Can a Lab puppy die from his first set of shots and being dewormed?

Question

I had a yellow Lab puppy that I have had from 3 weeks old. Yesterday, I took him to the Vet for his well puppy visit and now he is dead.

His mother was sick. The owner was giving the puppies away so I took one. I took him to the vet and she told me to give him the Esbilac milk. I had him on the Esbilac until he was 5 weeks old. He was a very healthy puppy. Last week, I noticed that he was breathing hard so I made him an appointment to see the vet. She took a sample of his stool and said that he had worms. She dewormed him and gve him his shots, When we arrived home, he slept for a few hours and woke up playing with the kids. At about 1045pm, He was coming up the stairs and fell over on his side and begain gasping for air. He took is last breath in my arms. I tried CPR but it was too late.

He was 8 weeks old when he died

Answer 1

Yes, particularly since he had limited amounts of antibodies in him that should normally have been passed through his mother. If your puppy was suffering from something else, he would have shown signs that your vet should have seen.

Answer 2

Yes he most certainly could. When they give shots now they are giving 3-4 vaccines at a time to cut down on the number of visits. While I don't believe in giving most of these vaccines in the first place I should point out that the immune system can only deal with one disease at a time. Therefore it becomes overworked and can shut down causing the puppy to die. I wonder how old your puppy was if you have had him since 3 weeks? You shouldn't have been allowed to take him home till he was 8 weeks. A puppy shouldn't be weened till 4-5 weeks old and would have the mothers antibody's being poured into their system by the milk until that time. So your pups immune system was already over taxed and this was simply too much for him. I'm very sorry for your loss. I don't think that it was the vets fault per say given what I just explained. So sorry.

Answer 3

In rare cases yes since some dogs are allergic to the vaccine, however it is extremely rare even if they are allergic.Also it can happen, again very rare, if the puppy had some illness or immune disorder at the time it was vaccinated.I would be more concerned that there was some other underlying issue or that the puppy got into something it shouldn't have.I would also be concerned about immune issues sine the puppy was taken from it's mother way too young and therefore didn't get the opportunity to aquire full immunity from it's mom. There is no way of know exactly why the puppy died without having a necropsy done.

Answer 4

In case you want to sue the vet, take the puppy to a different vet and have an autopsy - that is the only way to determine cause of death.

The shots and the worming probably didn't kill the dog. If he were to have an allergic reaction to them, it probably would have happened sooner - within an hour. He might have had a congenital heart defect that could have killed him. Or, if you were bottle feeding him right before he died, he could have inhaled (aspirated) some of it and choked to death - or choked on a toy. Sorry you lost your poor little friend.

Answer 5

They can if the doses are wrong but if they do it right the puppy should be fine unless your puppy is allergic to the shots and worming witch is very rare but can happen!