Vaccinations

[fleabitten]

Are they necessary for all horses?

Do you vaccinate your horses and if so, what do you vaccinate against?

Id say tetanus would be a must for all horses but what about flu - i have heard that its only really for horses that come into contact with other horses that they dont live with.

[jane]

I would say that Tetanus is a must, and have always vaccinated against it.

Personally, as I don't travel to shows etc I do not vaccinate for flu any more, I used to when Rockefeller was on a busy yard but I have my own place now and don't really mix with strange horses.

[scattymare]

Sancy has always been done for tet only as she doesn't go anywhere.
Eddie has tet and flu. Would be interested toklnow though, could Eddie 'carry' flu and pass it to Sancy. Obviously we will be getting out and about.
Some people don't bother with flu anymore as theres so many different strains that apparently (though not sure of the truth of it) the vaccination doesn't cover them all anymore.
Tetanus though would never risk without though - especially with how accident prone Sancy is!!

[spotti]

We do Tet and Flu as we're on a busy yard and its just not worth the risk. I think I'd still do them both anyway though even i we were on our own

From what I understand about immunology (how the immune system works), there will never be a vaccination that will always cover a certain 'bug' as they mutate and form various strains which differ slightly from the one vaccinated against. However, by having the vaccination, we are exposing the body's immune system to a non-virulent form of the virus/'bug' which is for all intents and purposes 'dead' (atleast the bits that cause negative effects have been removed, yet the identifying proteins that surround the outside are left intact). This is recognised by the body as a foreign cell/body and the immune system mounts an attack. During this process, the immune system recognises that the 'bug' is not one of its own cells, then searches through its memory bank of pre-recognised intruders to find out if it has killed it before and if so what was the best way of going about it.
With the vaccination of non-virulent cells (albeit for a slightly different strain), the immune system recognises the rough shape and type of 'bug' cell from one kept in its memory bank (from previous vaccinations), and begins its attack, altering it slightly to allow for the mutations of the 'bug' cells.
Without any vaccinations, the body has no pre-recognised 'bug' cells to compare this new intruder to, and so has to got through the entire process of comparing individual parts/proteins of the 'bug' to try and find an immune cell that will fit each part. This is a relatively long process and will cause the animal to display more serious symptoms than an animal that has had a vaccination due to the 'bug' attacking the body cells and causing damage in the time it takes the immune system to mount a response. This process may only be a matter of hours or a few days longer than the one described above, but with serious 'bugs', a few hours/days can be fatal.

Now I'm not saying that all horses/animals should be vaccinated against everything, all of the time, but if the risk of them coming into contact with another horse that has had the vaccination/or a horse that may have already had the 'bug' but no longer suffers from it (because it has its own antibodies) yet could still be a carrier of it, then I personally would get my horse vaccinated. My vet charges me £40 call out and £35 for a vaccination, so £75 in all...personally I'd rather pay this relatively small fee on a yearly basis than have to fork out for bigger vet bills when my horse got ill. But that's just my personal opinion

[spotti]

*** just to add that the reason Faith suffered so severely from Strangles a few years back was because some of the horses on the yard at the time had clearly already come into contact with the 'bugs' and their immune systems fought it off, displaying only minimal symptoms in comparison to those horses that had never met such a 'bug' (i.e. Faith!). The pre-exposed horses showed a snotty nose and a slight tendency to go off their food for a day or two, but unexposed horses faced snotty noses, loss of appetite, abcesses under the chin/on the face, massive weightloss, dehydration and general lethargy.
It took Faith almost 2 weeks of snotty noses for the abcesses to show up, and then a further 2+ weeks for the newly burst abcesses to have dried up enough to allow them to heal. She was kept in isolation for over 2 months so as not to infect the other horses. Had she been vaccinated/met the 'bugs' before, she'd have displayed the 2 day snotty nose and then would have been back to normal again...we were lucky that she didn't catch the bastard form of the strangles virus where the abcesses form on the inside of the throat...if she had, 2 weeks would have been far too late...

[solomon]

I vaccinate think people that don't just ride their luck and take advantage of the reduced problem which those that vaccinate cause.

[zara]

Unfortunately "strangles" is a bacterial infection where as "flu" is a virus. The majority of diseases which can be vaccinated against are viral in origin. A "strangles" vaccine did come onto the market about 4 - 5 years ago but was ? withdrawn due to ?its effectiveness and the side effects that horses suffered.

I have AJ vaccinated against flu and tetanus as a precaution but mainly 'cos he's on a busy yard and it is compulsory. Of note 3 horses died in my area a couple of years ago from tetanus. Complacency can come from the fact that a disease becomes extinct due to vaccination but as soon as we stop vaccinating it will re-appear - measles, mumps and TB are good human examples.
Zx

[fleabitten]

Thats interesting. It seems nearly as complicated as worming though!

[haffyfan]

Mine only have Tet these days.
Murph and several others on the yard I use to be at in S Yorks contrated a flu type virus (Vet would not say flu just a virus of upper respiritary tract) despite being vacinated...

[brigadier]

I do both, but not because I totally believe that it is necessary to do so, more because its a safeguard when travelling/competing. I think the tetanus lasts longer than the required two years, but because you have to do the jab and booster again if you go longer than this I make sure it is done as advised. Same with flu also. I think dog vaccinations are worthwile when they are pups but as they get older? Just not sure we dont fork out money because its advised but is it really necessary in animals that develop immunity naturally as they get older?

[fleabitten]

yes, thats a good question brig. i was wondering that too....