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Discussion on Another Story/ Questions of Bad Reactions to Rabies Shots
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Friday, Jun 1, 2007 - 3:12 pm:
Right now I should almost be to my brothers house for a 4 day stay to visit family and friends 450 miles away. Instead, I'm home because I've got all 4 of my horses experiencing swelling, and various degrees of soreness from rabies shots I gave on Sunday.
My questions: DrO, do you agree with Bute, cold hosing and extra exercise 2X daily? Read the articles and other posts briefly. The worst off is my 18 year old Arab mare, she is walking with her head down, to the side, and not only has swelling in the chest muscle where I gave the shot, but there is a pouch, fits in my hand, under that is swelled and hangs there somewhat loose. Weird. She has always been the one who suffers the most. She did have Bute 2x the day of the shot, and the day after and seemed pretty good.
One other horse is experiencing the same, but not as severe. The other 2 seem to be just swelled at the site of injection, but not moving lame like.
My other question: Isn't it unusual to have the conditions get worse so many days after the shot was given? Guess I should have kept them on the Bute longer.
I spoke to 2 vets on the phone, and one said this may take up to 14 days to resolve. The impression I got from the 2nd vet was Bute and exercise was good enough. And to watch for swelling to get worse and spread down the legs.
NO increased pulse or hoof heat at least!
Thanks for any advice, comments or suggestions in advance.
Angie
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Friday, Jun 1, 2007 - 6:06 pm:
I'm sorry Angie, My old girl did very well with banamine, the bute didn't seem to cut it with her.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Friday, Jun 1, 2007 - 7:11 pm:
Sorry to hear that Angie,
It is worrysome that 4 horses are effected and concerning the timing, when did they first show reactions?
The therapy you outline is fine if it is not infection. The article gives a fairly low bute dose, see the article on phenylbutazone for higher doses if you don't get a response. If the problem continues to worsen as described in the article, consider having the horses examined for possible abscesses.
DrO
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Friday, Jun 1, 2007 - 8:10 pm:
Thanks DrO,
Just got in from playing vet for the evening. As of now, Gem seems just fine, Cody, (the grey you "met", puncture wound inside back leg)has a lump of swelling, but doesn't seem uncomfortable at all. Willow the Arab, is responding to the Bute, exercise and cold water, as is Tango. I would guess the swelling has gone down 30% since starting the Bute last night.
They all had swelling and some stiffness the first 48 hours or so, but I wasn't concerned as it seemed mild, and I had Willow on Bute. Late yesterday I noticed the extra "pouch" hanging under the chests of Willow and Tango and then noticed Willow was really sore and moving slow. So it seems the Bute was keeping her comfortable, I quit giving it too soon, and the swelling and pain came back double for her!
I gave both horse 2 tabs of Bute last night, Tango 2, 2x today. He's 1500 lbs or so. Willow got 1.5 tabs 2x today per vets instructions. She's around 1000 lbs.
If I understand the article correctly, response to Bute indicates NO infection?
Should I massage the loose hanging lump?
Cold water takes down swelling, and exercise gets things moving. So I shouldn't I do water treatment first? For some reason, that isn't making sense to me; we are trying to get things circulating.
Thanks again, your response was quicker than my so called regular vet...had to text message her, no answering service! Took her til today to return my call. I got very lucky last night in that the vet that did their teeth was on call and returned my call with advice.
We need more large animal vets in America!!!
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Member:
quatro
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Posted on Friday, Jun 1, 2007 - 11:29 pm:
Hey Angie, I am glad I did not read your post before I gave Levi his Rabies on Wed. I had the vet give it to him in the butt, or hind quarter area. He had such a bad reaction to the penicillin, so far he seems like no problems.
I agree with you, we need more experienced, caring horse vets in the US. If someone wanted to open a equine center with great vet/farrier service here, they would make a mint! Dr. O, ever think of moving to IOWA?????
Hope your horses come out of it OK
Will send positive thoughts your way!
suz
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Saturday, Jun 2, 2007 - 8:11 am:
Angie your confusion on treating swellings seems to stem from being unaware there are several kinds that respond differently to treatments. For a thorough discussion on diagnosing swellings see, Diseases of Horses » Skin Diseases, Wounds, and Swellings » Swellings / Localized Infection / Abscesses » Diagnosing and Assessing Swellings in Horses, this will help you with your questions on how to decide both the nature of your swellings and which treatments are best to use when.
Concerning the diagnosis of abscesses it is sometimes not that black and white, for more on this see, Diseases of Horses » Skin Diseases, Wounds, and Swellings » Swellings / Localized Infection / Abscesses » Abscesses and Localized Infection.
DrO
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