Tetanus and gelding question

Dizzykizzy

Dizzykizzy

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When my colt was gelded the vet gave him a tetanus toxoid(?) injection. The other horses were all having either boosters or first tetanus so I asked for the colt's to be done at the same time not realising they were giving him the toxoid one.
(Sorry if this is a little confusing)
Well he had so many injections at the gelding that I don't know what he had at each one and when the bill came I was charged about £28 for the toxoid.... a bit more than I paid for the others tetanus jabs.
When the vet came back to do the second jabs she said she hadn't charged me for the colt's first one and this month it is on the bill as a late billing, another £25 or so.
My question is, would he have had both? Did he need both?
I am going to ring them but I always seem to have a query with my bill and it is getting rather embarrassing!
 
The Toxoid or TAT is the normal routine immunisation injection and for foals this is the program: Tetanus Toxoid/Antitoxin 3-4 months of age w/booster 4 weeks later

ATS serum containes horse antibodies, which are ready to neutralize tetanus toxins in urgency. This one has an immediate effect for high risk of immediate infection such as as when gelding, but it has no lasting effect in making the body produce antibodies regularly.

So if he had ATS then yes he would need a further injection.

Adult dosing varies between manufacturers but generally it is 1st injection then a 2nd about 6 weeks later followed by one year and then they only need doing once every 2 or 3 years.
 
Thank you Karyn, but they reckon he had the toxoid and the first tetanus on the same day? It is not clear from your reply whether this is normal. He then had the booster a few weeks later so he had 3 jabs. I couldn't say what he had at the gelding as they just kept sticking needles in him!
 
Its fine. He had immediate strong cover because of the gelding plus the longer term routine cover which you now go on and boost with.

Each injection works slightly differently so if you had a horse who was injured and there was any threat of tetanus it would be given the toxoid straight away.
 
Thank you Spaniel, what I am trying to find out is was there any necessity for him to have both on the day of the gelding? I think my vets are trying to pull a fast one in charging me for both LOL!
 
Don't get me started on vets and vaccinations!

Personally I would not have let them do it at the same time, but then I will not let them do multiples on any of my animals! To me that would be a double insult to the immune system when it needs to be at it's best to fight of all manner of possible organisms invading through the gelding wound, which I presume was left open as is common practice now. If you give it two different tetanus to produce antibodies for plus the wound to look after it would be like multi tasking for some blokes I know, who cant breath and drink at the same time!

But that’s just me. It’s a real shame but its almost impossible to get titre testing for antibody levels in horses because I think that it would mean a lot less vaccinations would need to be done, it’s certainly true in dogs where puppies plus 1 year have proven to be enough for life for most diseases in studies in the USA!!! Don’t tell you that do they?

I suspect that tetanus plus 6 weeks plus 1 yr would be enough for most of a horses life too, I would love to get some of mine tested but can’t find a vet who will do it!!
 
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