Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

HERETIC — Thu, 06 May 2010 20:16:49 GMT

Kennel cough is the worst. Is anyone trying for an injectable version? It would sweep the market. I have also been beaten by a horse which tried to kill me and demolish its stable.I havent yet sent one home in a bag so perhaps this should be a target before I retire.

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Rob Smith — Thu, 06 May 2010 20:03:33 GMT

When I saw practice as a student I remember a 5yo jack russell coming in for a booster and going home in a body bag. It was really aggressive and the vet I Was seeing practice with....geez...I don't know how he broached the subject (I certainly don't have that kind of communication skill yet)....but the only seemed relieve to at last have someone broach it....and she happily (almost)...took the dog home in a bag to bury. Very strange...

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

HMC — Mon, 03 May 2010 16:55:30 GMT

I can think of 2 times in the last 4 months where I have failed. Each time the muzzle wouldn't stay on the dog or the owner couldn't get it back on. In such scenarios, biting dog with no muzzle, there is no way I'm risking myself!!!

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Kirsten Simpson — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:10:52 GMT

One Akita down south. The owners were a male couple who had loads of small yorkies and suchlike...and this huge Akita. Normal vac all ok but KC? NO chance, the owners were scared of him and no one could muzzle him. He needed the KC vac so the owners could go on their yearly jaunt to Ibiza so the owner persuaded me to let him have a go at home. He rang back an hour later triumphant having gave him a big chunk of toffee so his teeth were stuck together then skooshed it up his nose!!

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Juan Fernandez — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:03:29 GMT

I once had a 55 kgs Rottie brought in by an ancient (70+) and frail lady who insisted in holding it herself because she "knew how", she also "had" to put the muzzle on.

While she was holding the head I approached the dog with the sedation syringe in my hand, ready to strike like a dart when, in a slight flick of its head, the beast pushed the old lady against the wall, managed to pull both his Halti and his muzzle off and, before I could realise I had the beast staring at me and growling lodly.

The lady went hysterical shouting its name and I managed to grab a chair to put in between its fauces and me. I probably looked like one of those old lion tamers in circuses but without the whip though. I swifly made it to the door and left. The old lady put the collar on the dog and also left through the opposite door.

Next time we did not take any nonsense and while my colleague literally sat on the back on the dog (cowboy style) I managed to inyect him (the Rottie, that is) with the old dom/torb.

We tried to convince her to exchange it for a little CKCS but she insisted that it was "her big baby"!

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Robin Grimmer — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:51:13 GMT

I remember giving a 12 week old Akita it's second vaccination and even by then it was already showing marked aggression. I tried to make the owner see what a problem dog he would have, but it fell on deaf ears. It was a locum so I wouldn't have to see this dog again but I pity the poor vet who has to give it is first yearly booster or anything else.

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

sarah mason — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 07:01:15 GMT

A cat last summer-should have been alterted by the fact the owner brought gardening gloves. It was in a cardboard carrier and burst out, climbed the consult room walls and went behind the fridge. eventually managed to hook it into a crush cage with assistance from a nurse and a very long pole. Only one bite on my hand and multiple scratches on my neck from where it was lunging (from the ground up!).

Owner was told never to bring it in again not in a crush cage.

With aggressive dogs for KC used to give the option of sedation v no vaccine........

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:04:50 GMT

I have also had a few dogs that I have supervised the owner giving the KC vacc, as I couldn't get near it. With big dogs it is imposssible to restrain them still enough to administer it reliably. I also had an RN who I supervised administering the booster!

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

alison silvester — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:59:43 GMT

What a giggle I had reading those!!! Had one owner who I told could administer the KC himself in consult room unless he wanted to pay sedation for his giant psycho Rottie!! The financial incentive worked and he managed fine!! He has another Rottie even worse so they ring and say they are 5 mins away, we go out to their car, the put him in a head lock and wind the passenger window done and we reach in and stab him!!! Please let me be off shold he ever be ill!!

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Vikki Moran — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:40:07 GMT

i have 2 in mind:

rottie - owner cannot hold or even get muzzle on. I will not go anywhere near it, as it's very aggressive. the owner is a very small slight man and simply the dog overpowers him. it frustrates me as i've known this dog since a pup, and did explain to the owner then that it needed firm handling - but was told he knew that these dogs need respect (errrr that's not what I meant!). at it's first annual booster, it was fine, a colleague saw it for it's second, and recorded that it was a difficult dog, and since then nobody has been able to vaccinate it. Castration has been advised, but the owner doesn't want to change the dogs personality! (banging my head against the wall here!)

the second dog is a staffie cross. this owner is very nice, and the dog is neutered, but the owner is simply very meek and mild with the dog. he is an agressive lunging and barking type dog, that just bullies you in the consult room. we have tried socialisation visits, but are getting nowhere.

I have toyed with the idea of v accination per os for these grumpy dogs!

and KC isn't the problem, that's easy enough of you keep the syringe in your hand (thumb on plunger, syringe wrapped in your closed fist), allow the dog to sniff your fist, then squirt. I find that works even with the aggressive ones. the last thing i do with a KC vacc is hold the dogs nose shut and then try to squirt up both nostrils. I think it's equally effective (or not) to get it up one side, and also the element of surprise works wonders.

for those dogs you can't even do that with, my veterinary party trick (along with blind intubation of rabbits) is that i can aim from the other side of the consult room and get the KC vacc up their nose. helps if you're good at darts I think!!

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

James Allsop — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 20:38:57 GMT

so far only been unable to administer KC vac to a few dogs. have had to do very restricted health checks on some though where even muzzled its possible to do a visual exam and just stab the dog as it leaves the consult room.

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Utlendigur — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 23:08:01 GMT

We have one JRT who has to be sedated each year for his booster, kennel cough and anything else the owner wants done. He's actually one of my favourites because he's highly intelligent and a bit of a character - friendly, tail wagging, happy dog, it's only when you actually start to get hold of him or look like you're going to do something that he turns into psycho-dog. After 10+ years we've come to an uneasy truce - we use the lead to pull him up against the kennel door, he puts up a show of snarling and thrashing around while I jab some dom/torb into a back leg - afterwards, everyone's friends again!

We also used to have one rabbit that was brought in in a picnic hamper. When you lifted the lid it would shoot out vertically like a surface to air missile, aiming for your neck - I'd always thought Monty Python was a joke until I met that rabbit

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Neil Smith — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:08:47 GMT

[quote user="Rudolph"]I have one client who brought his Lab X in without a lead, collar or muzzle on[/quote]

I remember seeing a 16 week old GSD without collar or lead which was completely out of control and aggressive. The owner told me 'we live in the country, he doesn't need a collar or lead'. I vaccinated it, which involved some physical challenges, but advised them that some degree of discipline or control was necessary or their next consultation may be for euthanasia following a bite. I think/hope the message got through.

NCS

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Jacquin Mitchell — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:46:39 GMT

Thanks for sharing those encouraging stories with me. It helps to know I'm not on my own.

I'm back now from the vaccination with only one hole in me; the owner was less lucky as he insisted on holding the cat over his shoulder.Of course it climbed right over him and then we chased it around the room a couple of times before it went behind the sofa. Poor puss was more scared than aggressive I think.

I couldn't do much of an examination, I had to improvise a cat crush out of the sofa and the wall, threw a blanket over its head and just vaccinated it as quickly as I could. Luckily the other cat was lovely and I spend ages fussing her before she got jabbed.

jacq

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

katja wagner — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:18:14 GMT

Had a big GSD presented for vaccine by a very posh gentleman with his even posher half his age girl friend on one arm and the dog on the other dancing around him with very loose collar around his neck. unable to come into the practice building as dog refused this so owner requested exam and vaccine in the yard, i could not even get closer then 5 meters when he showed me very clear what he wanted to do with me.owner unable to controll the dog and it was easy to see that he was very frightend of his own dog. result was that onwer major pissed off and angry that he lost his face in front of his girl friend who was kept giggling in a slight irritating manner. he was never seen again!

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Charlotte Marshall — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:57:15 GMT

I have had a couple I couldn't give kennel cough vaccine to and have written a letter for the kennels stating it.

The only dogs i really have had difficulty getting near have not been presented for vaccination. I had one GSD in the past that on two occasions got 75 mg of ACP which knocked it off its back legs so I was able to get a dog catcher on it in order to jab it with dom/torb on top of that to enable me to examine and treat it (not ideal sed combo I know!). I was quite glad the third time when they decided they were going to have it pts!

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Kevin Castle — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:53:14 GMT

I've had my fair share of the above-mentioned psycho animals. If I am forewarned I get the owners to give several ACP tablets (usually dose increased exponentially in relation to size of the mouth of the animal!) together with some Tramadol. This combination occasionally works well for me but not always reliable. What do others get the owners to give before they come for the consult?

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Ian Mostyn — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:38:42 GMT

I have had 2 Yorkshire Terriers that I could not get near, spinning around on the end of the lead, spreading "urine & faeces" around. Not a chance of vaccinating them. I also had a dog to be PTS because he was aggressive, attacking members of the family. The Police were involved although it was a "voluntary" euthanasia. The owner refused to let me muzzle the dog so I refused to inject it. Faced with the option of a Police marksman or a muzzle, he gave in and put a muzzle on for me to sedate the dog first.

Not quite the same but I had a huge Iguana that needed to be covered in a thick blanket and then sedated before it could be examined. It came in a huge box that used to contain parts for the Eurofighter!

Ian

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Vikki Halliday LLB — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:59:33 GMT

[quote user="Gillian Mostyn"]as George so elegantly put , 'shat and peed and howled and scratched' - oh - and mustn't forget the bit about trying to kill the vet too! [/quote]

Had many of these, including the Shar Pei who evacuated it's diarrhoeic bowels all over me and the consulting room whilst I had a hold of it by the scruff, and at the same time was doing the wall of death around my arm!

However the client thought I was marvelous, because I " looked like I knew exactly what I was doing".... LOL

Little did she realise that it was nearly not just the dog that was shitting itself!

However have only had one animal soo nasty that we could not even approach it for vaccination, it was a very small French Bulldog, who attacked if you even took a step towards the owner.

Needless to say the owner was very understanding and used to "throw" us the extending lead across the consulting room so we could take the dog away from her to do anything, but this was generally restricted to examination at arms length!

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Rudolph — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:58:07 GMT

I have one client who brought his Lab X in without a lead, collar or muzzle on, resulting in me having to hide behind a door from the snarling beast before the owner could somehow scoop him up and take him home.

I refused to see the dog again unless it came in properly restrained and preferably with a muzzle on but the client was unable to collar and muzzle the dog at home, let alone in the consulting room! He hasn't been vaccinated!

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:21:48 GMT

yep - we've had a beagle and a yorkie, both of whom, as George so elegantly put , 'shat and peed and howled and scratched' - oh - and mustn't forget the bit about trying to kill the vet too! Weirdly, the big aggressive dogs are usually easier as you can use the dog catcher (or a slip lead, with the handler on the other side of a door) to pin their heads while you jab them in the arse - but the little ones (that the owner is scared of) are a nightmare. They just end up doing the wall of death round the consult room, trying to strangle themselves on their own lead. You just can't get hold of them

Good luck!

Re: Has anyone ever not been able to vaccinate an animal?

George Cooper — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:14:51 GMT

Yep - one hysterical lab who shat and peed and howled and scratched at the time of KC vacc.

Just remember - it is NEVER EVER worth life or limb for the sake of an animal.

We'd a psychopathic Rott that had to be darted by the local wild-life park before we could look at it. I told the owner that my staff had instructions NOT to compromise their own Health and Safety and that there could come a time when we would be unable to assist him.

I have never before experienced the feeling of blood running cold in my veins, but even when he was out we nearly poo-ed our pants dealing with hi! And he'd a brother that was worse.