Vaccination reaction

[Gracie123]

My puppy reacted quite badly to his vaccination 2 weeks ago. He was old to have it (he'd had a fever and needed antibiotics so he was unable to get it when he should have) at nearly 12 weeks, but he had vomiting and diarrhea for several days. He seemed fine when he had it done, but 24 hours later he had a lump the size of a chicken breast on his neck and back.

The vet said to call back if it hadn't settled in a week as there was a risk of abscess forming.

It went down over the next 48 hours, but he was obviously very tender and didn't like to be stroked/touched there.

He's due to have his second shot tomorrow and I feel really uncomfortable about it. Has this happened to anyone else?
Did your puppy also react to the second shot?
Was it better/worse?

Just because they react to the first one does not going to react to the second. It is not the delay that caused the vaccination after all we vaccinate adult dogs.
I would talk to your vet about using so antihistamines or non steroidal anti inflammatory just like we would go in children who get a vaccination reaction.

I would titre test to see if he needs the second vaccination

Idir the problem titre testing at this age is that there may still be some maternally derived antibody that could give a false positive indicating the pup is protected when it is not. WSAVA recommend that if you want to undertake titre testing you should wait until the pup is at least 16 weeks.

I agree but isn't 16 weeks now the recommended time for the last vaccination to be given too for the same reason.

If there are maternally derived antibody then the dog is still protected?

I am really not anti vaccination all my dogs have been vaccinated. I first titre tested as I had a rescue puppy and we were not sure of her age so titre tested to ensure that the vaccinations had "taken". She and some other of my dogs only ever needed the one vaccination.

Actually the full WSAVA guidelines are three vaccinations minimum 2 weeks between each last at 16 weeks when all maternally derived antibody had waned and then full vaccination one year after 16 week vaccine. Only after this primary course do they recommend titre testing.

Sorry to be a complete newbie, but this is my first puppy
What is a titre test?

A titre test checks the level of antibody to certain diseases in your puppy's blood. Idir and I are busy discussing semantics over vaccinations sorry. In truth on balance you need to get your puppy out socialising before any of these titre tests can be done.
Go and have a good chat with your vet about your concerns of a worse reaction to second vaccination. We often see pups who are poorly after one or other of the primary vaccination course so there are things we can do to help. The swelling you had is exactly the same kind of reaction as the swollen arm or leg some children get after vaccination.

Thank you