 |
[RC] Why do we vaccinate horses every year? (long) - Kristi SchaafA question with no right answer, but maybe some really strong opinions...I'd like to hear what the well-informed on ridecamp think... Why do we vaccinate horses every year? Do we do it just because that's the length of time the drug companies happen to test the vaccines for? Or is it a clinically proven necessity? I get a tetanus vaccine every 5 years (twice as often as the normal human schedule, because I'm around horses). So why do horses get a tetanus shot every year? Has it been proven that their bodies metabolize (don't know if that's the word I should be using) the vaccine faster? And take dogs vs the annual equine rabies vaccine - their rabies vaccine lasts 3 years (plus the AVMA has recently changed their recommendation on some other small animal vaccines, from annual to bi- or tri-annual). I thought about running titers on my horses but was told by a vet that they're unreliable indicators of actual immunity and a waste of money. I'm considering vaccinating my horses every other year instead of annually, staggering the vaccines so they get only one or two types a year. I'm wondering what vaccines those of you on ridcamp use, and why you choose to use them? Does your horse get them just because they happen to be in the 3-way (or the 5-way) that your vet uses? Or is it because you/your vet truly believe your horse is at risk for that virus? I currently vaccinate for WNV/tetanus/rabies annually (a change from my vet vaccinating them for all the flus,etc, back before I even thought about asking what was in all those syringes). My horses mean the world to me and I would never purposely jeopardize their health, but sometimes I wonder if we get a little carried away on how many vaccines we dump into their systems every single year. Tha hard part is deciding what acceptable risk there is for vaccinating/not vaccinating for any particular virus; I sure don't want to make this decision without gaining as much knowledge as possible about it. Kristi iluvdez at yahoo dot com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what you?re looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com ============================================================ You don't have to be a 100-mile rider or a multi-day rider to be an endurance rider, but if you want to experience the finest challenges our sport has to offer, you need to do both of those. ~ Joe Long ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
|