"Thanks everyone. Come this spring then. I'll give her the shot. I guess NOT giving it is a greater risk.. It's better she feels puny for a few day's then. I appreciate you writing me, it really helped a lot. TJ"
I think you misunderstood. Not giving the shot may result in a case of strangles, which is rarely fatal. Giving the shot your horse may not only feel "puny" for a few days, and still catch strangles, but it's body may react by attacking it's own immune system, killing your horse, if it has already been exposed to strangles (which you may not have known was the case). The latter sounds like a much greater risk to me.
I do not vaccinate against strangles.
Correct! I went ahead and searched the topic for the post I made to another thread 2 months ago:
I'm going to chime in here because I've recently dealt with this horrible condition and there is some misinformation being put out there.
1) Strangles is caused by a bacteria, Strep. equi. It is NOT airborne unless you count the bacteria being spread by the flies.
2) It is a very fragile bacteria. It does not live outside the host long and will not stay in the soil. Bleach, diluted Tide, and other cleaners will kill it. I like Bleach; it's cheap and you're going to use a lot of it. If you are in a situation where you having outbreaks every year to every other year, you have a carrier horse. To determine who is carrying it you must do cultures on all the horses on your property. 3 negatives 1 week apart each = clean.
3) DO NOT under ANY condition treat this by yourself with antibiotics. Antibiotics in a strangles case can cause brat strangles - abscess go internal and ruputure in the abdomen = death.
4) In my experience, it takes about 2 weeks for the abscess to mature and rupture, 2 weeks to heal (I like to do hydrotherapy - spray with gentle water hose), and 4 weeks for the horse to appear normal. You must stall rest these horses. Do not exercise them, do not transport them unless you are going to a hospital, etc. Stall rest for another 4 weeks before you start any kind of reconditioning program.
5) Sunlight helps kill the bacteria on inanimate objects.
6) Do not bring any new horses on to your place for at least 8 weeks following the last RECOVERED horse.
If your horses come down with it, they will most likely stop eating, drop weight, and look like they're dieing. Like John said, once the abscess ruptures, you're on the down hill side of it. It's a very expensive disease, but fortunately not usually fatal with the exception of brat strangles which almost always caused by mismanagement of the disease. I've only had to put one horse down with it, but it was because she had a gutteral pouch condition that would cause her to be a carrier the rest of her life. After pulling elevan horses through this, it was decided that no horse was worth going throught this again. Some people might not agree with this but every time a foal was born, weaned, or a new unexposed horse was brought on the property, an outbreak would occur again. REMEMBER it is spread HORSE TO HORSE or INANIMATE OBJECT. It is NOT in the soil.
My references are the Equine Internists here at Texas A&M who assisted me in my herd treatment.
Now the GOOD news about Strangles:
Once a horse has been exposed to the bacteria they will most likely have an active immunity to the disease from 5years - lifetime.
Now some more BAD news:
If you have a horse that has had or exposed to Strangles in it's LIFETIME, DO NOT VACCINATE THE HORSE FOR STRANGLES. The vaccine can cause an immune-mediated condition that causes the immune system to attack the horse, potentially killing the horse. A far worse condition than the strangles itself. Only horses that have had titers run should be vaccinated.
And this should go without saying but......leave infected horses at home and do not bring them to a show. This is where the majority of farms pick up strangles.
