Hello, My husband and I have had 9 Shar Pei dogs. We love them and have so enjoyed them over the years. Our newest "Family Members" are a 3 year old female and a 2 1/2 year old male. We just had a terrible event happen with our male... He was due for his "booster" rabies vaccine. We gave him the shot and within a few days, we started to notice some problems - staring off into space, not wanting to lie down as if he was uncomfortable or having some pain; then he started to have some tremors in his back left hind. This happened for a day or two and then he seemed to improve but then it started in again. We took him to the vet and they thought he was having back and / or neck pain and gave him some gabapentin. He seemed to get a little better but still was staring off into space, not wanting to jump on the bed, not wanting to lie down as he used to but in about 4 days, I went to take them for their twice daily walks and he was totally blind. After much testing by an ophthalmologist and then a neurologist, they deemed he had an autoimmune induced inflammatory response. I was told it is not uncommon for the dogs to suddenly become blind. I, of course, believe it was in response to the vaccine and he had a reaction to this. They did start him on a steroid, and he has gained some of his sight back. The left is probably less responsive to the healing process than his right eye, but we are seeing changes. Has anyone ever had their Shar Pei suddenly go blind? They originally thought it was traumatic glaucoma because they say Shar Pei dogs are prone to this, but in all of our years of owning a Shar Pei, we have never had any of these eye issues. We have had the entropion issues with 3 of our 9 dogs, so we were familiar with this complication. Any feedback would be much appreciated as we weed through this and continue to determine next steps. I am looking to ideas related to immune response, diets, medications, medicaments or any other ideas that others have found to be successful for our breed. Thank you.
Question.....how often are rabies shots given? They in every case are stong enough to give every three years even if the bottle says "ONE YEAR" Vets want money tell you its annual but they lie. Best Advice: https://www.animalhealthfoundation.org/blog/2017/12/dr-jean-dodds-dog-vaccine-protocol/ My shepherd got seizures every shot. Even 3 yr rabies. I started NO SHOTS aftert his puppy shots. DONE.
