Terrifying reaction to Penicillin

Hippophilia

Hippophilia

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My girl was prescribed penicillin yesterday for an infection to a wound in her knee. Vet gave the first dose, all fine. She warned me that very rarely you can hit a capillary with the needle and the drug goes into the brain, causing the horse to have a total meltdown. There is nothing you can do, just get to a safe place and try to make sure they don't hurt themselves.
Guess what happened to me this morning? Poor Missy was in a blind panic for about 2 or 3 minutes, (although it felt like 20) Shaking, charging, buckling legs...she came round pretty quick and was fine after walking her for 15 minutes in the arena but oh my god.
3 more doses to go...can someone be this unlucky twice?
 
Hippophilia said:
My girl was prescribed penicillin yesterday for an infection to a wound in her knee. Vet gave the first dose, all fine. She warned me that very rarely you can hit a capillary with the needle and the drug goes into the brain, causing the horse to have a total meltdown. There is nothing you can do, just get to a safe place and try to make sure they don't hurt themselves.
Guess what happened to me this morning? Poor Missy was in a blind panic for about 2 or 3 minutes, (although it felt like 20) Shaking, charging, buckling legs...she came round pretty quick and was fine after walking her for 15 minutes in the arena but oh my god.
3 more doses to go...can someone be this unlucky twice?
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So sorry to hear this - how is she now?

This was posted only recently:

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=560331
 
I have absolutely no idea about equines but Penicillin injection in humans can be very painful and usually people get cramp down a leg immediately after its given. It goes as quick as it came but usually humans are warned that it will happen. It is very painful.

So am wondering in horses if its a little unpredictable/similar too! But am sure someone here will have possibly had same experience? I would ring your vet if you are administering etc to report the side effects(I am guessing you gave the jab)?

How upsetting its cruel to be kind? I hope she is ok poor thing, awful to upset your horse and there we are trying to keep a trust going. Hope the leg is better
 
I have seen it three or four times, make sure you inject in the stable, it normally goes wrong when its done outside and the horse runs blind! This is when all the injuries are done. It is horrible to watch but if you can keep them contained in the box it normally comes to nothing.
 
Are you sure she's not allergic to it? We had a mare on the yard that always wore her headcollar with a tag to say she could never have penicillin as she couldn't tolerate it. Might be worth checking out with your vet.
 
Maesfen said:
Are you sure she's not allergic to it? We had a mare on the yard that always wore her headcollar with a tag to say she could never have penicillin as she couldn't tolerate it. Might be worth checking out with your vet.
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The vet is pretty sure she is not allergic as she took the first dose with no problems and no swelling or anything at the injection site.
I aspirated and checked for blood, nothing so went ahead with the injection. I will be really taking my time over this step tomorrow though, as I must have nicked something.
The whole thing was stressful from start to finish - Missy doesn't tie and the farrier was in our usual grooming spot where I had planned to clean and redress her wound so we had to go somewhere new, there were other horses in who aren't normally so she was calling to them, she is desperate to go back into pasture and wouldn't stand to be cold hosed, got stressy about being put in a stall to give the injection and then...this.
Hopefully tomorrow will be quieter and calmer all round.
Horses, eh? Remind me again why we do this?
 
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My old mare had a horrible reaction to injected penicillin this was second dose. Vet said first one was fine but reacted on second one as have to be exposed to something once to develop an allergy. She almost collapsed sat down like a dog. Vet arrived driving like the wind pumped her full of adrenaline and antihistamines and I had to sit up all night with her with another dose ready in case reaction got worse. She was fine but never could be injected with penicillin again one of two horses in their vet practice who were allergic. I had a sign made for her stable door and vets had it in big red letters in her notes.
Really terrifying when it happened as her breathing was compromised too.
 
mutley75 said:
I have seen it three or four times, make sure you inject in the stable, it normally goes wrong when its done outside and the horse runs blind! This is when all the injuries are done. It is horrible to watch but if you can keep them contained in the box it normally comes to nothing.
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Ditto this, apparently it is the procaine (?) which can cause the reaction if it hits the bloodstream. My boss injected his horse outside the stable and he reacted. I arrived to find an empty yard, place completely trashed, lorry standing in the yard (he'd been hunting), jeep gone, boss gone, horse gone ... the horse ended up 4 miles away, having galloped in a straight line down green lanes, across several roads, followed by boss in jeep, eventually to be caught by some people who heard him galloping up the lane. Fortunately it was wearing off by then and he was stoppable. He was amazingly uninjured and hadn't caused a horrible accident on the way either.

The only other time I've seen it was a horse in a stable and then all you can do is shut the door and pray. It's very rare, but it does happen, and most vets do not warn you about it.
 
I watched a horse have a fit after Norodyn IV.

In the 30 + years I have been round horses I have never seen anything so distressing and frightening in my life.
 
indie999 said:
I have absolutely no idea about equines but Penicillin injection in humans can be very painful and usually people get cramp down a leg immediately after its given. It goes as quick as it came but usually humans are warned that it will happen. It is very painful.

r
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Can confirm the truth of this. I recently had to have iv penicillin. The first nurse did it quite slowly so it was bearable. Night nurse was not so considerate and just plunged the lot in quickly. It really really hurts and the pain lasted a few minutes.
 
Happened to a horse of mine many years ago. He went down on the yard as if he'd been shot and went into awful convulsions. Did quite a bit of damage to himself on the concrete but recovered completely eventually. Terrifying to witness. I can still remember it very clearly though it was about 20+ years ago
 
My pony turned out to be allergic to penicillin when he had a vaccination a few years ago following a nasty abscess in his foot. He was in his 20s and I'd had him since he was 8 but he'd never (in my experience) had had penicillin! He lay down flat out in the field for hours on end, acted colicky and his whole body shook all over. The vet (who is very experienced with horse) said it is very rare for them to be allergic but it can happen and he likened it to him having a really bad hangover. He wouldn't eat but we were told as long as he was drinking ok we just had to watch him and he should be ok.

It was horrid to watch him go through though. My understanding is that, if he was given it again the likelihood is it could be fatal. I don't know how true that is but i thinkt it's similar to the reaction in humans and how some humans are allergic to wasp stings etc. one sting you findout you're allergic but after that the reaction is a lot worse.
 
I would have your vet ensure your horse is not allergic to penicillen. I do not wish to frighten you but had been told recently of a stallion took a terrible reaction, behaved exactly like you described but unfortunately did not make it. Maybe, get a second opinion before you inject again just to be safe.
 
She is off her feed today and looking very sorry for herself so I am not continuing with the penicillin. Vet agrees and she is off the bute as well, hopefully she will be brighter tomorrow. Normally she can't get to her hard feed quick enough, and is very skilled at nicking bites of hay from any bale we pass. Horrid to see her with no appetite, although she is still cropping the grass a little and managed half a carrot, bless her.
Maybe it was an allergic reaction after all. In any case I will never give it to her again, and make sure this is written in her file at the vets and on her stable info.
 
Got to say if its that terrible I would personally want the vet to do it. I have given animals injections after vets showed me where etc.But sounds dangerous if the reaction is so severe. Hope they are ok?
 
How scary :(. hope it doesn't happen again. I think I'd prefer to pay the vet to do it!

My horse had allergic reaction to penicillin, given before surgery - she had difficulty breathing and the procedure had to be stopped and delayed for a week. She can't have it again obviously - scariest moment having vet on phone saying "Don't panic but....."
 
I am relieved to hear you have spoken to your vet and have decided not to proceed with a further dose. I would have been worried regards the outcome. Must have been very frightening. Maybe there is another type of antibiotic your vet could use instead to treat the problem or it can be treated without any antibiotic at all, even better.
 
glad you have got it sorted , starting to seem like the treatment was going to cause further injury etc and to you as well. I had a young girl take a really common antibiotic and she looked like her skin was falling off! She only took one tablet.

Trouble is if its a common medication just your luck its your animal that gets the reaction.

Good luck
 
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