Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Over Vaccination

So much of horse care has changed over the years as more information becomes known. One example is worming. Instead of doing one program for all horses, a lot of owners run fecals and personalize worming for each horse's needs. On the other hand, vaccinations have not changed and have even increased.
Years ago when we were dealing with Sherman's sarcoid, Joyce Harman told us not to give him vaccinations. Since he was not healthy, he should not get shots. We ran titers ( a serological test for antibodies) on both Barry and Sherman to see where they were for protection. When we found they were protected, we did not repeat vaccines for a few years. This is a practice we have continued with the horses we own now.

Rosemary was vaccinated during her pregnancy so that she could pass the necessary antibodies onto Roscoe. Though the vaccines were needed, they did have a negative effect. Her "scar" turned into a growing sarcoid. You all know the battle that followed. When we vaccinated last year, she did not get any shots. Unfortunately Winston did just before his laminitis diagnosis. He also has a history of carcinomas and a few of those appeared during the last year.
One thing we do not give to any of our animals is the flu vaccine. They have found it is not effective and can be more stressful to the animal. I know most people are stuck with boarding barn requirements, but if more people question over vaccination there is more chance for change. Changing barns caused us to change vets which means we have to explain all over again. That combined with seeing a recent article Joyce wrote brought the issue to the forefront for me. I think it is something we all need to read about and process. Think about the last time you got vaccines. Did you get all the types every year and maybe even twice a year? Probably not. Have you noticed that even though you live on one coast your horse still gets the other coasts encephalomyelitis
vaccine too?
We monitor our horses' food, shoes, turnout, blanketing and worming, but we blindly follow a generic vaccination plan.  Take an hour and read Joyce's article here. It will help explain the side of vaccines we don't see and will show alternatives to the traditional methods.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the link to the article - super interesting. I just had the vet out today for shots but I'm pretty happy with him, he won't vaccinate if there is no need due to the particular living situation and doesn't advocate getting all the vaccines every year. While he's more 'strict' than that article indicates he may need to be, I'm happy enough taking the middle ground. The one 'extra' thing I do opt to get is a west nile shot, since it's in our general area and horses die every year. We do the fecal thing and only worm when necessary - and so far it hasn't been!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like you have a great vet, glad he looks at place and needs. We did West Nile last year too. Glad you enjoyed the article.

      Delete
  2. Thank you for this post!! I wish more people would do this. If you don't mind me asking how much do titers cost you? How many years do the vaccines tend to last? If this is in the article just ignore me. I'm going to read it, but it probably won't be tonight.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, so glad you like the post. I debated whether or not to do it. In the end the article was so informative I felt I needed to write about it. She goes through each vaccine, so those questions will be answered when you read it. As for titers, it depends on the lab. I cannot remember what we paid since it was part of a larger bill.

      Delete