I'm not a vet either by any
means but I will tell you of my experience with the strangles vaccine.
Which I will never again give to any of my horses or mules.
I'd given my horse the strangles (nasal) vaccine for 7 years in a row.
Then, 2 years ago, she got an Auto immune disease called Hemmorrhagica
Purpura. It was horrible and nearly killed my horse. And this is a
reaction that will only happen with repeated exposure to the vaccine.
Never the first time. (and that brings up the question of over
vaccinating ....) And a good many horses that get this disease do not
survive. My horse was one of the lucky ones. The vaccine manufactured
admitted that the Purpura was the result of the vaccine and paid for
all my diagnostic work after I agreed to sign a paper that I would take
no further action against them and that they were not admitting
"culpability". They did also tell me that 2 in 10,000 horses get
either the Purpura or Bastard Strangle from the vaccine. And many cases
are not reported or not properly diagnosed. So, this is just their
figure on the numbers of reactions that ARE reported. Don't get me wrong, I am not
flaming the drug company and they were very pleasant to deal with. I
only called them in the first place to report the reaction to the
vaccine because I knew my vet had not done so. The drug company
requested I send in all the test results from the vet so they could
confirm the diagnoses and then offered to pay for the diagnostic work
after they did confirm the diagnosis.
Talk with 10 different vets and you will get 10 different opinions on
wether to give the vaccine or not. My vet at the time was pushing it.
There are several in my area that do not recommend it. And I know of at
least one that will make you sign a release statement if you want it
and won't give it to his own horses.
Strangles is nasty but rarely kills a horse. I've never had one of my
own horses get it but have worked in barns where it has happened. Like
I said nasty, but not often fatal. A good friend of mine had her horse
faithfully vaccinated every year and her horse still got strangles. He
got over it and is now immune.
