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  Discussion on Vaccination reactions
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New Member:
Mlforman

Posted on Friday, Dec 20, 2002 - 12:02 am:

At the End of October I had my horse vaccinated for Tetnus and encephalitis. Initially we saw no adverse reactions. about 1-2 weeks after he developed a "knot"on the left side of his neck below where the injection would have been. Initially this hasn't seem to bother him, howver it is very sore. We tried linaments and ointments thinking that this was a mild reaction but it did not go away. Now itis mid december and just this last week since it did not get better we had the vet out and did an unltrsound and found a pocket of fluid in the knot. it was tapped and appeared to be only blood. he decided to make an incision above and below to create a drain and inserted a tube. we started him on a sulfer drug and bute. this has not helped, in fact he has suddenly gotten much worse. while the knot seems a little smaller, both sides of his neck above the knot seem very warm to the touch and sweating. he also is so lethargic that he can;t even walk around his stall. he does have an appetite. We are VERY worried. The only thing that the vet can find so far isfrom a blood test that he is very anemic and we've started on Red Cell. ANy help would be appreciated THANKS you can contact us off list at mfo5054141@aol.com
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Dec 20, 2002 - 9:13 am:

Since the knot was below the injection site and blood(?) was in it I am not sure this is a injection reaction and it sounds like this could be trauma.

Phenylbute will probably go a long way toward relieving the discomfort. The reason for the onset of lethargy needs to be explored:
  • is this lethargy just do to soreness to be expected with such a wound?
  • is this pocket not draining well?
  • is there another pocket?
  • is infection spreading from the surgery site?
  • is there some other cause?

Only a thorough exam is likely to differentiate the above and important is to determine is if fever is present.
DrO
Member:
Mlforman

Posted on Saturday, Dec 21, 2002 - 10:24 am:

Thanks for the response. After a blood test only discovered anemia and severe, and we haven't received the EPM test result back yet. Unfortunately we lost him last night as he couldn't regain his ability to get up after stumbling and falling. As you can imagine this is most upsetting to us and our vet who had treated many cases of EPM had never seen one come on tis quick. For wahtever good it may do we won't have the formal EPM results until Monday or Tuesday. We couldn't locate any trauma either. Smoky was a great horse and he will be truly missed by us.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Dec 21, 2002 - 1:06 pm:

Marc,
A positive EPM blood test is just about worthless in many states as many healthy horses are positive though a negative is considered diagnostic for a horse to not have the disease.

Please have a thorough necropsy done to better understand the circumstances of your horses death. If this is tied to the blood pocket / wound, at the top of my list is some sort of clostridial toxicosis (a bacteria that produces toxins and is responsible for such diseases as botulism and tetanus) may be responsible.
DrO
Member:
Paul303

Posted on Saturday, Dec 21, 2002 - 6:36 pm:

Marc: I'm so very sorry. Just lost one of mine on 12/16 to a fractured humerus. I had a necropsy done to clear things up. Dr. O is right. It is important. Hang on, it's tough.
Member:
Mlforman

Posted on Saturday, Dec 21, 2002 - 9:16 pm:

Thanks DrO, We jusst can't afford a PM, however I've never heard of botulism or tetanus causing these symtoms. Would't that be be more of the top of our Vets list than EPM if thats' so? Also these bacteria that produce toxins would show up in a blood test, and since his white count was normal and only the anemia showed up isn't that evidence of smoething else, especially so fast acting ???? Thanks. In Az a state without a Vet school a through necropsy wasn't a consideration. If we had one here I might have considered that.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Dec 22, 2002 - 4:37 am:

No the white count would not show these poisonings because a tiny number of bacteria in a relatively localized infection can produce enough toxin to cause weakness that can prevent a horse from rising. The toxin does not cause a change in the blood work.

The fact that it worked so fast supports the idea of a toxico-infectious cause, not contradicts it. With botulism horses are sometimes just found dead and when last seen were OK.
DrO

Member:
Mlforman

Posted on Sunday, Dec 22, 2002 - 2:38 pm:

Thanks for the responses. Dr.O, I have read much on both the EPM and Botulism. Unfortunately we will never really know. I'm still in a daze losing my friend, I only wish that equine medicne was farther along in diagnosis of illness. I'm going to share what I hae learned with our vet and soon I hope to be up to finding a new riding pal and stable mate for our other horse. I wish I had know about this site long ago, now I'll be reading it often with my wife. Marc
Member:
Lilo

Posted on Tuesday, Dec 24, 2002 - 8:32 pm:

Condolences on the loss of your horse. It is so very hard to lose one of these trusty companions.
Good luck on finding another riding pal.
Lilo
Member:
Suzym

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 8, 2003 - 10:56 am:

Marc ~ I am SO sorry for your loss. I lost my beloved companion in March, so I know how you feel.:-( It's especially difficult to accept when you can't get any answers as to what happened and why.

I will be thinking of you and hoping that you are as lucky as I was in finding another pal. I found a dandy. Of course, I still miss my old buddy VERY much, but my new partner helps a lot. I hope it works out that way for you.

Suzy
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 6:00 am:

Judy,
I moved your post into the its own discusion in this area, Care for Horses » Disease Prevention and Health Care » Vaccines and Vaccination Schedules. I have entitled it Tumor from Vaccines. If you select Vaccines and Vaccination Schedules from the navigation bar at the top of
this frame you will be taken to it. Read the information on posting rules for more on this.
DrO
Member:
estrella

Posted on Thursday, Nov 15, 2007 - 12:09 pm:

Hi All, I am so grateful for this website! 17 TB, last time he got his shots, slight colic. Got away with giving 500 lbs of Banamine. All good. He got vaccinated 2 days ago, a few hours later, looked a little bummed. I gave 500 lbs of Banamine like I did before. Yesterday He was fine, I didn't give him anything. This morning he came out of the stall with the glassy eyed look and very stiff. Took temp, normal, gave 500 lbs Banamine. Called the vet, either 500 lbs 2x's a day for 3 days or 1000 lbs 1 x a day for three days. I am choosing the 500 lbs 2 x's a day.
Here's my question. I'm not lovin' the vaccinations. But know I would not be lovin' the actual disease they prevent. He got Rhino, EEE,WEE Tetanus, Pinnacle I.N., and Prevenile. Here's the question, there is alot of discussion about small animal vaccinations. Opting for titers instead. That Vaccinations are doing more harm than good. Spoke to their speciality vet (Giant Breed vet). She said that they are seeing outbreaks for diseases that were pretty much gone. Because people are refusing to vaccinate. Vaccination Phobia. Older dog got titers, younger ones the vaccinations. Does is work the same in horses? Are we safe doing titers? It appears the reactions are getting worse for my horse. So I fret days before the shots. But the good thing now is I didn't flip out, (well maybe a little) I went to this web site, found others have had the same thing. Saw Banamine and Bute as the answer among other things, but really zeroed in on the titer.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Nov 20, 2007 - 8:18 am:

Hello estrella,
Rather than placing your post at the bottom of another's post, you should "Start a New Discussion" to post your problem. You will receive quicker and more responses that way.

This is a good topic for your post so using the navigation bar at the top of this page click on "Vaccines and Adverse Reactions". This will take you to the the topic's article and discussion page. Check out the article if you have not yet.

If after reviewing the article you still have questions you might see if some of the other discussions that are listed below the article answer your question. If not, you will find at the bottom of list of already present discussions a "Start New Discussion" button. For more on this see Help & Information » Posting Guidelines or where did my post go?.
DrO
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