The dog feels bad after vaccination - what does the owner need to know?

Vaccination is one of the most important measures to prevent infectious diseases in domestic dogs, as well as animals living on the street. Vaccination helps prevent the spread of dangerous diseases not only in the dog population, but also among people living in the same area. In particular, routine immunization is a sure way to protect yourself from rabies; the disease is one of the incurable diseases and leads to the inevitable death of infected organisms.

It is important to remember that a dog’s reaction to vaccination can be very different. In most clinical cases, vaccination is well tolerated by the pet, but sometimes it provokes the development of undesirable effects: from the formation of a subcutaneous lump to complex forms of allergies. Therefore, every breeder of a four-legged friend must know what condition after vaccination is normal, and when to immediately seek veterinary help.

Content

1. Variants of side effects: 2. What causes complications? 3. Cases of immediate contact with veterinarians 4. Recommendations for caring for a puppy after injection 5. Conclusion

Vaccinations for puppies are mandatory. Whatever the “yard specialists” say, these injections make it possible to form the correct immunity and develop resistance to serious diseases, such as animal distemper. However, the dog may become ill after vaccination.

It is important to understand that in this situation there is no need to panic, but it is also unacceptable to let the process take its course. Initially, it is worth knowing that with vaccination, virus cells are introduced into the puppy’s body, albeit in a non-functional format. Naturally, the immune system begins an active fight against them. As a result, it weakens and is less resistant to other infections. Therefore, your pet may experience some complications after the injection.

Why does this happen?

Only an experienced veterinarian-immunologist can give an exact answer in each specific case. Everything is too complicated, there are many dependencies on one or another type of vaccine. Everywhere it happens that one dog tolerates the vaccination perfectly, no difficulties arise. Again, his sibling may not respond well to the same vaccine from the same batch (or even from the same vial).

But! There are several important requirements that must be met before administering the vaccine.

The most important thing is that at this time your pet must be completely healthy . Of course, it may be unrealistic to guarantee the complete absence of chronic diseases, but it is still very desirable that during this period they are not in the acute stage! If your dog suddenly “woke up” to some old disease, its manifestations should be completely stopped before vaccination.

In cases where there is a possibility of contracting a disease for which a pet is vaccinated (distemper, for example), it is necessary to completely isolate it from the environment and other animals. Ideally, for this, the animal should be “confined” in a separate room . After the signs of the disease disappear, the animal is treated with hyperimmune serum, and after a couple of months, when the disease is definitely in the stage of stable remission, the vaccine is administered. Why and for what purpose are all these difficulties?

It's simple. Vaccination is done to generate a specific immune response. If there is a causative agent of another disease in the body or there is an inflammatory process, the “formation” of normal immunity may be disrupted. In addition, in these same cases the likelihood of atypical side effects increases significantly. But not every dog ​​has chronic diseases. There are pathologies that are much more common and also fraught with the development of side effects during vaccination...

And further. I would like to immediately warn the happy owners of puppies. If cases of viral pathologies are often recorded in your region, be sure to take your pet for blood tests . Remember that introducing a vaccine into the body of an animal that already has the virus circulating in its blood is deadly! If there is even the slightest doubt, it is better to first treat with serum, and only then give the vaccine.

Side effect options:

Diarrhea	Loose stools occur quite often. But if you observe this process once or twice, and then everything falls into place, then there is nothing to worry about at all.
Vomit	One-off incidents should not cause alarm either. However, there are some pitfalls that are important to keep in mind. In particular, diarrhea and vomiting can cause dehydration, which complicates the situation. This means that after vaccination and in case of vomiting, you should give your pet more fluids.
Lost appetite	It happens that a puppy even refuses his favorite food. This is not scary, because after vaccination the body is sluggish and apathetic. Make sure that the so-called hunger strike does not last more than one day, otherwise you need to sound the alarm.
Lump at the injection site	It is important to ensure that this seal does not cause pain to the dog or any other discomfort. Sometimes the lump takes quite a long time to resolve – up to a month.

What is rabies in dogs?

Rabies is a naturally occurring infectious disease of the zooanthroponotic type, deadly for most animals and people. The disease develops when viruses from the Rhabdoviridae family, namely Rabies virus, enter a living body. The viral disease is very acute (less often subacute, chronic), manifested by gross disturbances in the functioning of the nervous system, hydrophobia, violent behavior and excessive salivation.

In nature, reservoirs for rabies pathogens are wild dogs, in particular bats, wolves, foxes, rodents and birds. Infection of dogs and humans occurs through the ingress of saliva from an infected animal into a bite wound. The incubation period lasts from several days to a month, after which the main symptoms of the pathological process appear. The disease is always fatal, since there is currently no medicine that can inactivate the rabies virus.

Dog breeders must remember that today the only way to protect themselves from this terrible disease is the passive development of immunity through routine vaccination of dogs, that is, vaccination against rabies.

What causes complications?

In most cases, dogs tolerate vaccinations quite adequately and normally. For their immune system in particular, and the body as a whole, this is not the most serious stress. However, complications do occur. Their reasons most often are as follows:

• inattention or ignorance of the owners (there is a quarantine regime that must be observed; violations are fraught with serious trouble);
• poor-quality composition of the injection mixture (in particular, expired vaccine, ask your veterinarian about this before the injection, use the services of proven and reliable clinics);
• introducing the composition to an already sick animal (this happens when the veterinarian has not conducted a preliminary examination, or the vaccination is generally done by a person far from veterinary medicine);
• unfortunately, it is rare, but there are cases of individual intolerance to individual components that make up the vaccine.

Cases of immediate contact with veterinarians

There are, albeit infrequently, situations when immediate assistance from a veterinarian is required.

Firstly	Deterioration in health, vomiting and diarrhea for a couple of days, refusal to eat for the same period, high temperature and the appearance of convulsions clearly indicate serious problems and the need to consult a specialist.
Secondly	Manifestation of abscess processes in the injection area. The lump increases in size, turns red, and in some cases purulent formations are released from it. Do not try to open the tumor yourself; just like in humans, this is fraught with infection, including blood, with all the ensuing consequences; take your pet to the doctor. In this case, a house call is impractical, since surgical intervention requires sterile clinic conditions.
Third	Anaphylactic shock. This is perhaps the most serious and life-threatening condition, when the help of a doctor is required immediately, and we are talking about hours. Allergies are rare, but they do happen, and you need to be prepared for such a turn of events. As a matter of fact, due to possible allergic reactions, it is best to do vaccinations in a clinic under the supervision of a doctor, and not by making a house call, when the injection was given and left.

What should I do?

So what to do? First, you need to call your veterinarian immediately. Secondly, try to calm down. If diarrhea lasts less than a day, nothing serious (most likely) will happen to your pet. During this period, the animal must be limited in food (no more than a day), and clean drinking water must be given without restrictions.

If vomiting occurs, there is no need to wait for anything - take your dog to the vet immediately!

As a rule, dogs that have successfully recovered from the negative consequences of a “failed” vaccination subsequently recover quickly and there is no longer any need for further treatment.

Recommendations for caring for your puppy after injection

To prevent your dog from getting sick after vaccination, you must follow certain rules:

1. Complete quarantine without street walks to prevent any infection. Even a common cold viral infection can have unpredictable consequences.
2. In fact, you yourself can become the cause of a third-party infection. For this reason, do not forget about hygiene, clean your house or apartment; wet cleaning, even, if possible, with bleach, is mandatory.
3. Do not forget to wash your hands not only after contact with your pet, but also before.
4. Try to provide your four-legged friend with complete peace and absence of any forms of stress, in particular, refuse to receive guests.
5. You should not experiment with new ingredients in your diet for the first couple of days.
6. Completely avoid any water procedures for a week after vaccination.

Coronavirus infection - symptoms and treatment

Coronavirus infection is a group of acute infectious diseases caused by various serotypes of coronaviruses. It is characterized by a syndrome of general infectious intoxication and a syndrome of damage to the respiratory tract, mainly its upper and middle sections - the nose, pharynx, larynx, trachea and bronchi. With some variants of the virus, such as MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome with high mortality develops in 20% of cases [3][4].

Etiology

Strains pathogenic for humans belong to the genus Betacoronavirus. They can be divided into two groups:

1. Strains that lead to diseases of the type of non-severe ARVI : HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-NL63, HCoV-HKU1. They differ at the genetic level in genome size and antigen properties. These types of coronavirus cause malaise, runny nose, sore throat, slight fever and an occasional cough.
2. Strains leading to severe lesions of the lower respiratory tract:
3. MERS-CoV (the natural source of the virus is dromedary camels);
4. SARS-CoV (the natural source of the virus is bats; the intermediate carrier of the virus is camels, Himalayan civets);
5. SARS-CoV-2 is a new type of coronavirus that caused a pandemic in 2019-2020. (natural source unknown).

The COVID-19 virus is subject to mutations and is constantly changing, as a result of which new variants appear and disappear regularly. Now there are at least five main ones:

• B.1.1.7 (first identified in the UK);
• B.1.351 (USA);
• P.1 (Brazil);
• B.1.427 and B.1.429 (USA, California).
• B.1.617, or "Delta" (India).

Hypothetically, some of these variants may escape the action of vaccine antibodies, but there is no generally accepted information about this yet; research is ongoing. It is known that some of these strains may be more contagious and spread faster, increasing the number of new cases.

The Indian strain of coronavirus (Delta) is just one of hundreds of variants of the new coronavirus. It is not fundamentally different from the Chinese one and retains all the basic properties of coronaviruses, but, for reasons that are not yet fully understood, it is more contagious, affects more young people, and more often leads to hospitalization and the development of pneumonia. Existing vaccines have an inhibitory effect on it, but perhaps to a slightly lesser extent.

Coronaviruses are spiral-symmetrical RNA viruses with a single strand of RNA. They are spherical formations with a size of 80-220 nm. Externally, they resemble the solar corona due to their supercapsid-lipid shell surrounded by protein spikes. This is where the name of these viruses comes from.

Coronaviruses produce a number of enzymes (protease, helicase, replicase) and non-structural proteins that break down protein bonds in human cells. They also suppress the production of interferon, which helps fight viruses, provoke inflammation and trigger apoptosis - programmed cell death.

Coronavirus infection has a rather sophisticated method of penetration into the cells of the body . Surface protein “spikes” at the border of the viral particle imitate substances useful to the cell. They are mistakenly recognized by the cell's transmembrane receptors and given “permission” to enter. The immune system does not react to the penetration of the virus, since it sees no reason to attack material that is not dangerous to the body.

SARS-CoV-2 in this regard has more favorable conditions for entering the cell. Although it is more contagious, it often does not lead to a catastrophe at the level of cells and organs - a severe course is usually associated with exacerbation and worsening of existing chronic diseases due to the disease.

After attaching to the cell, the virus “pushes through” the cell membrane and introduces its RNA into its cytoplasm. Next, the assembly of proteins and ready-made viral formations begins. After the formation of the viral nucleocapsid, the finished viruses leave the cell, merging with the outer membrane, and the cell itself dies.

In the external environment, standard strains of coronaviruses are not resistant: most of them die within a few hours. Under favorable conditions, these viruses can live up to 2 days. They are highly sensitive to household disinfectants (they die in 2 minutes), drying, solar radiation, and heating above 56°C (they are inactivated in 10-15 minutes).

More pathogenic and viable viruses are MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2:

• at room temperature they can last up to 7 days in liquid sputum, up to 3 days on plastic and stainless steel, up to a day on cardboard, up to 4 hours on copper;
• under optimal conditions, they can persist for up to 3 hours in the form of an aerosol, up to 4 days in urine and feces;
• When frozen, viruses last up to 3 weeks;
• slight heating (over 56°C) destroys them in no more than half an hour, 70% alcohol and 0.5% peroxide solution - in a minute;
• Solar ultraviolet radiation shortens the life cycle of such viruses, but does not lead to their rapid inactivation. Quartz treatment will destroy viruses more effectively than natural ultraviolet light, but it can be used when there are no people in the room, as they risk getting burns. Quartz lamps are used only in medical institutions, operating rooms, and laboratories. At home, they are ineffective for the prevention of coronavirus and other viral respiratory diseases, and at high power they can be dangerous. For prevention, surface treatment with an antiseptic with an alcohol content of 70% and disinfectants is recommended [3][5].
• in laboratory conditions, when frozen to -70°C and lyophilized at 4°C (gently drying, freezing and placing in a vacuum), viruses persist for quite a long time [1][3][7][9].

Epidemiology

In total, about 40 types of coronaviruses are known (both pathogenic and non-pathogenic for humans). Most pathogenic forms of coronavirus constantly travel among people around the world and cause mild acute respiratory viral infections - pharyngitis, tracheitis, bronchitis, etc. They occur in the winter and spring due to a weakening of the body's defenses and exacerbation of chronic ENT pathology.

Coronaviruses were first discovered in 1965 by scientists D. Tyrell and M. Bino in a patient with ARVI. Until 2002, it was believed that coronaviruses could only cause mild respiratory infections in humans. However, since that time, the world has accumulated experience in studying severe acute respiratory syndromes caused by coronaviruses. They caused diseases such as:

• atypical pneumonia (caused by the SARS-CoV strain);
• Middle East respiratory syndrome - an acute respiratory infection that smoothly turns into severe viral pneumonia with respiratory and sometimes renal failure (caused by the MERS-CoV strain);
• potentially severe acute respiratory infection COVID-19 (caused by the SARS-CoV-2 strain).

The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has emerged recently : the first reports of the disease appeared on December 8, 2021. Presumably, this strain is a recombinant, i.e. a virus in which the genetic material is partially supplemented by the foreign genome of a bat coronavirus and an unknown coronavirus (possibly a snake or pangolin). The birthplace of the virus and the emergence of the disease is the city of Wuhan, located in the Hubei province of the People's Republic of China. The primary source of infection is unknown. Presumably, the infection could have occurred at the seafood and exotic food market (bats, snakes).

In a short period of time (about 2 months), the virus spread quite quickly and caused a pandemic - the World Health Organization announced this on March 11, 2021. Residents of Italy, Iran, South Korea and the United States were especially affected. 

Coronavirus: statistics in Russia and in the world

As of June 28, 2021, the number of cases was more than 181 million people (leaders: USA: more than 34 million, India: more than 30 million, Brazil: more than 18 million, France: more than 5 million, Russia: more than 5.4 million), of which more than 3.9 million people died (USA: more than 619 thousand, Brazil: more than 513 thousand, India: more than 396 thousand, Russia: more than 133 thousand). It is mainly older people who are seriously ill, for whom the virus is especially dangerous (up to 80% of all fatal cases).

Coronavirus in Moscow

As of June 28, 1,338,937 cases were detected in Moscow, 1,143,858 recovered, and 22,086 died.

Causes of coronavirus infection

The source of infection is sick people (from the end of the incubation period, including mild and asymptomatic forms of the disease) and dogs, but the risk of transmission of the virus from animals to humans is very low. The SARS-CoV-2 strain can potentially be transmitted from humans to domestic animals, after which it mutates and returns to humans. Now only the possibility of transmission of the virus from humans to cats and ferrets has been confirmed [12].

Transmission mechanisms:

1. Aerosol:
2. airborne droplets - when talking, sneezing and coughing at a distance of less than 2 m;
3. airborne dust path - when dust particles get in contact with virus particles;
4. Contact - when virus particles are transferred from contaminated areas of the body or objects into the eyes, mouth or nose after shaking hands, touching door handles, etc.
5. Fecal-oral - during anal-oral contact, cooking, non-compliance with hygiene rules after restrooms.

Transmission factors are air, dust, household items, food products contaminated with the virus. The closer and closer the contact between healthy and sick people, the higher the likelihood of transmission of infection. Medical workers, people associated with close direct contact with people, as well as organized groups have an increased risk of infection.

Due to its instability in the external environment, any coronavirus cannot be transmitted through parcels from China under any circumstances. They last much longer than the possible period of survival of the virus on any materials.

So far, people do not have innate or acquired immunity to the new type of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, so all people on the planet are susceptible to the disease. After an illness, stable humoral immunity is formed, but only to the serotype that the person suffered from. Therefore, recurrent diseases caused by other types of coronaviruses are possible. After birth, a child will inherit short-term passive immunity from the mother for about a month and a half (sometimes a little longer when breastfeeding).

As with any acute respiratory viral infection, rare repeated cases of infection with the same type of virus are possible (in weakened patients or in cases of defective antibody formation, but this is rare).

Today, the average mortality rate from COVID-19 is approximately 5%. It is still quite difficult to predict the dynamics of this disease. The fact that some viral isolates have already become less pathogenic does not indicate a decline in incidence, since large-scale testing for the new strain of coronavirus is not available in all countries. According to rough estimates, COVID-19 will actively spread for about 1.5-2 years until the overwhelming number of people develop protective antibodies [1][2][6][8].