Strangles vaccination

B

Bestdogdash

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 April 2012
Messages
549
Location
North Derbyshire
Visit site
I am thinking of having the competition horses vaccinated for strangles this year as they move around the country a lot, and obviously come into contact with many horses from all over the place.

I have never used this vaccine before, and wonder how many of you use it, and if there are a)side effects or b) need for a break in training/work if it is administered.

Any I for gratefully received.

Thanks
 
Hiya
We have recently had a strangles outbreak in the area so I have looked into vaccinating against it.
Having spoken to a vet at length I did eventually decide against it.. The vaccination is given into a mucous membrane inside the lip and then again a month later, after that it has to be given every three months to be effective. I was advised that there was no guarantee against it being effective particularly if the rest of the yard wasnt vaccinated, if we did get an outbreak the horse might have just got a milder dose.. The vet said if I wanted it doing of course he would but he didnt really think the expense and aggravation to the horse was worth it. Thankfully after being on 'lock down' for several week the outbreak seems to have past us by..
 
The vaccine is compulsory on out yard and after an intial course the horses have it every 6 months. I usually give the day of the vaccine off as he sometimes has a bit of a bump on his lip but not everyone does. Only 1 horse has had a reaction, out of a yard of 22 on the vaccine for 3 years and it was just a bit of a lump on lip and lethargic for a week.
There is an outbreak 2 miles away so glad we have it even though there yard is on lock down.
Doesn't replace taking precautions such as not letting your horse nuzzle horses from different yards and taking your own water/containers to events and not letting others use them.
 
Last edited:
Bestdogdash said:
I am thinking of having the competition horses vaccinated for strangles this year as they move around the country a lot, and obviously come into contact with many horses from all over the place.

I have never used this vaccine before, and wonder how many of you use it, and if there are a)side effects or b) need for a break in training/work if it is administered.

Any I for gratefully received.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I am on a 45+ horse yard. About five years ago most liveries decided to have the strangles vaccination from the one vet (it worked out cheaper if we had it all done at the same time). Fortunately for my horse he was on antibiotics at the time so was unable to have the vacinnation. There were another ten or fifteen that chose not to have the vacinnation too.

Every horse that received the vacinnation without exception suffered moderate to severe problems hours after the injections were administered. Two horses were shivering violently and one horse developed colic. Another horse encountered problems, an ECG actually showed as a result of the vaccination her heart had become enlarged. Fortunately the vet was able to treat the problem and show the manufacturers of the drug how it had affected this mare and the girl was able to get her vets bill covered by the manufacturer of the drug.

The vet said he would not be using the strangles vacination again and nor would his practice (he was the senior partner so could make that decision).

I remember walking up the aisles and looking at the horses through the stable bars. It was very obvious which horses had received the vacination by the sorry look of them. They were all depressed, not eating and looking quite poorly. I remember walking along and saying 'Fred hasn't had it, John has, Billy hasn't, Sparkle has, Joey has, etc, etc.

I am hoping things have moved on from that time, but I do not know if this is the case. I don't know if it was the manufacturer of the drug or whether it was just a general problem with the drug. But I would certainly not be tempted to have this vaccination.

My youngster developed strangles twice and each time he recovered without incidence. Whilst I know that there are fatal cases of strangles, and other people have not been so lucky on our yard during 1998/1999 we didn't have a single complication.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Do a search on here there have been several threads
I have had two goes a getting my horses vaccinated because I had a pony as a child whose health was ruined by strangles .
The first time was abandoned after too many of the horses where sick .
Stupidly when the vaccine was relaunched I tried again ( different horses ) one horse was so ill I had to have the vet out on the night he got his first vacc he was so ill he went on to develop an abbcess on the site where the vaccine was given he was off work for a considerable time .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top