Picked up a local "horsey"publication yesterday at the feed store; inside was an article written by an area resident and frequent contributor, regarding the HUGE(size of a baseball) abcess that developed on her husband's mustang's NECK, a full 10 days or so following a 'routine' vaccination(5 way). There were 8 photos, indicating that the swelling was centralized around a point that was a bit too far back toward the shoulder-meaning the shot may not have been given in the (very small)ideal"target area" for neck shots-and this with an owner who had been regularly giving these shots to this horse yearly for 10 years. With all due respect, just another reason for NOT giving shots in the neck, unless there is absolutely NO other choice. I simply would not give a shot in the neck to a foal/weanling: I am living proof that it is possible to give shots in the hip(below the point, NOT 'on top of' the rump)to about everything, including weanlings, and alone, with no helper--I have done it, in minis, for 21 years. In 30 or so years of giving ALL of my own vaccinations and other IM shots(I do not, and would not, try IV shots), I have had one abcess occur, as a result of a rhino booster. It was in the mare's hip, burst and drained on its own, and healed uneventfully. Gravity is your friend in such a circumstance; it is NOT, in a shot in the neck.
