ridecamp@endurance.net: rabies vac. for horses

rabies vac. for horses

Teresa Van Hove (vanhove@unavco.ucar.edu)
Tue, 14 Oct 1997 19:03:29 +0700

I have been following the rabies vac. thread with interest. I may ask my
vet about giving our horses rabies vac. in the future. I don't give them
now because my vet clinic is not recommending them. I DONT think people
have a duty to get their horses vaccinated - any vet who does not get the
vaccine for themselves is asking for trouble in my opinion - Cows can also
get rabies and I don't think we are going to start vaccinating every cow
in this country! Plus vets are going to see dogs/cats in emergency
situations whose owners have not complied with the mandatory vac. laws.
If you have a lesson horse or other situation where lay people are bitting
the horse or otherwise have to put their hands in the horse's mouth then
maybe you should vaccinate to protect yourself from liabilty. Else the
decision is solely a matter of balancing your own concerns of having
to put a horse down and having to undergo the long post-exposure rabies
series if your horse is bitten by a rabid animal vs any concerns about the
safety of the vaccine.

Just my 0.02 cents of course,
Teresa

BTW, Michael Plumbs journal had an article about EPM which says that
EPM is spread by opposums (horses get it from ingesting opposum feces.)
and that it has most likely been around a long time -but only recently
are vets able to screen for it when a horse has those symptoms.

Thank goodness my over-eager dogs seem to keep all stray critters away
from our small place (gee there is a benefit to not being able to afford a
big acreage.) Plus I don't think we have opposums in our region - least
I've never seen one.

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