Skip to main content

Vaccines and Infectious Disease Continued

Vaccines
There are different types of vaccines:

Inactivated or killed vaccines contain some of the target organism that has been killed.

Modified live vaccines use an actual live organism that has been modified during manufacturing so that it can replicate in the animals body without getting it sick.

Recombinant vaccines are the newest products that splices gene sized fragments of DNA from the virus or bacteria, and delivers the fragments to the horse where it stimulates immunity to the disease without the risk of reactions associated with the other types of vaccines.

Then there are the core (highly recommended vaccines) and the non-core (recommended based on environment and location) vaccines. Core include Eastern, Western and West Nile encephalomyelitis and tetanus.

Non-Core include Rhino, Strangles, Equine Influenza, and Rabies. If you plan to breed, you should include Rhino and Equine viral arteritis.

Vaccines are given in the muscle, typically in the neck or rump. Be sure that when you insert the needle, to pull back on the syringe to verify that no blood comes out, meaning that you are in a vein, not the muscle.

Commonly, people use combination vaccines. There are three-way, four-way, five-way, or five-in-one vaccines. These have gotten a lot of scrutiny, but they have been deemed reliable and safe. The only concern is that giving your horse that much at a time, can cause a reaction. I ordered my vaccines from Dr. Fosters and Smith, because it was much cheaper than buying locally. If you do that, make sure they are still cold when they arrive, otherwise they are bad. If they are not cold, they will pay for the return shipping and send you new ones. If they aren't cold, they are useless, don't even try it. It is a waste of your time and your horses energy.

Once I received my second COLD order, I had my vet come out and show me how to administer the vaccienes. I gave my mare a five way vaccine and the next day she was very lethargic. Her head was hanging low and she was really depressed. I kept an eye on the injection site in her neck to make sure there was no swelling, and monitored her. After about two days, she was perked up and good as new. The other two mares were just fine and had no reaction. So keep an eye on your horse, after vaccinating. Please post any questions, comments and feedback on vaccines.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

DMSO, Analgesic, Epsom Poultice; When to Use Them

There are so many products on the market today, I felt like some clarification could be used to determine how to treat your horses injury. First off, you must identify which leg is lame. Have somebody else lead the horse at a trot towards you. in a straight line on level ground. Watch the front legs, The head will bob DOWN on the sound leg, and up on the lame leg. If you suspect it is a hind leg, then have somebody trot the horse away from you, and watch the hips, determine which one hikes up higher than the other. That is the lame leg. If you have a difficult time determining which leg, you can use white tape on the horses buttock to help you determine which side is lifting. " Heat on one side indicates possible inflammation. To assess tendons (on the back of the lower portions of the legs), flex the leg and feel the layers of tendons (should be three) for any bumps, sources of heat or breaks." ( Read more at :  http://www.ehow.com/how_2165863_do-quick-effective-lameness...

Horse Camping in Texas (near San Antonio)

Maybe you are looking for your first trailer with living quarters, or perhaps, you like to rough it in a tent, but who cares, you are with your horse camping under the stars and living the dream! So you might be wondering what do you need to bring to be prepared for your first camping trip and what considerations must be taken into account. Some Considerations: Where will you be staying? Will they have electrical hookups for your trailer and water (remember you need water for you and your horse, and they drink a lot when they are being worked on the trails) Places to go in Texas: Zhan Road, on the beach near Corpus Christie: Zhan road in Chorpus Christy is the only place (as far as I know) in the area where you can camp with your horses or even ride on the beach. There are two roads that lead to the beach, the first is Zhan road, and the second is just north of Zhan road at the second entrance. The first, Zhan road is north past the large Stripes gas station  about a mile to the ri...