The American Beagler Forum

Is there anything about the common 5-way puppy shot that would cause a pup to go blind the next day?
Have two different folks saying, the day after they gave the 1st set of shots, they each had one in their litter blind the next day, both happened to be females...
Never had this happen before

*Edited* for asking a question, not making a statement...

Never heard of shots *causing* blindness, but they can surely cause all kinds of immune system problems and anaphalactic reactions.

I would be curious to know more about these situations if you could provide more details.

What is it about the puppies that make them think they are blind? I have been giving combo vacccines for 20 years and never had anything like that happen. 1 reaction in all that time and it was a vaccine with lepto and it was just some face swelling.

details please!

Leah

All I'm asking is there any known or heard of reaction to the puppy shot that would cause blindness.
There were 3 in one litter and 5 in the other. All remaining 6 were fine and grew.
The shots were from two different supplier companies and the litters were located about as far apart as you can get in distance.
One pup was allowed to live for awhile to see if the sight would return, it never did...

S.R.Patch wrote:All I'm asking is there any known or heard of reaction to the puppy shot that would cause blindness.
There were 3 in one litter and 5 in the other. All remaining 6 were fine and grew.
The shots were from two different supplier companies and the litters were located about as far apart as you can get in distance.
One pup was allowed to live for awhile to see if the sight would return, it never did...

The only correlation I can find between a vaccination and sudden blindness is Distemper. perhaps the vaccine was old or not good quality or had something wrong with it? below is a reference. Also, if several puppies had this happen why wouldn't the owner take one to a vet clinic or teaching hospital for a full necropsy? I know I'd want to know the cause and to know if this was something that was potentially hereditary in nature.

Do you know the vaccine brand? and what it contained?


Optic Neuritis
This is an inflammatory condition of the optic nerve which can result in acute, bilateral loss of vision. Degenerative changes in the optic nerve can result in similar symptoms and are more correctly termed optic neuropathy. If the optic nerve is affected as it leaves the back of the retina changes can be observed on evaluating the retina with an ophthalmoscope. If the optic nerve is affected behind the eyeball the retina may appear normal. Causes include infectious diseases such as canine distemper, toxoplasmosis, and others, various types of cancer such as lymphoma and tumors involving the orbit or bony eyeball socket, vitamin A deficiency, trauma, other diseases of the orbit such as abscesses and cellulitis and unknown causes. The vast majority of optic neuritis in dogs is due to unknown causes. Early treatment is imperative and involves the use of steroids. The prognosis is guarded and recurrences are common.