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Discussion on Injection Reactions
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New Member:
equinebp
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 15, 2008 - 4:20 pm:
I have a ten year old Dutch Warmblood who I imported from Holland just over two years ago. He is competing in dressage and therefore gets all normal spring and fall vaccines as well as flu/rhino every three months. Initially, he had minor swelling at the injection sites associated with only 1 or two of the vaccines given at any time, easily treated with 1 gm of bute. Now it has progressed where he is getting a reaction with swelling and heat to every injection in his neck. More upsetting, when my vet gave him IV banamine in Oct to treat the vaccine reaction, nearly a week later a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch hard knot formed at the banamine injection site which still has not healed. When blood was drawn for Coggins on Thursday, he developed heat and very minor swelling at that site too. He never had a reaction to an empty syringe before. We tried changing needles thinking it was an allergy to the needles but that didn't help. (Flu/rhino has been switched to intra-nasal with no reaction.) Any other suggestions besides the normal would be greatly appreciated before the situation worsens.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 15, 2008 - 10:00 pm:
Wellcome Briana,
The problem you are likely to be having may be an allergic reaction to the silicone used to coat the needle. Coating the needles with silicone is a common practice as it allows the needle to penetrate the skin more smoothly. This reaction is reported in humans and we have had this reported in other horses on the board. Changing types of needles does not help as almost all needles have a silicone coating. I have heard but not seen for sale needles that do not use silicone. If injections are deemed necessary the next step would be to try one of these needles.
DrO
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Member:
tbowner4
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 15, 2008 - 10:02 pm:
Have you tried to put warm compresses on the swollen areas. Dmso is good but I would ask the vet about using it around the areas due to the medications given. Make sure would not be harmful due to dmso is a carrier. My fillie had hard knots from so much medication in her neck veins when she was operated on--They finally went down and so far all is well. I would ask the vet about your situation and the warm not hot compresses. He may have something else to help. Sounds as if the horse muscles are tensed and hard when the shots or work is being done. Just a suggestion to watch for next time, make sure muscle is soft and pliable before injecting and slow injection of the medicine, not real fast .
Good luck
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New Member:
equinebp
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 16, 2008 - 9:58 am:
Thanks for all your suggestions! I tried compresses and DMSO, they don't seem to do much. When we tried switching needles, we tried uncoated needles. They seemed to make things worse. The only needles my vet could find uncoated, were slightly larger than normal and he didn't respond well to them.
I am glad to hear that the knots may go down eventually- that would be great!
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 16, 2008 - 8:57 pm:
Though much rarer Breina, you will now have to consider allergies to the metal in the needles. Though nickel allergy is rare it is not unreported. Nickel is part of the stainless steel making process. Unfortunately I do not have a suggestion for reaction free injections in this case.
DrO
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