flu jab gone wrong

only_me

only_me

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My horse was injected yesterday with the flu vaccine, and seemed alright last night when i checked him. I did not ride as the weather was horrible so instead I gave him a 30 minute groom.
Today, his neck is very sore and he is sore to touch, but he can stretch down and eat haylege and his feed and has also rolled when I put a new bale of shavings in.

The other horse on the yard is very badly affected, as he also got a microchip as well as vaccine. his neck is slightly swollen and it is incredibly sore to touch - he wont let you. He could not lie down last night so YO called vet in the morning and he thought he was very bad so gave him some very strong painkillers, and tonight he has been able to eat and is more interester. however he tried to roll and could not, as he found it very sore on his neck.

Vet came out again tonight to see my friend's horse, and gave him some more painkiller. He had a brief look at my horse, and agreed that he was sore as he would not let the vet touch him, but he is not so bad to need painkillers.

Do any of you know how long the soreness will last for? I have an assessment for a busuary for eventing next friday and need to have me and him going well by the start of next week preferbly.
Also do you have any experience of a flu jab gone wrong?
 
I understand you have different laws out in the UK, but I would not inject any of my horses if there was a major event coming up that they had to train for.

Luckily it should be fine by the weekend - what you are likely experiencing is initial shock to the area as a foriegn body was injected. Once it starts process, it will heal fairly quickly!

A good trick to remember is once your horse has an injection give the area a good rub. This starts to break down the medication making it easier for the horse to process.
 
I had the same experience on an old mare of mine and she ended up with a whopper of an abscess and me with a whopping vets bill for medication, drainage etc. All you can do is keep your eye on it,heat packs on the area and feed/water him so that he doesnt have to lower his head . Hope he feels better soon. Mairi.
smile.gif
 
This happened to my lil cob when he had his jab last time, small swelling, couldn't move his neck, couldn't eat etc was buted up to the eyeballs for a couple of days and thankfuly it went down, when i spoke to the vet he said to have his jab done in his boob next time so i shall do that this year and see what happens,
 
My horse was always stiff for a day or too after any jab in his neck. Only lasted a maximum of 48 hours though. His microchip made him sore too, but not the others on the yard. I guess, like people, some feel pain and discomfort more than others.

Keep it warm and it should be fine by the weekend.
 
We had one go wrong once.
Area swelled up HUGE, and had to be cut to let all infected gunk out. It really stank and he needed stiches in the hole and everything, but this was a very extreme response. Couldn't eat of the floor so raised up food and when out field (as summer) would eat up hill and spread his legs like a giraffe does!!!
 
My horse had a bad reaction to his flu jab last summer. He ended up with a large neck abscess. Had to call the vet out who injected him with pain killer and intravenous antibiotics, plus gave me more in powder form. I applied hot fomentations and used hypericum homeopathic remedy. It took him 2 weeks to get over it and he could not bend his neck for a few days to reach his water bucket so I had to put water in his wall mounted feed manger.

Next time I will try it in his chest so if he reacts again it will be in a better place to drain.
 
My young AA mare's neck went rigid for two days after her second flu jab. First evening there was a lump the size of your fist but by the morning she could only hold her neck out in front of her, she couldn't get her head down to the floor and had to be fed on an upturned feed bin and have her water on one too. She was a very very sad sight. After two days the stiffness wore off fast and she wasn't left with an abscess or anything.
 
This is why , due to the complexity of the tissue in the neck we never have a flu jab in the neck. Always either the rump or more usually the brisket as this is an area easy to treat and it drains more effectively if there is any absess.
Reaction to the flu jab is more common than you think and is more likely to be connected to, the the combined flu and tetanus, it is the tetanus they seem to be more sensative too.
 
my horse bless him he is dead now, not from the injection.
had been injected every year for about 20 years then had a reaction to the next one. he ended up having a huge abcess in his neck and eventually ended up at potters bar hospital where he had to under go an operation to have the abcess removed. when they removed it they found lots of underlying abcessess about 20 in all. (Ended up on television with Rolf Harris) Stayed at the hospital four weeks in all.
I spoke to the vet and was a bit angrey. The vet contact the manufacturers of the vaccine and admitted it may have been a bad batch so the manufacturers met the bill about £4000 in total. defo have it checked and if it doesn't improve start moaning about being a bad batch etc etc.
none of my horses get any injections in their necks now...............
 
yep, i've had problems. i had one who seemed to get flu from it, spent a week coughing, looking terrible, lying down as much as possible, had no energy at all, poor lad. had to get the vet back twice.
one i sold had similar probs to yours, eventually had to go and stay at the vets for IV etc etc, it took a few months for her to come right.
i've seen a horse who got a huge haematoma after a routine fluvac, put him out of action for about 3 weeks.
sorry, really hope your lad makes a good and quick recovery!
check with your vet that he used the type of needle that opens a flap of skin and slides under it, not the older type that punches a hole and can push the middle bit of the hole (i.e. the skin part) in with the liquid, if you see what i mean. that's the type that causes infections etc i think.
well, that was how my vet friend explained it to me...
 
Similarly to Samerlin, my horse had an abscess after a jab (before I got him) where the drug company admitted that they were at fault and picked up the tab. I believe that he spent almost a month at the vet's because of it.

Isabelle
 
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