Giving your own yearly shots...

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roxy's_mom

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Howdy all! I'm thinking ahead for spring and possibly even right now. I currently have a couple donkeys and 1 mini that as far as I know have never had their yearly shots done, i.e. West Nile, Tetnus, Rabies,Influenza, basicly the necessities. I know that a couple of those shots have to be given by a vet, at least per my vet's advice.

I'm very good about keeping all my horses up to date on their shots/coggins because most of mine show every year so I have the vet come every April and give the necessary shots and take blood for the coggins. What I'm wanting to do is cut back on the cost of having some of this done by the vet and be able to do my own for those animals that don't go out and show.

What I'm wanting to know is, how many of you give your own yearly shots to your horses and where do you get your shots from? I've never looked at the bottles or asked my vet if the same dosage amount is given to each animal.

I hope that you don't get the wrong impression of me from what I'm asking. I love my equines very much and would do almost anything to keep them healthy, that includes making sure that they get their yearly shots. I'm just trying to save a little money for whatever may come in the future.

Thanks!

Becky M.
 
We give our own now.

Started with the vet doing it, but it made more sense to give our own

We do keep epinephrine on hand, just in case.....

Anne
 
I do give our own shots and have done for years. Here in Canada we have to buy our vaccines from a vet so by giving our own we don't save anything on the price of the vaccine. We do, though, save on the mileage and whatever fee the vet would charge for her time. When the vet gives the shots they don't generally add anything to the cost of the vaccine. If we want to vaccinate for rabies we do have to get the vet out to do that but everything else we can give ourselves.
 
We give our own shots too including rabies but anything we show has to get the rabies shot from the vet, some states do not allow you to buy rabies vaccine. If you buy the vaccines from catalogs and give the shots yourself it does save quite a bit of money, we have over 20 horses and a bunch of Boer goats so it is worth while for us. If we only had a few we would probably just have the vet do it.
 
Years back I had my vet teach me to give shots -- with almost 300 head of goats, donks, horses, you learn to do a lot! -- so with my 40, I do all their annual shots. In VA you can buy rabies vaccine and not required to have vet give to horses but, dogs/cats need a vet certificate for theirs. I get mine from Jeffers, Valley Vet, Agri Med, etc. You have it shipped in a styro box with cold packs. Always had good luck with it. My vet will sell me vaccines, banamine, etc. as he has worked my animals for years and knows what I can handle. Besides, he's always a phone call away!

If you have several to do, it will save some money. AND you can do it at your own time....morning/evening, any day, etc. Often we have to take time off to meet up with a vet.
 
I give my own shots. I buy them from Valley Vet and Hagyard Equine Clinic. I still have my vet out for Coggins, Rabies if I need a certificate, and EVA. A few things to remember:

1) You void your mortality insurance by giving your own vaccines.

2) More than one person has ruined a vet/client relationship by abruptly stopping using the vet for vaccines. Vaccines are the bread and butter for vets and a lack of communication can be the end of using that vet.

3) More than one person has called up with an emergency only to find they've been dropped as a client because the vet figured you had someone else helping you.

Moral of the story, know what you are doing, the risks, and keep your vet very much involved in both the decision process and routine service calls. You may find your vet incredibly helpful, or extremely upset. In the end you may decide its cheaper to use the vet than face the risks.
 
Vaccines generally come in a 10 dose bottle. How much you will save depends on the amount of horses you have - if I had just a few, I would happily pay the vet to come do it but I talked to them about pricing years ago and they couldn't get close to what I can order for. On my 30 plus horses, ordering & vaccinating them myself saves me in the neighborhood of $200-300 annually just on the cost of vaccine. Nathan made some good points, and much of that depends on your relationship with your vet. Mine still gets plenty of business from me
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, although I'm sure they would like to do the vaccinating as well.

Valley Vet, Jeffers, Country Supply...just several resources for ordering.

Jan
 
We give all shots here and have for 40+ years. I buy all the vaccines on line (including rabies). A vet taught me how to give shots many years ago.

I'm not aware of any of the many vets in this area who would cancel a client for giving their own vaccines.

I MUCH prefer to give my own vaccines so that I can spread out the injections. I want to allow at least a minimum of one week between vaccinations to reduce the likelyhood of vaccine reaction, or at least reduce the severity of the reactions.

It would cost a fortune if I had the vet running back out here to give a vaccination every couple of weeks.

Charlotte

p.s. I do keep a vial of epinephrin on hand in case of anaphylactic reaction, but in all these years have never had this happen.
 
I do my own. Everyone has made some great points. I'm not sure if you breed, but another pro for me is that I can give Preg mares their vaccinations approximately 30 days before their due date. With my mares being due at all different times, its alot less time consuming to give the vaccinations myself than take mares to the vet as needed (not to mention saving the stress of being trailered that late in pregnancy). Or paying the farm call that often! I actually think my vet is glad I give my own vaccines now-we have a lack of vets in this area and they are pretty busy with the small animal part and the emergency stuff.
 
I give all my own shots, but I get them from my vet. She has shown me how to properly give them and what to watch for.

I have ordered some vaccines from the catalogs before and bought from TSC, but I worry about how those vaccinations have been handled before I bought them. Like were they allowed to sit on the dock for hours before they were put in the cooler. And our mail around here is sketchy sometimes.
 
2) More than one person has ruined a vet/client relationship by abruptly stopping using the vet for vaccines. Vaccines are the bread and butter for vets and a lack of communication can be the end of using that vet.3) More than one person has called up with an emergency only to find they've been dropped as a client because the vet figured you had someone else helping you.

Moral of the story, know what you are doing, the risks, and keep your vet very much involved in both the decision process and routine service calls. You may find your vet incredibly helpful, or extremely upset. In the end you may decide its cheaper to use the vet than face the risks.
This is exactly the reason I usually have the vet give vaccinations for me. I can, and have, done them myself and feel totally confident in my ability to give shots. If I've had my vet out in the last few months for other reasons I sometimes give my own and my vet doesn't seem to mind but with only 2 ponies I don't usually have the need to have a vet out during the year so having him out to do vaccinations and a quick checkup keeps us in his register and in good standing in an emergency. I've ALWAYS had awesome service during the few emergencies I've had- that said my dad did get questioned when he called for me once because he "wasn't a client". He had to explain that the account was in my name and then the vet was more than happy to bend over backwards and spend the night in the cold barn saving the life of my heart horse. Paying for vaccinations that year was well worth it for me. If I had more horses and could keep a relationship with a vet another way than I would probably go back to doing my own vaccinating.
 
We order our vaccines, too. For a 4-way it's $20CAD. Much much cheaper than having the vet out. The majority of vaccines (whether for cats, dogs, people, ponies, horses, minis, etc.) are administered in 1ml doses. If your horse has never been vaccinated (foal or otherwise) you have to give a booster 4 weeks after the first vaccination. Usually, vaccines will have instructions on them. If in doubt, ask your vet
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I have given my own vaccines for years-I do not purchase them from the vet cause I can get them WAY cheaper and my vet prefers a manufacturer

that I do not.

Around here most do their own vaccines so it is not something that a vet will hold against you

I do by some of my other on hand meds from the vet though
 
Well, I have to say I understand the point of clients that don't keep up with their vet, however, I pay the clinic I use PLENTY every year. They are a wonderful practice whom I feel I have a great relationship with. I have more than enough reasons that I stay active on th ebooks with Foal/mare checks,IgG tests, coggins, yearly dental floats, not to mention the occassional emergency calls. The clinic's policy is in order to stay current on the books, you must have them out/or horses into the clinic at least once a year, I have NO problem complying with that.I would sooner save the money and vaccinate myself, then use the savings towards everyones power floats and such, (shots per horse with vet vaccinating is about $90-$100, thats without adding in the call fee, doing the vaccinations myself is about $33-$34 per horse, including syringes and needles).

I would rather logically and responsibly save where I can so I can afford to spend on annual tasks that require the expertise of a vet or professional that works for the vet.

So, thats a yes for me, I give my own shots, I order them from the horse warehouse or horse vaccines 4 less, its the same place.
 
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I have done it both ways. I currently have the vet come out in the spring to do annual shots and Coggins. By giving him the annual shot business, I get free Health Certifs whenever I need them. That may not make up for the cost of the vet giving the shot, but it does maintain a good relationship with this vet. I do give my own Pneumabort shots and other injections that come up throughout the year. These I purchase from the local feed store or one of the vets.

I actually have two vets that I use. The local vet does the shots and Coggins and basic vet care. The other vet helps me with reproduction and more complicated cases. Both vets know about each other and are fine with me using both of them.
 
I give my own shots as well, I buy them from Country supply, Valley Vet, Jeffers...wherever I find the better prices at the time. I've had good luck with all. If you only have a small number of critters, you don't have to buy a 10 dose vial, you can either go in on a vial with a friend or two who also have a small number (which I've done in the past when I only had 5), or you can buy single doses locally....or I can, anyway. Some states will not permit the selling of rabies vaccines I am told, but I am not one of them. The amount of money saved in giving your own vaccines is amazing....

Angie
 
I have done it both ways. I currently have the vet come out in the spring to do annual shots and Coggins. By giving him the annual shot business, I get free Health Certifs whenever I need them. That may not make up for the cost of the vet giving the shot, but it does maintain a good relationship with this vet. I do give my own Pneumabort shots and other injections that come up throughout the year. These I purchase from the local feed store or one of the vets.

I actually have two vets that I use. The local vet does the shots and Coggins and basic vet care. The other vet helps me with reproduction and more complicated cases. Both vets know about each other and are fine with me using both of them.
OMG wish your vet lived around here. I get the annual shots but then have to pay for a farm call and a "check up" charge per horse to get the Health Certif. Ended up paying over $100 for 2 horses papers just to travel to the Ohio St. Fair!
 
I give my horses there yearly shots I have for yrs but that was with big horses never a mini. I think i am letting our vet give him all his shots atleast this go around but he will tell me if its any different then my big horses.
 
Thanks everyone for your replies! I sort of figured that alot of you gave your own shots. My vet charges a $50 call fee just to show up then tacks on the rest for shots, coggins, blood work, and whatever else. Basically until he's done with 4 horses, 2 of those with coggins, my bill's around $500. Then if I need him to come back to do a health paper for our county fair, that's another $100 for just one horse!!

I'm afraid to do my owns shots for fear my vet will get mad and not come back. He's the only on that will come to my property at the moment. We lack large animal vets in my area that are willing travel a distance to your location. The closest vet clinic that deals with horses is at least 1-1.5 hrs away so I'm sort of stuck with having to have the vet come to do all my work.

I've even asked my vet to leave shots here for me to give as booster shots for those that have never had shots before and was told "No" because he's not allowed.

Thanks again everyone. You've all given me some good advice and places to get shots if I need them.

Becky M.
 

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