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  Discussion on Increasing reaction to vaccinations in older mare
Author Message
Member:
chrism

Posted on Saturday, Oct 31, 2009 - 8:09 pm:

My old gal seems to be getting progressively reactive to her vaccinations. She is 26 (!) and I have faithfully had the same vet out spring and fall for 22 years to vaccinate her appropriately for our area.

In recent years, she has shown increasing stiffness and depression for several days after her vaccinations - we treat her with bute and after a few days she improves. This past spring was the worst - we felt very bad watching her hobble around and looking pitiful.

This fall, after much consideration, we decided to titer her for antibody levels for some of the key vaccinations. Based on that, my vet will offer suggestions re what to vaccinate her for.

We are suspicious that the rhino/flu is what is bothering her the most.

You would think after 22 years, she'd be resistant to everything!!

In any case, I was wondering if there was any new information re using titers to plan vaccinations.

I am also wondering if the rhino/flu shot mixture varies each year, depending on the viri that are floating around, like with humans.

Other considerations are that the old gal really doesn't get off the farm much and very seldom does any horse come to visit, though there are adjacent farms where the horses can see one another. We also have a barn worker that comes in from another farm to do stalls, her current rider handles other horses in other locations, the farrier of course touches a lot of horses and farms, and both the farm owner and I handle horses at other facilities.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts, perspectives and experiences.
Member:
scooter

Posted on Saturday, Oct 31, 2009 - 8:58 pm:

Christine, my old girl has gotten the same way I keep my vaccinations to only the essentials with her. My horses live much the same as yours and I have never had a problem with flu or rhino except once when I sent a horse for training (Hank) and he came home with a bug. Surprisingly the older horses didn't seem to be effected by it but the younger ones in the herd got it.

My old mare seems reactive to WNV and Rabies this year I switched brands and all went very well. I didn't even bute the geldings, but was more careful with the mare. I have found when I have the vet give her a vaccination I also have him give her an IV shot of banamine right along with it and give her banamine past for 2 days, it has helped immensely along with the switch in brands...absolutely no reaction from her this year...The year before she acted like she was going to die! Stiff, laying around, depressed.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Oct 31, 2009 - 11:40 pm:

No Chris there still is no good correlation between the titer levels and the degree of protection. I have many horses in the practice that don't travel that we don't give the flu/rhino vaccine. Pretreating with adequate amounts of bute and continued through the historical time span of the problem has never failed me for local reactions but there are several other steps that can be taken that you don't mention. For a complete list see Horse Care » Horse Vaccines, Vaccination, Coggins Test » Vaccines and Adverse Reactions.
DrO
Member:
chrism

Posted on Sunday, Nov 1, 2009 - 11:30 am:

I do see that we can pre-treat with bute and, perhaps, change vaccine suppliers and stagger injections or split out the combis. All are good ideas I will discuss with my vet when we consider alternatives based on titer results.

I also reviewed the vaccination technique article since it is likely I'll be doing whatever we decide to do. I noticed the "green" area on the hind appears to be on the semitendinosis muscle area - is that correct? I've only ever seen the "yellow" rump area used on the hind ... so that may also be a contributor to the stiffness.

When we do the strangles, it is internasal, so that is likely not the culprit.

I'd bet rhino/flu ...

Thanks for getting me oriented to alternatives.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Nov 1, 2009 - 9:51 pm:

You can use either the semitendinosus or semimembranosus muscle bellies. The st is a little easier being more lateral just avoid splitting the two with the injection.

I don't think the area will have a lot to do with the stiffness. The reason I avoid the rump is that abscess complications in this area are a real horror to treat as ventral drainage means it must go through a lot of tissue before it breaks out.
DrO
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