HELP! Vaccination Snafu

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EDIT: The 10 dose vial was of FLUVAC 6 not the west nile...I had a pre-senior moment ;o)...

I ordered a 10 dose vial of West Nile Inovator. The plan was to buy in bulk because I have to give 5 equines 2 doses at an interval of 4 to 6 weeks. After purchase I went to the manufacturer's website and printed the label for instructions when the vaccines arrive. The label says to use entire contents when opening. I called their phone numbers and the people I talked to couldn't tell me anything more than what is on the label.

Do any of you know if it would be "safe" to keep the remainder cooled and use it in 4 to 6 weeks? Also, all the labels say in case of anaphylactoid reaction, administer epinephrine. I've never given vaccinations before. Is epinephrine something I should keep on hand? Are these types of reactions common?

Thanks for any advice and anything else you can think of I might need to know.

Robyn

[Ryle]

The doses in a multi-dose vials don't have to all be used on the same day. Keep the vial refridgerated until it is all used. And be sure to check the expiration date so that you don't use expired vaccines by the time you get around to using up the vial.

Have the horses been vaccinated against these diseases before or is this the first time? And have you discussed an appropriate vaccination schedule with your vet? They aren't "one-size-fits-all" for horses.

As for the anaphylactic reactions, they are rare occurances. In 12+ years of working in veterinary clinics, I've seen 2 anaphylactic reactions to vaccination.

Cindy D.
Registered Veterinary Technician

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EDIT: Since I wrote this too early this morning. We have opened the sealed package that was shipped to us and the instructions say the vaccine will remain viable at up to 98 degrees for one week. It reduces shelf life though. So I Think we're ok. Would still appreciate your input or opinion.


Cindy,

Thanks for your reply. I have recently acquired 2 of the horses and only know one's vaccination schedule for sure. I don't think any of them have been vaccinated against west nile but I wanted to do that one to be safe. I had planned to do it in maybe Feb/Mar so it would be fresh for spring. Another of the equines was a pregnant mare so I wasn't certain if she'd had her flu shot or not. We got her halfway thru pregnancy. Then another is a donkey and we don't know his vaccination history. We also have the foal. We have used a couple of different vets and my husband dealt with them and he can't remember which shots the mare got before giving birth. Except for the foal, I thought it might be best to just give them all an initial and a booster to be safe and get them all on the same schedule. I was trying to save money by buying them online myself and did not read that about using the entire contents until after I'd order the vaccines and went to the manufacturer's page to print a large label out with instructions.

The vaccines came yesterday. I checked online first thing this morning and they had arrived at our local ups before 7am. My husband called and tried to get a hold of them to pick the vaccines up (I had to go to work) but nobody was at their office and it did not open until 3pm. He stayed home all day in case they were on the way with the vaccines but they did not deliver until 4pm. He immediately opened the package and the ice packs were melted and the inside of the cooler was cool but not cold. He immediately took the top off the cooler and put them in the fridge but now I am uncertain if the vaccines have been compromised. Have you had any experience with this? The only thing I have had experience with is food. Family members shipped a cooler of Chriso here last year and it was delivered on the wrong side of the house - in the sun and none of us saw it until later in the afternoon. We took a chance and ate the food (It was cool but not cold) It turned out ok ;o)... That is another reason we wanted to pick up this cooler. My husband was on hand this time when the driver showed up!

I had hoped to get the vaccines and get our vet to administer them. My husband did talk to him about vaccinating but he did not cover everything I wanted to guard against. That's the main reason I bought these vaccines online. I'm going to call the company I bought them from but they have plastered all over their website non refundable and non returnable. The problem is when they advertise the 2nd day air shipping, one thinks they know their business and you can have reasonable expectation of a viable product on delivery. This may be an expensive lesson for me. If you have any insight, I'd appreciate it. Thank you for your response to my initial inquiry too!

Robyn

PS.. I forgot.. Why would the same vaccination schedule not work for all the equines?

PSS.. I know it may seem I'm trying to be a vet myself but we live in a very rural part of the country and most people don't even vaccinate for anything besides potomac fever and some the sleeping sickness! I can't believe how many locals I've met who do not vaccinate. All in all, I wish I'd just gone with the vet's quote and been done with it. I've lost a good 2 weeks waiting for information and trying to figure out which medicines to buy and where etc..

[Ryle]

Robyn,
I'm about 1/2 way through my coffee so if these replies don't cover everything, let me know.

1. temperature of vaccines--If they were still cool when they arrived then the vaccines should still be good.

2. WNV vaccine timing--If you are having warm damp weather and mosquitos, I would go ahead and vaccinate against WNV now and then again in the spring. If you aren't having the same sort of late summer weather we are then you should be fine waiting until Feb or so to vaccinate.

3 Vaccination schedules aren't the same for all horses because much of what we vaccinate against is sort of seasonal and others are transmitted via contact with other horses and not all horses travel so exposure risk figures into how often and when you vaccinate and with what. Being extremely young or pregnant also changes the recommendations. So, for horses that are boarded or travel the vaccination recommendation is different than for horses that are kept at home and never leave home or for foals or for horses that go to breeding farms, etc.

For your pregnant mare, it's not the flu vaccine that is so important--it's the rhino vaccine. Pregnant mares should be vaccinated against rhino at 5, 7 and 9 monthy of the pregnancy to help prevent abortion. Pregnant mares should also have all of their other vaccines boostered a month before they are due to foal so that they have a high antibody titer and thus pass more antibodies to their foals through the colostrum.

How old is the foal? If he's over 6 months of age, then go ahead and give him his vaccinations and booster them in 4 weeks. If he's under 6 months of age, then wait until he is 6 months to start vaccination. Strangles vaccinations are also recommended for foals because they are the ones most at risk for contracting Strangles.

For a gneral vaccination schedule for your horses, what kind of situation are they kept in? Do horses come and go? Do you haul them anywhere? If you are near rivers/creeks where Potomac Horse Fever is a problem then you should go ahead and vaccinate against it too.

Cindy D.
Registered Veterinary Technician

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Hi Cindy,

We have a small farm and as of now, our horses only go trail riding around it and a couple of adjoining land parcels. It is our plan to start trail riding next year sometime maybe in spring. I had planned to do strangles for everyone maybe in Feb/March but wasn't really sure when I should do it for maximum protection. I Didn't think we'd be riding much till April or May. Even though we only plan to trail ride with three of them at various times, I figured I should vaccinate the whole herd in case they would be exposed from the returning horses??? I don't know anything about strangles really it just seemed sensible. I don't show or anything like that yet so I hope my horses are relatively safe from traveling stuff just now. My neighbors have two horses that they don't really vaccinate to my knowledge so that's a risk factor I suppose but they don't travel away from home either.

Our foal is only 5 months old and is just this week finishing being weaned. One of the information label sheets said not to vaccinate unless the horse was over 6 months old but just re-reading them I could not find it again. I'm tired..lol... I think her dam got two shots while we had her. One 30 days before delivry. We didn't even know we were supposed to do that and lucked out because I wanted to have her checked to see that all was going well. We also lucked out because we did not know about the fescue problem until right at 30 days pre-delivery and were really worried but all went well. It was a first for us and Singer the mare! Do you think I should vaccinate the foal for strangles now? Or in a month or two?

For vaccinations, I bought the Fluvac 6 shot which covers East/West/Venez encephalomyelitis, Tetnus, Flu, Rhino EHV1 and EHV4 And I bought Potomac Guard and Recombitek West Nile. I am also going to have the vet do the rabies. We can't buy the serum here in Tn. As soon as I'd finished buying these vaccines (enough for 10 doses - a starter and booster) I read about EPM! Do you recommend vaccination for that? The other concern I had was giving all those shots at once. I didn't think it would be a good idea.

We are having warm weather and in fact it stayed fairly warm all year last year though probably not enough for mosquitoes outside. I did see them inside late in the winter. Right now it's still shorts and t-shirts! I think East Tennessee is becoming almost the new Florida..lol.

I don't think you missed anything but I sure feel as if I did. I'm bone weary. I'm working again tomorrow then blissful days off. We have the Vet scheduled to come out either monday or Tuesday - whichever fits his schedule best next week to give the shots. Hopefully I will have my mind better wrapped round it all by then. Thank you so much for your insight! I truly appreciate it sooo much! I posted pics of two of the critters here if you want to take a peek ;o)..

http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3598

Talk to you later.

robyn

[Ryle]

Hey Robyn,
The Strangles vaccine is only recommended for high risk situations due to the higher risk of adverse reactions associated with the vaccine. It's recommended for foals because they are "high risk", but for adult horses that do the occasional trail ride it's not really a must.

I wouldn't start the foal on vaccinations for another month. If you give vaccines earlier than that the risk of maternal antibody interference is pretty high. The exception would be the strangles vaccine which you could go ahead and have done now. And the newest recommendation with all foal vacc. except rabies is to go ahead and 2 boosters 4 weeks apart after the initial set of vaccination--this helps get a better response than just giving 2 initial vaccinations.

The EPM vaccine was never proven effective and has finally been pulled from the market. It was never a fully licensed product because they couldn't prove (even after 2-3 years on the market) that it prevented EPM.
Besides, I think it was a matter of people being over-dramatic about the incidence of EPM. While many horses get exposed to the parasite, less than 1% of those horses ever contract disease.

With your continued warm weather it wouldn't be a bad idea to go ahead and vaccinate against WNV. All it takes is a single day of 70 degree weather to have mosquitos again.

If the vet is coming out, just talk to him about it. And be sure to write down all your questions before time and then take the pen and paper with you when he's there. It's amazing how much you actually forget if you just hear it in the middle of watching your horse get worked on.

They are beautiful. Dixie has the cutest little face LOL

Hope you have a good vet visit!

Cindy D.
Registered Veterinary Technician

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Hi Cindy,

I can not tell you how much your posts have helped me and eased my mind. Thank you so very much. I'm going to copy/paste and print your advice or otherwise I will forget at least something. Maybe now I can sleep past 3:30 in the $#%#@ morning...lol..

I do want to clarify one thing to make sure I understood you right. Once we start the foal on vaccinations at 6 months.. She gets the initial plus 2 boosters and all of that 4 weeks apart?

Dixie is a character. She's oldest and more of a been there done that horse and sometimes the looks she gives seem to say "are you for real"??..lol.. Diamond is still in her serious stage. I'm not certain if she will grow out of it or if that's just part of her personality. I never knew I'd have such enormous kids!

[Ryle]

Robyn,
I'm glad I could be of help. That's my goal.

Yes, the foal should get sets of shots 4 weeks apart. This is a new recommendation made at the AAEP meeting in 2005. It improves the immunity that the body builds and helps to ensure that you do get a good response to vaccines that's not hampered by maternal antibodies.

For good information, you can always check out the AAEP's website --look at the bottom and click on the "horse owner" link. Or go to www.thehorse.com In fact, The Horse printed 2 12 part articles that you might like. One was on vaccinations and the other was on deworming. They are available for free viewing and download, just click on the pdf link on their website.

My horse's have serious personalities too. It's fun figuring them out and just watching the way they interact with anyone and anything around them. You can see photos of my crew at http://www.eastex.net/tdittmar/horses.html The photos are from last fall--I really need to put up new ones and finish that page, but it was originally just a dump so that I could link to the photos on another site. The grey one is my 31 yr old POA, Fancy Pants, that I bought a year ago for the kids. The solid bay is my 10 yr old mare, Artemis. And then the other two are Artie's son's---Cordouroy is 4 and has minimal spotting and Giacomo is the spotty boy who is 3.

Cindy D.
Registered Veterinary Technician

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Wow! They are all beautiful and none look their age! I love the POA's and had considered getting one because I'm so short but I'm a bit too heavy for them. I love those spots though..lol.. Nice pics.

I will check out the AAEP website. The vet is coming this afternoon! I'll be glad to get this done and over with! I'm going to check out the articles you wrote about too. I'm in process of making a spreadsheet to keep track of everything. Otherwise I won't know whether I'm coming, going or splat on the highway

I forgot to say what cuties your kids are!! Nice looking bunch ;o)

[Ryle]

Thanks. I rather like all of them Though Old Man Pants has a special place in my heart because he's so good with my little boys.

I think I'm going to sit down and design an html/java based system for tracking my horses' records.

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Excellent idea! Let me have a peek when you're done.

I'm going to PM you my spreadsheet. It's mostly for shots and worming but I think I thought of everything ;o).. I've got a place for the vet, registered name and barn name in the header. The template is locked so if you wanted to edit it you would have to unlock it first. It keeps me from screwing up my template I thought I'd design a secondary sheet for times when you have to call vet unexpectedly or if the horse is exhibiting symptoms and you need to keep track of temps, bowel consistency etc..

I thought of all this when we rode yesterday and paint mare was being uncharacteristically cranky and seemed to have a lump on one side. Also noticed looser stools. So I took off her saddle and rode the quarter horse.

Then later when we were riding the other two.. their stools were also loose. Took temps but all was ok on that front. I think it's because our green grass is so sparse and we are feeding hay and feed. Going to get the vet to check em out real good today. Anyway..getting long winded again