do you vaccinate?

[Tinsel Town]

Yes for tet and flu, my new horse had lapsed when I bought him so I had to start again but its peace of mind knowing he's covered

 

[MileAMinute]

Yep, and he's booked in ready next week for his booster

 

[Devonshire dumpling]

I would lay odds on that your vet is young!

Way before flu vaccine was brought out, I witnessed several horses seriously ill and left with problems after a bad outbreak of flu.

The reason that flu is not seen is because most people do have their horses inoculated against it.

Read about what happened in Australia a couple of years ago when equine flu was brought into the country, many many horses died as a result of infection. so for any vet to say it isn't life threatening would be reason for me to say "Cheerio" to them.

She's my friend....... not my vet... and also 55yrs
I won't be vaccinating for flu for my own reasons tho, my lovely strapping ex national hunt horse, who was fit as a flea and hunting regularily was started off on flu jabs and went very wobbly on his legs 4 days post vaccine, he had a massive heart murmour that wasn't present pre vaccine, it finished his career as a riding horse...... maybe it was some massive coincidence, but I shall just stick to Tet.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Mine are jabbed against tetanus, a horrendous disease that is normally untreatable & fatal & as they compete they are also jabbed for flu.

 

[CL66]

Used to but not going to anymore

 

[RealityCheck]

Used to but not going to anymore

Can I ask why?

 

[Ibblebibble]

Yes, vet out this afternoon to vaccinate.

lol same here which is what made me ask

so can i ask CL66 why you aren't going to?

one of mine (bought beginning of summer) is overdue and i am going to hang on until my other mare is due to get her restarted so that they will tie in together in future, having 4 to do i like to spread costs by having 2 one year and 2 the next

 

[CL66]

I've recently done a lot of research into vaccines and decided that I'd rather not put the ingredients into my animals year on year. Even my vet agreed that it's unnecessary every years no research has been done in how long they last. Our boosters don't need doing every year do why should animals? I may have their titers checked every few years to see if they're still immune. It has nothing to do with cost. At rising 22 I think my horse has had more than enough jabs to get a level of immunity

 

[vickyb]

I lost a youngster to tetanus, I'd only had him a few weeks. I was going to get him done when my other pony was due, after all, I thought, what could happen? Well, I found him in the field and knew straight away he had tetanus (he had been ok the previous evening) even though I had never seen it before - I had read enough about it to recognise the symptoms. It was terribly distressing for the pony and everyone else who was involved. He was PTS within the hour. So yes, I would always make sure horses tet. vaccines are up to date, and also MINE as well. It is a truly horrible disease.

 

[Always Henesy]

Horses - always flu & ABSOLUTELy Tetanus...
Dogs - No
Cats - No
Children - yes

 

[flitz02]

Even though we dont go out & about to competitions anymore i do still vaccinate as others on the yard do still go out & about..My vets also do an annual health check which includes vaccination,teeth,trot up & worm count for £99 which i think is excellent value.

 

[glenruby]

Cl66 - tbf if you had done your research correctly you would know that your mare will not have "had more than enough jabs to get a level of immunity". EXCEPT for tetanus where research does indicate this is true. The flu strains included in the flu vaccines change every few years, therefore your mare will not have had multiple identical flu vaccines to build immunity. Secondly, just like in humans and all other species, the immune system weakens with age and thus the aged become more prone to infections. So, while for dogs and cats I thoroughly agree that vaccination regularly is not absolutely necessary ( and a scientific paper was presented at the wsava conference in 2009 which said that (iirc) most vaccines in cats/dogs would control infants sufficiently following vaccination at 3-4 yr intervals), the same doesn't hold true for horses.
Also horses live in much more high risk environments than most humans so difficult to compare vaccination protocols.
On the other hand, if you are testing titre levels then there isn't an issue I guess as long as you are topping up vaccines as and when indicated.

 

[ridefast]

Yes flu and tet. It's once a year, it's not expensive and I would rather that small cost than have my horse get ill.

 

[CL66]

I was asked why I don't and am totally comfortable with my decision. I'm talking about tetanus, my horse lives out and isn't competing or travelling so not worried about flu. Which like in humans changes frequently. A weakened immune system won't make a difference to something you're immune against, but things like flu that mutate fair enough. Though I've not looked into whether they do change flu vaccines in horses like they do humans so I'm a bit sceptical.

 

[carthorse15]

I may be completely wrong about this, but I'm sure in my insurance small print (Scottish Equestrian) there was a clause that horse must be fully vaccinated for flu and tet - and I'm pretty sure this was one of my deciding factors for doing it at the time. Don't have a horse just now so can't check policy.

 

[Ibblebibble]

I've recently done a lot of research into vaccines and decided that I'd rather not put the ingredients into my animals year on year. Even my vet agreed that it's unnecessary every years no research has been done in how long they last. Our boosters don't need doing every year do why should animals? I may have their titers checked every few years to see if they're still immune. It has nothing to do with cost. At rising 22 I think my horse has had more than enough jabs to get a level of immunity

thank you for being honest i have often wondered about the 'lifespan' of the tet jab and whether biannual boosters are necessary. the 2 boys i had done today were 3 months overdue and the vet wasn't worried at all, my old vet would have insisted on starting again
it would be interesting to get titre tests done in 2 years time to see what the levels are like, perhaps i'll ask vet if they can do it

 

[CL66]

No I phoned both my companies-PetPlan and nfu-you're just not covered if they contract a vaccine preventable disease for treatment of that disease