Foals and Tetnus

L

luckilotti

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 January 2006
Messages
2,176
Location
Lancashire
hillhousestables.co.uk
hi
at the moment, i keep hearing of people who have lost foals (previous seasons) to Tetnus.

i was wondering is this really common??? i know i spoke to my vet about it last week when they came to swab one of my mares but with one due this year (my 1st) i'm getting worried!
from those who have told me of their losses, some have said the mares were not vacinated etc but some, wont say that as the cause.
the vet and i were talking about how they can jab the foals if they get a scrape etc up until they are 4months old but they also said, they could end up with a lot of scrapes!

i'm guess i'm just looking to find out how common it is to lose a foal in that way?
 
I too have heard some horror stories and to me, it seems utterly stupid not to take the right precautions to prevent a tragedy with tetanus.
I always make sure my mares are completely up to date with their vaccinations and if necessary I will bring booster dates forward to make sure they are topped up before they foal rather than leave it if they're not due jabs for a couple of months afterwards. This will give the foal better cover. I also have the vet check over mare and foal as soon after foaling as possible, certainly within 18 hours, earlier if I suspect a problem. They will also check heart and lungs of the foal, give them an anti biotic jab and a tet' one too which will cover them until they are able to start their own course of jabs. I'll always start the jabs so that they can have had the second one before they are weaned, that way I know they are well covered at their almost most vulnerable time.
Hope this helps although I know a lot will do things differently.
 
IME foals have never had a flu jab before the age of 5 months. Tet on day one though, possibly also with AB's. Also an IgG blood taken to check the passive transfer of immunity from the colostrum. Though many only do this blood test if a they suspect a problem.
 
[ QUOTE ]
IME foals have never had a flu jab before the age of 5 months. Tet on day one though, possibly also with AB's.

[/ QUOTE ]

i wonder why my vets have said 4 months? seems silly as i will want the foal to have them as soon as possible really after all of the stories i have heard.
 
If you give your mare a booster 4-6 weeks before she foals then the foal should get plenty of antibodies against tetanus from colostrum. This will last for 12-16 weeks, and then you can vaccinate the foal.

Vaccination before this time is not advised because the maternally derived antibodies blocks a good response to the vaccine. Tetanus antiserum is not a great alternative as it can cause some nasty side effects.

You can start vaccinating the foal early if your mare has not been vaccinated but this is a poor substitute for the protection obtained from the colostrum of a fully vaccinated mare.
 
Had vet out today for routine jabs on an older horse, will look up what was used later as I have left the passport outside and cant be ars*ed to go get it, but that particular vaccine is a 2 yr dose and the book recommends foals from 3 mts of age.

Have asked about titre testing and again "no we don't do that" A lot of the hype could be put in it's place if some independant testing could be done.

My sister is planning on running a titre test survey on dogs in conjunction with an enlightened vet later this year, she is already oversubscribed by word of mouth. I will ask him and her if they would be prepared to do a similar thing with horses as I would be really interested to know the truth behind all the hype, I suspect we may all be overvaccinating.

She might not play ball as she is also doing a base coat survey in Appaloosas again this year so I might have lucked out and have to do it myself.

I have a 3 yo that has never been vaccinated, (No injuries and I used nosodes) so she could well hold the key to the instance of natural immunity. The one I had done today had nosodes then initials as a yealing then nothing for 3 yrs. I only had him done as he is off training and hopefully he will be sold very shortly. I also have older horses that have had the initial course, several boosters and nothing for 7 years so again I will see if like humans horses only need a certain number of boosters for a lifetime of cover, the vet actually mentioned that today saying she did not know why it was different in horses.

After all we don't vaccinate dogs for tetanus do we?

What would really interest me is flu titres though I doubt you would find any lab that would do that one! I suspect that you could challenge FEI rullings with those titre results.
 
The standard tetanus vaccine protocol used by one of the big newmarket practices is to vaccinate the mare 4-6 weeks prior to foaling, to give the foal tetanus antitoxin at birth then to repeat this at 4 weeks old when foal is microchipped, then start vaccinating at 5-7 months old.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top