This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » First Aid » Anaphylactic Shock in Horses »
  Discussion on Reaction to Vaccine
Author Message

Posted on Friday, Aug 2, 2002 - 9:39 am:

My young gelding reacted to his shots a few days ago. He had flu/rhino, west nile, and the nasal strangles. We don't know for sure which one he reacted to, but I just wanted to let everyone know. Dr. O., I thought you might want this for an example. In other words, you can now say, "one person I know had their horse react to this". This was the first time he had had the nasal strangles, all the others he had had before. I don't know whether it was only the strangles, or the combination.
He is fine now, just had us really scared for a few hours.
Alicia

Posted on Saturday, Aug 3, 2002 - 7:15 am:

What type reaction did he have Alicia?
DrO

Posted on Monday, Aug 5, 2002 - 10:05 am:

He got his shots around 5. I left the barn around 6. I didn't ride, and gave both bute (one tablet).
About an hour after I left, here is what was described to me.
One of the students told my trainer Guinness was laying down out in the field, which he will do from time to time, but not regularly enough not to cause worry. My trainer went out to get him up, she said she had a very hard time doing so. She decided to bring him in, as he was covered from head to toe in sweat, and was breathing very rapidly. He went down three times on the way in. After she got him in, she noticed again the hightened respiratory rate, but said she did hear gut sounds. She didn't think to check his temp. Anyway, she hosed him off and gave him a shot of banamine (she assumed he was colicing), and walked him around for a while. When I got the message, I called, and he had had the banamine about 15 minutes earlier. She said he looked normal, and was getting his personality back. She asked if it was OK if she left him in, and I agreed. I got a call back a few minutes later from her saying he was getting upset about being in, so we put him out. No site reaction the next day, temperature normal, and he was bright and eating and drinking normally. I assumed the reaction, if that is what it was, was from the Strangles, or he would have had a lump on one of the injection sites.
Alicia

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 6, 2002 - 6:21 am:

No, your assumption is incorrect. This may have been a bout of colic, based on clinical signs and response to Banamine, and may or may not have been related to vaccination. I don't think so but cannot be sure. If this was vaccine induced the injections would far and away be more likely to having caused a systemic reaction of this type in this time frame and there would not have to be a local reaction to have a systemic one.
DrO

Posted on Friday, Aug 9, 2002 - 9:34 am:

Dr. O,
I should have e mailed you back about this before. He has developed a large lump on one side of his neck. It developed about two days after the reaction. Or, that's when I noticed it. He is black, and has a muscular neck anyway, so the lump was hard to see. The lump is still there (it's now been 10 days). Yesterday, I groomed him while he was eating in his stall, and he was very sensitive to being touched anywhere on that side of his neck, from his jowl to the base of the neck. He kept thowing his head up to avoid the contact. I finally got closer to him and held his head close to me while I finished grooming. This always calms him down, and he didn't protest again. I don't remember which of the two, WNV or flu/rhino, he had on that side of the neck. My other horse usually reacts to the flu/rhino by being sore and stiff, but we seem to have headed that off with bute the day of the shots. She had a slight swelling, but nothing like she normally has, and she seemed fine.
My doctors seem reluctant to try the nasal flu/rhino. Can you suggest a way to get them to try it? Both my horses were very good about the nasal Strangles.
Alicia

Posted on Saturday, Aug 10, 2002 - 6:59 am:

Hello Alicia,
Go to the article on influenza, Equine Diseases: Respiratory System: Nasal Discharge, Cough, and Fever, and cut and print out the area in the Scientific Reports that is concerned with testing the efficacy of the intranansal vaccine. If that does not convince them to switch from the injections all of which are of questionable effectiveness, and a fairly high rate of soreness, I do not know what will.
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Aug 10, 2002 - 8:44 am:

Can't remember all details of conversation with my vet over the different ways to vaccinate for flu this spring BUT we did talk about the injection versus intranasal and went with intranasal because, and think have details correct on this, while may not cover all the new strains and varieties available such as are advertised for one new injectable vaccine IT DOES work on strains it covers more effectively, not sure about longer duration, and with far less trauma to the horse. My vet has graduate degree and taught at vet school before joining a practice here so by and large trust his judgment almost as much as Dr O's. Grin.

Also, I bet if you were to poll other HA members you would find many whose vets recommend intranasal. Right now we have a high concentration of vets experienced with young stock in town for the yearling sales. I'll ask a few I know what their flu vacc practice is and report back on Tuesday.

Of course all this gilding the lily of Dr O's advice that I think should provide conclusive reasoning/evidence.

And a question, I do not give any painkillers after horses receive vaccinations. Should I change my routine? If so, what is best, bute, banamine, etc.? I do up their yeast/probiotics.

Posted on Sunday, Aug 11, 2002 - 10:51 am:

One of the interesting things about the intranasal Fiona that is discussed in some of those scientific reports, is that there is a high degree of cross protection at least with the strains that have been tested. This is not thought to be true with the injections.

Heska is guaranteeing their vaccine: you will not have influenza for 6 months following the administration or they will reimburse you the cost of the vaccine, diagnosis, and treatment. They think their product is pretty good.
DrO

Posted on Monday, Aug 12, 2002 - 9:45 am:

Dr. O,
I will do as you suggested and print out the article. I will request the Heska vaccine.
Thanks,
Alicia

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 13, 2002 - 2:47 pm:

Alicia, I agree with Dr. O that the Intranasal Strangles is safe BUT you need to be careful about administering it.
Did the vet do the Intranasal and the injections at the same time?
The first year we used it that's what our vet did and 1/2 the horses (8 out of 19) ended up with abscesses on their necks. One horse had sneezed about 1/2 way down the line and evidently the stuff carried on their clothes was enough to contaminate the injection sites. Some had large abscesses that had to be lanced several times. It took almost two months for the hardest hit to recover.

FYI the information on this site is very specific about not administering it at the time of injections. It's really common sense but sometime in the confusion of administering vaccines to a group of horses.......... I was a new horse owner then, I've learned to not be shy about asking questions now.

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 14, 2002 - 7:14 am:

Hello All,
What I do is go through and give all the injections first and then when done, give the intranasal strangles. This prevents any problems yet I don't have to make two trips to the barn.
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 14, 2002 - 11:44 am:

All,
Well, I decided after all this not to give the strangles or flu/rhino any more at all. After all, they can't (or at least don't usually) die from any of those anyway. My gelding has started tossing his head now. This started a week after the reaction. He does it all the time in his stall, not when riding. I am going to get the allergy series done just in case, but it seems to me that this can't be a coincidence. Anyway, he still does have the lump, but they both took the strangles very well, and neither sneezed.
Alicia

Posted on Thursday, Aug 15, 2002 - 6:27 am:

What allergy series is that Alicia?
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Aug 15, 2002 - 9:00 am:

The allergy series I was referring to is blood sent to a clinic in Texas that gives you the things the horse is allergic to. They regionally bias the things to test. Since I wrote that last note, however, he has not tossed his head again. I truly believe the head shaking was/is part of the reaction to the vaccine(s). I may be wrong, but that is my gut feeling. Anyway, in researching head tossing, I found that lots of research seems to have been done recently. I saw cures listed from melatonin to nose sprays. There is a company called Capstar that claims they have cured 95 percent of shakers (and others are greatly reduced, but not "cured"). If he does it again, I plan on trying those routes. One thing the research suggested was that it could be a gutteral pouch infection, which was the only thing that seemed urgent. That would show up as a swelled area behind the jowl, and his temperature would be elevated, right?

Posted on Friday, Aug 16, 2002 - 6:12 am:

Hello Alicia,
I think I would save my money and give the place on the neck time to heal before running these allergy tests whose accuracy is not even controversial: they do not work. Concerning head shaking I think you could be correct: if there is still a inflammatory reaction at the injection site this may be the reason for the problem. Concerning head shaking see, Training Horses: Behavioral Problems: Head Shaking.
DrO

Posted on Friday, Aug 16, 2002 - 10:29 am:

Dr. O,
I think you, and I, were right. His head shaking seems to have been a result of the reaction to the shot. The lump is now gone, and he is not shaking anymore. This is the second day I have not seen anything at all. I rode him yesterday, and, other than being lethargic and not happy about the hard footing outside (we haven't had rain in a long time), he was fine. So, my conclusion is that I am not giving those vaccines (Strangles and flu/rhino) again.
On a side note, for some reason, the spell check is underlining all the "I"s in this post. Just to let you know.
Alicia
Home Page | Top of Page | Join Us!
Horseadvice.com is a BBB Accredited Business. Click for the BBB Business Review of this Horse Training in Stokesdale NC