Vaccination Schedule?

[SkyWarrior]

Today I was over in Murdochs and was looking at the vaccines. By chance, I came across their recommended vaccination schedule. They were saying to vaccinate a horse every 2-3 months on just about everything except WNV. Whaaat? Is this right?

What do you do? I thought I was doing good just getting my girls vaccinated yearly. What about autoimmune problems?

Thoughts?

 

[goodhors]

We called the vaccine makers about that constant re-vaccination idea. They say that
with the yearly booster, those annual vaccinations should provide enough protection
to keep your animals healthy. They have had to test and show results to the Feds
before meds are allowed to be used. Trials with blind studies to prove if the meds
last effectively. Research is quite expensive, not usually recouped quickly in the
new vaccines for old diseases. We go with the recommends from the vaccine
makers over gossip or other folks methods.

Our horses got the initial two shots to set up immunity, now get boostered yearly as
recommended. We go the mimimal approach, horses have stayed healthy,
even when out exposed to many other animals at shows and competitions. One
horse got Potomac last year, which we don't vaccinate for. We caught it very
early, she recovered. We don't vaccinate for Potomac because the vaccines have
not proven effective locally. The Potomac virus has mutated so fast, now has many
strains that vaccines don't cover. All the horses we know that died of the Potomac
WERE vaccinated. Our Vets blame snails on grass, rather than bugs for spreading it. So any
wet areas in fields can be a problem. Not passed horse to horse. We figure there
was nothing we could have done to protect her. There are no NEW Potomac vaccines,
or listed strains of the disease. We were just glad to spot her runny
poop, which changed from green to colorless in an hour, so we could call the Vet
quickly.

Vets seem to each have their own idea on shots, some of which are too bizarre for
my way of thinking. Seems that everyone thinks "If a little is good, giving it often
is BETTER!" Many Vets want to keep the customers happy, so they vaccinate as
requested. Other Vets think it keeps the protective titer levels higher. Some
locations have specific problems to deal with, so they may have higher success
with certain protocals not used any other places. You can always run a titer count
on your animal, see if he is carrying a protective level for each specific disease.

Husband works with a lot of horses, hears all the gossip, knows folks working at
the local College Vet Clinic. The problem seen now at the Clinic is horses with
germs that are resistant to treatment. A number of these sick horses had no
response to even the strongest antibiotics available. They died because germs
had been getting boostered so often, they developed immuntiy to everything.
They are known as "super bugs" and you just can't do anything to kill them
in the animal. Clinic sees this as the next major problem with equine disease.

Most folks administering antibiotics just grab something and give it until animal
"looks better". Person may have no clue what problem they are dealing with,
seldom give ENOUGH antibiotic to actually KILL the germs. Each time the germ
fights off the lesser dose and not killed, the germ gets stronger, more immune
to antibiotics that will get used on the next illness.

This same kind of "animal treatment" is going on in all species, with recommends from
everyone and anyone on how to fix a sick animal. No one wants to pay the Vet
for specifics. Usually person doesn't give meds long enough to kill the germ, IF
they are even giving the right medicines.

Horse folk are among the worst, busy "preventing" any sickness that might interfere
with showing or competition of their animals. Some folks seem to dispense flu
shots like treats! Horses get them to "prevent" sick time off every month or so.
I was quite shocked to learn this myself, but NOTHING gets in their way to collect
points for year end awards!!

You have to read and learn the current information yourself. Ask questions of
your Vet, listen to second-hand information from other horse owners to figure
questions you need answers to. Like this vaccine one! I want reasonable explanations
to these questions, depth, so I can make choices. I don't often find the popular
horsey magazine articles to have any depth or real information about the topic.
Seem to often be scare tactics trying to panic folks. I get so angry reading
articles in Equus, all headline and very little usable information. Could be they
just have poor article writers!!

Hope this is a bit helpful on your question.

 

[chubbydog811]

I wouldn't vaccinate more than once a year. Some people do twice a year around here. It just depends who you ask!
I don't vaccinate at all. Haven't in about 5 years and all my horses are still alive and kicking. We don't really have any need to vaccinate. In addition to what goodhors said, also compare what you are vaccinating for to what is actually going around your area. May not need it, even more so if you aren't traveling with your animal. The only one that I might consider giving is WNV, but, I have also heard of more horses still contracting it even when vaccinated - so what is the point?
Could definitely consult your vet as well to see what they recommend for your area.

 

[SkyWarrior]

Thank you goodhors for such a thoughtful reply -- and thank you, chubbydog!

I've done quite a bit of veterinary work on my own pets, seeing as I raced sled dogs for years. I've also seen autoimmune proreblems crop up because we vaccinated too much by following "recommendations."


That being said, the once a year vaccination program seems the way to go for us. I am not averse to using antibiotics when required, but I won't use them routinely. My thought is that there are enough antibiotic-resistant bugs out there.

My horses don't get exposed regularly to other horses, but I know that mosquitoes and flies can carry all sorts of nasties. One of our horses wasn't vaccinated at all in the first 15 years of her life and somehow made it through, so I figure that a once a year vaccination is okay.

I find the whole concept of vaccinating every month or every two or three months to be horrifying. These people are damaging their horses' immune systems for showing? It certainly isn't worth that, IMO.

 

[CritterZone]

I'm going to guess that the vaccination schedule was probably produced by a vaccine manufacturer? Unfortunately, they are in the business to make a profit and the more you vaccinate, the higher their profit margins. The best thing to do is ask your vet or local extension office (if you still have one), what is the recommended vaccination schedule for horses in your area. They should give you different schedules based on the needs of your horses. Do you haul out to shows every weekend? Do you board? Do you have drop-ins at your place? Do you horses just hang out at your farm, and get ridden locally, only occasionally being trailered out? There really isn't one schedule that works for everyone, everywhere. I looked at web sites for two vets who are located near me, and only a few miles from each other, and they had different opinions on what needs to be given and when. Everyone seems to agree that all horses should be vaccinated for rabies, and that is the one vaccine that most people cannot buy and adminster themselves.

Interestingly, there was an article in a magazine recently - I would have to dig a bit to find which one - who was adamant about horse owners NOT vaccinating their own horses. I thought it was interesting given that the same month, in another leading horse magazine, there was an article about how few large animal vets there are, especially in rural areas, and how many horse owners are not able to get a vet to their ranch.

 

[yankee'n'moxie]

Personally, my horses just get vaccinated once per year. We do bare minimums here, as my horses don't go to any shows. The only horses that they come into contact with are a friend's horses, who do get vaccinated. Therefore, my horses get ONLY Rabies and Tetanus shots. Just to be safe, because those are the things that they could come into contact with without going anywhere.

I think that vaccinated ever few months is going to RUIN horse's immune systems and livelihood!

 

[goodhors]

Well, reading the information that comes with vaccines, I haven't found a single one
that says they need frequent "boosters" as heard quoted by some Vets. The paperwork
of Vaccines we use, all say two shots to develop immunity, then a yearly booster to
keep immunity up in protective numbers within the equine.

If the Vaccine Companies producing the meds wanted to "Sell MORE" it seems they
would PRINT instructions with the meds calling for more boostering! Not what I
read in those instructions, so I blame the "more is better" kind of thinking, some
Vets creating doubt in the customer about effectiveness of protection without MORE
boostering shots to horse. Not a Company thing, but a more local level of thought
that leads to extra shots, thinking it is helpful as protection.

Our horses do go out and about, may or may not be stabled with others overnight
to be touching noses. I endeavor to be very careful about horse touching, but ours
are so tall they just reach up and over stall tops! I never share water buckets, let
them graze at shows. We have brought home some bugs, usually with the young
horses who haven't gained immunity yet. You can only do the best you can, and
sometimes it is better to let them get sick the once and they ARE immune after.

So we do vaccinate, but pick and choose what we give. I do
believe the Rabies is pretty required, since there are usually several cases of horses
bitten by rabid animals each year in this State and not that far away. Rabies shot
protects ME and family members if horse gets bitten. We don't have to get the shot series
to protect ourselves. I get the barn cats Rabies vaccinated for the same reason.
We get Strangle shots, dead virus form, have not had any bad horse reactions to it.
This is because husband runs into Strangles contaminated barns
in his Farrier route, but USUALLY is not told they HAVE Strangles on the place until
AFTER he has worked on the horses and is contaminated himself!! He then has to
shower, change his clothes or call to cancel the rest of the days' work to not infect
those following barns. We have seen the nasal Strangles vaccine fail more than one time,
so we don't use it. Those folks had DEAD horses in the barn. We also give the
6-way shot, with the Tetnus, three of the E types, couple Flu types included.

Shots are given a week apart for boosters. No giving all the vaccinations on the same
day, have seen quite a few bad reactions to that, including colic and Founder. Since we
give shots ourselves, we can do this and not pay for multiple Vet visits. Some owners
prefer the Vet, who then has records of the animal being vaccinated if needed. Your choice and cost.

We do our shots in early part of the year, to get the animals protected before the bugs
get going. With the flying insects, it is easy to spread disease if the neighbors don't
vaccinate, seen that happen to. I firmly believe that vaccines are helpful, if they are
kept up with mutations of diseases. Potomac has not kept up, and the talks about West
Nile are asking lots of questions about vaccine effectiveness these days. We STILL
don't have a vaccine for EIA, which is what we all get Coggins tests for, and have been
tested for over 35 years now. No vaccine for Lyme either, another 20 year old problem.