Vet / Needle phobia

[tarlia]

I have a retired mare, who retired after an injury, who is terrified of needles and vets. She was okay before, but after lots of experience with the vets when she was having treatment for her injury, she will not let a vet near her.

Unfortunately her vaccinations are over due now as the vets cannot get a needle near her, even for sedation now...

She lives out at grass as a companion now but I do have my others vaccinated, and always have had them vaccinated.

If i’m honest, I’m not sure wether it’s the actual needle or the presence of the vet, she knows they’re going to do something and she doesn’t like it, she rears (And really means it) kicks, bites and will drag you over (and as a maxi cob it’s not ideal). She will not stop until the vet is out of sight and there’s no potential for a needle to be around.


It’s obvious it’s stressful for her, she had to be sedated a lot due to her injury.. could it be the fear of being sedated again?

And has anybody had experience with this previously and been able to persuade their horse otherwise? ( My vets are great and have always been soft and gentle and really good around her )

 

[Meowy Catkin]

My gelding was like that after he had a lot of vet treatment. I asked for a vet he hadn't met before and they thankfully were willing to chat to me (and not do 'vet stuff') as though they were just a visitor. When it came time to vaccinate him, she was super quick and did it while I fed him a carrot. He's much better now but it's taken a few years.

 

[paddi22]

I tend to get horses in who haven't been handled much or have had bad experiences, some are absolutely lethal is someone comes near them that they don't know. my way around it is to rub the neck any time im near the horse and then pull and hold a chunk of neck where you would inject. if you hold it for ages it kind of goes dead for them. eventually if you get them used to that you can inject them without them noticing. a vet showed it to me years ago as a technique and it really works. I also have some that just won't let male vets near them, I always have to use female.

 

[Red-1]

I had a feral Sh*tland, the vet gave me the jab and I stabbed him myself. It is only into the muscle, gone and done in the rump before he knew it. No need for the stranger to go into the stable.

 

[rabatsa]

I have had a needle/vet phobic mule and I found that for vaccinations by taking her in the trailer to the surgery and the vet doing her in there, there was very little stress.

 

[Bernster]

Mine’s not good with needles either. Worse when trying to get into a vein for bloods. Haven’t really cracked it. Just had his jabs and we sedated him but didn’t seem to make a big difference. My regular vet spends time just near him, stroking his neck and then will do it quickly. Another one managed to find a new spot and took blood from under his eye! (He's fine until he knows it’s a needle so you can do a new place once, then he gets wise and you need to try something else!). Pinching and holding the neck worked too.

I had read that you could try and desensitise by pinching the neck and using the end of a bic pen to pretend it’s a needle, or something similar. Never got round to trying it though!

 

[Goldenstar]

For vaccinations I would just get her done in the stocks at the vets .
I have seen this done but filling the stable with shaving bales to block the horse head in bum to the door then put shavings bales behind the horse the vet then jabbed into the bum over the door.

 

[Scotsbadboy]

I had a feral Sh*tland, the vet gave me the jab and I stabbed him myself. It is only into the muscle, gone and done in the rump before he knew it. No need for the stranger to go into the stable.

I just spat my tea out when i read this, lol. Excellent, thank you

My new horse had a sedation for his teeth and he is such a gent but he jumped out of his skin when she went to inject him and made us jump with him. He's so polite and quiet and he was rather apologetic immediately after doing it and once we found the syringe (she dropped it) he was ok but we did laugh afterwards when she said 'gosh he's polite about not liking it, isnt he' lol!

 

[Gamebird]

I'd say that this is important to fix, rather than just finding ways to get a needle into her. I always say to my clients 'what if they had colic?' - the majority of colics are not life-threatening, but do need treatment - or something like a wound that again was not life-threatening, but did need sedating/stitching/antibiotics. There are a lot of techniques you and your vet can use - clicker training is good, but the person doing it does need to be experienced as the timing needs to be very good. I don't know where you are, but I have seen Gemma Pearson (who is a vet who specialises in these problems) work wonders with these horses. If she's not local, then she can probably recommend someone who is. For the sake of your horse and your vet I cannot recommend more strongly the value of sorting this problem out.

 

[HeyMich]

One of ours is totally needle phobic, we can't even sedate her safely. We've had to twitch her the last few times - it's quick and it works, so much safer for both her and the vet! Do whatever you can to keep stress levels down and stay safe.

 

[Sprout]

I had a pony who was absolutely needle phobic, whenever he needed annual jabs or blood test for Cushings, I had to give him Demosedan 45 mins before the vet arrived.

 

[Mucking out - still]

Personally, I'm with your mare....and whatever I've tried, I just can't get over it. I'm dreading the covid vaccine, even though I'll have it, and all the dental work I've got coming up since my charming boy knocked my front teeth out, all of which will involve needles.

Sorry - pointless and no help, though was thinking along the lines of a sedative paste before any needle requirements.

 

[awelshandawarmblood]

I had a pony who was absolutely needle phobic, whenever he needed annual jabs or blood test for Cushings, I had to give him Demosedan 45 mins before the vet arrived.

This is my tact with my needle phobic cob - he has Domosedan for his annual MOT, teeth & jabs are done at the same time then whilst hes sedated. Getting that under his tongue is a job in itself but less so than a needle!

 

[hollyandivy123]

ok you need to start with "vet smell".............find out what the practice uses for disinfectant etc and get some and wear this as perfume.................then include the pinch test and also start over time bring in strangers with vet smell.......just a scratch and a carrot, it will take time

 

[Winters100]

I have one who is the same. Strange as he is totally calm and brave ridden, but very nervous being handled from the ground by people who he doesn't know. Usually I now inject him myself, which he is fine with, but for certain procedures we have had to give stronger sedation than I would like, so we are working on it. Luckily my vet is very accommodating, and is very often at the yard, so for now he just comes and gives a carrot if he is on the yard for others, but we have to solve it as if I am not there the horse becomes hysterical.

 

[tarlia]

Thank you for such amazing ideas everybody!!

 

[LEC]

There is an amazing series of videos - I recommend them to everyone as not fair to vets to risk injury when a little bit of work would make the horse less stressed and the vet safer. These videos are called Don't Break Your Vet.

 

[Gloi]

We always use a blindfold for the stroppy pony and it is done before he even knows the vet has arrived.

 

[Pedantic]

Could you try a twitch ? I had terrible trouble trying to put antibiotic gel in my Po's eye, to the point of nearly having a large metal field gate land on top of me, big fight with risk of injury to both of us everytime, then found twitching his left ear worked a treat, so much quicker safer and less stressful for us both, doesnt work using his right ear though, only his left.

 

[iknowmyvalue]

There is an amazing series of videos - I recommend them to everyone as not fair to vets to risk injury when a little bit of work would make the horse less stressed and the vet safer. These videos are called Don't Break Your Vet.

These are brilliant videos and for lots of horses work very well! If you need something to practice with, your vets will likely be more than happy to give you some empty syringes and needle caps to practice with. Also if you mention it to the vets when you book in, they might be able to block out extra time in the vets diary so they’ll be prepared and not in a rush.

 

[SEL]

We've been doing clicker training with my vet phobic draft. The vet needs to be on board though so you have someone who will take their time while you click and treat.

It can all be undone with one vet launching herself at the horses bum and slapping in a needle ?

 

[PapaverFollis]

I've worked really hard with The Beast in this, desensitisation, clicker training etc. I've not quite cracked it yet. But with oral sedation before hand the vet can get a needle in with minimal attempts at vet-squishing. I take it very seriously as I don't like my vet to be at risk but it's not as simple as "just train them" when they've had a bad experience.