Poorly Pony after Vaccination

Britestar

Britestar

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I had my horses vaccinated yesterday.

One of them has been really of colour since, and seems to be very stiff through his neck.

He is still eating and drinking, but looking very miserable, and doesn't want to turn his neck, and is reluctant to put his head over the door.

He has always been a little funny after his vaccs. I'm going to call the Vet in the morning (not really an emergency), but wondered if anyone else has has a horse react in this way.

Thanks
 
Yes, a hosre of mine reacted like this to a vaccination some years ago. I had to get some bute to help ease the stiffness.

After that I always insisted in Vaccs in the bum to avoid the problem occuring again.
 
Yes, now you mention it, previously he has been done in the chest, but this time it was the neck. I'll have to mind that for next year.
 
My horse went a bit like this! Wouldnt reach the ground etc . I gave him that night to settle because i was sure it was the vaccination, and he was okay the next morning. A little down but he did perk up x
 
He may have an infection in the injection site, we treated a horse at the vets like this and it had an infection from it, def speak to your vet and there'll probably give you some bute etc
 
The one and only time my mare had her tetanus jab in her neck she couldn't put her head or neck down to eat and drink afterwards. Having had a tet jab myself it made my arm very stiff. Use the bum next time or bute the day before.
 
I've seen bad reactions to the strangles vacinnation when about 20 horses were vacinnated in one day, and if you walked along the rows of stables you could see the ones that had been vacinated, they were stood at the back of their stable shivering, not eating and looking very sorry for themselves. One horse developed an enlarged heart as a result of the vacinnation, another was very poorly. The manufacturer of the drug paid for their vets bills and the vet that did the deed said he would not use this particular drug/manufacturer ever again. I've never seen or had a horse develop a reaction to the flu/tet vacs but I am sure it happens from time to time.
 
this happens to my boy i massage his neck with comfery oil to help sooth the muscle. Now i go with having him injected in his chest in stead!
 
the reaction you are talking about is just the horse immune response to the vacine. i expect these are older ponies who have been flu and tet quite regulary. by boosting them the antibodies present react to the vacine as if it was really tet and then other immune cells move to this site and course a response. you get inflammation and a bit of swelling and the pony can't move his neck as much

mine is over 30 and doesn't have tet on advice from the vet and before we stopped we just stabbed in the bum
 
Update on pony: Still very unhappy this morn, couldn't eat out of his bucket, had to hold it up (for his 6 pony nuts). Went out in field, had to position himself facing uphill so he could graze
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Vet has given him bute for couple day, and is going to phone manufacturer because reaction so dramatic.

He was bit better this evening, and grazing on relatively flat ground.

Hollyanddivvy, he is only 7 years old and this is his 5th jab ever, inlcuding his primary course.
 
My mare had exactly the same thing when she was about the same age as your pony. For many years afterwards, we used a different brand of vaccine and I made sure she was jabbed in the bum - never had a problem again. The vet said it was most likely a reaction to the adjuvant that the vaccine itself is suspended in.
This year, another of mine who is prone to OPD got a bout of congestion after his flu vaccine. The vet said next time to give him some bute in advance of and after the vaccine to avoid that happening again.
Still better than them getting flu or tetanus I suppose!
 
Two years ago both of my boys had an extreme reaction to the combined flu and Tet jab to the point where neither of them could hardly move. Called the head vet of the practice who said that he had never seen such a severe reaction and thought that it could be a faulty batch. Both of mine put on bute and a course of anti-biotics as a pre-caution. Had to massage the injection site several times a day and also was advised to use warm towels on them to try to relieve the muscle aches.

I contacted the manufacturer (Schering-Plough) and vet and myself also completed a SAR (Severe Adverse Reaction) report off the DEFRA website. Vet told me that at least one other horse they injected with the same batch also had a very bad reaction.

Took my 2 a couple of weeks to be back to normal, were very lethargic and still moving stiffly.

Hope your horse is o.k soon. If it does continue, might also be worthwhile you and/or your vet contacting the manufacturers.
 
Reactions are much more common than the vets and drug companies would have you believe!

I take it that you had a multiple vaccination (flu & Tet) ?

In most horses you don't see the reaction but if you multiple vaccinate when unknown to you your horse is already fighting an infection of some kind then the animal can suffer from Vaccinosis. Basically you overload the immune system which is forced to make antibodies in response to the vaccines which stops it fighting anything else as effectively. Or horse can react to the carrier agent that the vaccine is in. Although the virus in the vaccine is not live a horse can actually shed live disease after a vaccination.

I only vaccinate for tetanus, this vaccination is only required every 2-3 years (that the manufacturers will admit too!!!!!) So you DO NOT have to use a multiple vaccine every year. Most people do not realise this and the vet certainly won’t tell you. To me would be worth the extra money to separate the vaccinations, most people have the vet out more than once a year so why not it’s a few pounds extra for piece of mind?

If I were you I would only vaccinate for flu next time and vaccinate separately in the year that you do need to do a tet booster. I suspect that like in humans a couple of tets are enough for life but no one does an antibody test for horses to prove this and I suspect that that will be the case for a VERY long time!!
 
Thanks guys.

Yes it was a combined jab, his last tet was 2 years ago. In the future he will get them seperately, just in case. The fact that 4 others, including a yearling who had been gelded the week before, were done at the same time and none of them had any reaction whatsoever is what kind of took me by suprise.

He's much chirpier tonight now the bute has kicked in. Maybe it was his way of getting out of his lesson this week
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I'll speak to the Vet tomorrow to see if they got hold of the manufacturers and what their reaction was.
 
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