Vaccine question

[MarePower]

Ahhh..vaccines..

some rabies vaccines are labeled for small animals and horses some are not. The vaccines we carry in our hospital (rabies) are labeled for dogs/cats/goats and sheep. No horses..so I have to run to the other side of town and get some from a large animal vet I know. I vaccinate for rabies as the rate of rabid animals down here is pretty high (FL) and we just had a positive raccoon pretty near me

I am on such a fence about the rest of them. In the past I have vaccinated for WEE/EEE and tetnus every 6 months, WNV every 6 months, rabies and rhino yearly. I don't usually vaccinate for anything else (strangles and PHF). There has been so much controversy about over-vaccinating our animals that now I am not sure what to do. I am thinking of running titers this year to see where their vaccination status is instead of just blindly vaccinating. Not too expensive for me..but for those not in the vet field titers are much more expensive then vaccinating.

The lady I board with does not vaccinate for anything. I mean nothing. She feels her barn is fairly closed and her horses are taken care of and that the chances of them getting something is slim. Is this true? To a point yes...and yet...not always.

For dogs and cats..the recommendations are to vaccinate with the puppy/kitten series (3 shots 3 weeks apart) and then a year after their last vaccine and then to not vaccinate after that...run titers and vaccinate as needed. Or to vaccinate every 3 years. I personally vaccinate my dogs/cats for rabies only (after their initial puppy/kitten series). That is just my personal deal. I keep them on heartworm prevention year round.

See...what I mean..the subject of vaccines....lots to think about. I guess it all depends on where you live and the lifestyle/living arrangements of your horses. Does anyone else NOT vaccinate at all???

[tina]

here in my part of NY most everyone does horse rabbis vaccines, I had Tangos done in the fall. My dogs have always gotten a 3 year, the first year as a puppy they always get a 1 year and then 3 year after that. Im going to start giving the west nile vaccine also this spring on Tango and any other horses I might have(my dog has it and also a lyme), Im not taking any chances since its defianetly out there. Doe anyone do lyme vaccine on thier horses...Ive always worried about my dog since I had a friend who raises, shows and breeders mastiffs and she had 2 come down with lyme, one really bad. Do horses get lyme even? I have always done all vaccines myself and my old vet just signed that they had been done but since that was years ago I have a new vet so I am just having him do them. After we are settled on thefarm and I have nmore horses I will probably do them and save that much money, it so much cheaper doing it on ur own. So anyone know about the lyme in horses?

[Einstein]

Tracie, I loff your picture!
I do almost the same, intial puppy and then rabies. I ONLY do Bordatella if boarding, and haven't done Lyme and Giardia yet.

As for my boys, I let Steve decide. I never really learned what horses need/get, so I let him, but I DO tetnus every 6 months. I will do WNV this year, lots of horses had it in Colorado last summer/fall. Too scary.

[MarePower]

Michelle: thanks! I love that picture. One of the girls I work with snuck down to the barn and took the picture for me. She framed it and has two brass name tags with their names on it on the frame underneath their respective pictures. The best gift I have gotten I think...such a nice thought!


Tina: Horses do get lyme disease...and in some cases it is one of the things they check when a horse has been lame either off and on or when the lameness changes legs. The same is true in dogs...we test for lyme when they have intermittent unexplained lameness. I am not too sure about a vaccine for Lyme in horses...I know they have one for dogs but horses I am not too sure. I have never seen it but that doesn't mean a thing. Maybe someone else on the board knows. Although I did have some horses medicine in school...mostly they concentrated on small animals. So I am sure that some of the gals on this board who work primarily with horses might know if there is a vaccine...