Vaccinations and laminitis

[Blackm]

My 2 welsh Cobs received their annual vaccination in January. One of them went down with acute laminitis within 24 hours and the other within a few days. Both were fit and healthy, well managed and had never had any illness, far less laminitis in the past. In spite of immediate treatment, neither recovered and both had to be put to sleep in March. This has been truly devastating for us and I am interested to hear if any forum users have had similar experiences?

 

[angiebaby]

Thats really sad, my pony (also a welsh cob )had a bad attack after a steriod injection 3 years ago, not a routine vaccination tho. He was very overweight at the time, and should not have been given it. I assumed the vet knew what he was doing. However after 2 months box rest he did recover and has not had it since.
He is due for his annual one in October, I will ask about it causing lamminitis.

 

[Blackm]

Thanks for your response and your condolences. I have heard about laminitis being linked to steroid injections. This was a combined flu and tetanus vaccine. Laminitis Trust website does mention vaccines as a possible factor but the drug company said the Laminitis Trust had never produced any evidence to back this up. Interestingly though the vet had not reported a possible adverse reaction so if this common practice it is no wonder there is no evidence.

 

[Moggy in Manolos]

How awful for you, i am so sorry, i cant imagine.
I had never heard of this before now being linked, but laminitis is a highly complex condition and caused by all manner of things they say

 

[Blackm]

Thanks for the sympathy. it was such a shock as it happened so suddenly and other than being native they didn't appear at particular risk. They were pretty fit, not overweight, stabled at night and got no hard feed. Since we lost our ponies we have heard some similar stories. We were really concerned that it wasn't reported to the drug company. I would have thought that anything out of ordinary happening less than 24 hours after a vaccination would need to be reported. We'd love to know more about reporting requirements as if these things are not logged in some way how will we ever know if there are breeds, ages, geographical areas etc which might have problems. If anyone can help it would be much appreciated?

 

[mrsbloggett]

My deepest sympathies, it must have been an awful time for you

Interestingly my NF pony developed her first bout of lami a day or so after her booster jabs a few years ago. I must admit at the time I didn't think much of it as she was a bit tubby and had just moved yards. Perhaps there is a link - I certainly would be interested to know as I nearly lost her to lami last Christmas.

 

[Blackm]

Very many thanks for your sympathies. We can't say for definite it was the vaccination but on balance of probability and lacking any other obvious contributing factors it is hard to see that it could have been anything else. I hope your pony stays in good health and we will let you know if our research turns up anything new.

 

[Cuffey]

Sorry to hear about this--please read up at following link
Dont know if its any help though
http://www.vmd.gov.uk/General/Adverse/adverse.htm

 

[Blackm]

Thank you - That's been really useful. I know our case is not isolated but it would appear that it is assumed laminitis is not linked to vaccines so reports are not made. If that is the case how will be ever know if there are any emerging trends? I have written to the VMD asking more about how compliance with the reporting requirements is monitored. It will be interesting to see what sort of response I get.