Vaccine Question

[Jetiki]

When you give a vaccine and your horse gets a giant lump on its neck that goes into their shoulder to the point of making them lame, horse has never been lame before and nothing is wrong with her feet.

Would you give the vaccine again the next year? Vet was out this past Wednesday and I like to give all of mine Rabies vaccines as we are surrounded by woods and all kinds of critters visit us. Yesterday her neck was so swollen and painful that she'd just stand around and barely walked around to graze. I cold hosed her for a while and rubbed on it and she seemed to like that. I am going to hot pack her in just a little bit but questioning whether she should get the shot again. I gave her myself the EWT and Rhino/Flu and didn't have any reaction at all. Vet used the smaller needle not the huge ones and she didn't tense up.

Karen

 

[Jill]

Karen --

I've only had an abscess from a shot on a horse 1x, years ago. At the time and still, I don't think it was the ingredient of the shot so much as I was off target on the location I gave it. Maybe others will have a better understanding than I do, but I think an absess is more likely technique / administration vs. ingredients in the shot.

Also, it's my understanding that you really dont' want to go with a very short needle (I use 1.5") becuase shorter makes it actually more likely to abscess. And, too narrow a guage also isn't good. It may seem more mild at first but a vet on the forum told us years ago that a too small guage (narrow) is kind of like putting your thumb over a water hose -- think what that does to the pressure which would then actually make it more painful to the horse.

Good luck,

Jill

 

[sfmini]

Make sure your vet knows about the reaction next year, maybe the reaction was to the inert ingredients and there might be a different vaccine that wouldn't cause the reaction.

Also, if there isn't another vaccine, maybe give it in the butt as that muscle is more active and sometimes that helps to distribute the vaccine faster and lessen the chance of reaction.

Also, having had a horse that reacted so bad he couldn't lift his head or walk forward, doing it in the butt at least allows the horse to eat and drink easier. He also never had that kind of reaction again.

Please note, this is only my personal experience with it, your vet might have better ideas.

 

[Candice]

Be careful giving injections in the butt. Our vet is totally against that as there are too many nerves in the butt area that are all too easy to hit. Its hard to say whether it was an ingredient or location that you injected that caused the reaction. Definitely let your vet know.

Good luck and I hope she feels better,

Candice

 

[Miniv]

Karen,

Yes - be sure to tell your vet about the reaction. Find out what size of a needle he used too. Was it smaller in length, gauge, or both? The abscess could have been from the needle, or the inert ingredient, or both. Next time try changing the vaccine brand and the needle size.

MA

 

[minifancier]

I always do the butt area lots more muscle there then in the neck.

And yes if there is another one with different inert ingredients I would try that one instead of the one used with the reaction. Although in the many years now and giving shots to my horses myself i have yet to have any type of a reaction from any shots I give, which also includes rabies vaccines for the horses and WN included.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

I would give it again the next year. Usually its an abcess like mentioned by others rather than a true reaction to the vaccine. Those tend to be systemic rather than localized.

 

[disneyhorse]

It sounds like an abscess to me, too. I had a mare that would have a reaction to her vaccines every year, it was very sad. Her whole neck (like the vertabrae) would get very stiff and she could barely lift her head above her knees. She was also very depressed. We ended up giving it to her in the butt, just so she could lift her head up to eat and drink comfortably.

My vet said it was a reaction to the binders in the vaccines, not really the vaccine itself that he thought causes that sometimes.

Andrea

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

That's definately a problem Disney... there is something you can do if you suspect that type of problem, and that's to switch brands. Usually each company uses a different adjunct. One horse might react to one brand but not another.

 

[wildoak]

I've only had one true abcess, years ago, shot was given by a vet too. That particular mare and her dam are both sensitive anyway so they get banamine along with their yearly vaccines. Have not had a repeat of the abcess but they do tend to have some local swelling and stiffness.

Jan

 

[Jetiki]

Well it never opened up like I would think an abcess would, I've cold hosed and hot packed etc. She's still not wanting to move her neck a whole lot Vet's out of town this weekend and I'm contemplating giving her a 1/4 bute, I gave msm Friday, I knew MSM wouldn't hurt her, I had to have a friend care for them yesterday as I had to be out of town, family emergency and didn't want to overload my friend with things to do. Anyway, if she's not better by Tuesday I am calling the vet back. I gave her myself EWT and Rhino/flu from Ft Dodge 3 weeks ago, with a 22x1 needle and she was fine, in March she got a Pneumabor K and we thought it was the needle that caused the swellig then, Vet used I think a 22x1 needle with Ft Dodge for the Rabies shot. I think I'll skip the rabies next year and do it the year after. I'll discuss it with the vet.

thanks everyone

Karen