to try to reverse the effects, but this works better as a preventative immediateely after the shot. Still, it is worth trying. If you don't see any improvement in a month, you might want to have your puppy seen by a homeopathic veterinarian.