Three hours after vaccinations, we had one show signs of colic… pawing, looking at his sides, breathing heavily. I called the vet and am awaiting arrival, which could be a while. His temperature is normal. We had a big storm come through. He’s never reacted to storms or vaccines. Banamine made him comfortable. I’ve never had a colic due to vaccines. This is an older horse, so I worry about a strangulating lipoma. He’s not getting worse, thankfully. Anyone ever have a colic after vaccines?
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Yes, the slightly COTH famous Mr. Bo crashed after receiving the rabies vax (thankfully it was given by the vet!). He is mid 20’s, and it was kind of a rollercoaster with him being hospitalized for quite a time - but he came through it eventually, and the only injury was to my bank account.
Jingles for your guy, hopefully it’s just a small blip and the banamine will help him work it out.
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Thank you! He already seems better… and I am sorry about your bank account.
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A week ago I did spring vaccines on all my horses Well… Then My show hunter who I’ve had 10 years. He was also sedated for a dental. 2 minutes into the dental the vet’s float attachment or perhaps the drill went kaput. Horse slowly woke up from the sedation and about 2 hours later got agitated and colicky AF. A dose of banamine had him calm and back to his self. Never happened before. I’m not sure if it was the sedation or the vaccines but something made his belly very uncomfortable Best wishes to your horse
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Thank you! I’m sorry that happened to your horse and appreciate the shared story.
Fingers crossed your horse just has a similar experience and that banamine is the fix
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My horse started reacting to vaccines a few years ago. Rabies was the worst and the barn reported that he trashed his stall and has been rolling overnight, so likely colicky.
Now he gets banamine with his rabies shot and paste banamine the next day. Other shots are spread over two more visits and given with banamine with good results, no paste needed. Expensive, but keeps him happy…
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I will do this going forward, for sure. Thank you for sharing.
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Yeah. My dramatic gelding has to get a shot of Banamine before his vaccinations. He might be fine now, but he got colicky one time after his shots years ago and that was enough for me to insist that he get some help just in case. He also has to have a different brand from most others because he gets big knots that won’t go away for months and even got an abscess at the injection site in his chest year before last.
He’s such a delicate flower.
ETA for clarity: different brand of vaccines, not Banamine. Obviously Banamine is done in the vein and causes no issues.
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No, it was just part of his big long thread I think? It’s not all that uncommon with the rabies vax, unfortunately, and he’d shown some mild reactions to other types of vaccinations in the past. The exact details are fuzzy but as I recall he spent about 10-12 days in the hospital - in retrospect I’d probably have forced taking him home a few days sooner, the only reason they kept wanting to keep him after the first week was because he still wasn’t eating. He wasn’t eating because he’s a picky old man who doesn’t care what post-colic feeding protocols are 
as soon as I got him back home and did things his way, he started eating like a champ. No further issues.
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Our wonderful veterinarian came… his temperature had gone from 100.9 (before banamine) to 102.5 on banamine. He had a full colic work up (they even check lactate in the field) and was diagnosed with vaccine related colic w vaccine related fever. He had Tylenol tonight and seems his bright self.
Thank you all for your very helpful responses.
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My pony has coliced twice after vaccines, hers actually starts a day or two later but takes over a week to resolve. This last time she did get IV banimine. It’s not worth the risk for me I won’t vaccinate her again,
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Oh goodness. How stressful. I am jingling like mad for your horse. And sending all my 
your way. Please keep us updated.
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Long story short, yes I have had several get colic symptoms after vaccinations, along with other reactions bad enough for emergency calls. I hate vaccination time. I usually pull titers, but tetanus is non-negotiable with all the digging around the dentist has to do with all 3 of them.
Sending Jingles for the patient!
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Mine gets banamine with his vaccinations every time. Vet and I decided to do that after he had a couple of rounds of colic 24 hours post vax. He also gets them in his hamstring / glute (?) if he’s being sedated for teeth anyway as he tends to get sore in the neck otherwise. He’s a 16 yo QH and a special hot house flower.
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I have never had colic, but one of mine has severe reactions - one time when she got the 5-way she was unable to walk, had a massssssive swelling like a softball, and had a pretty significant fever. I’ve tried separating each vaccine by a week+, banamine, etc. the next year we separated one by one and gave banamine each time, and still had fever and pretty big lumps.
FYI: If your vet administered the vaccine, the farm call + treatment is normally covered by the vaccine manufacturer. Mine was, and that’s why I almost always use a vet for most vaccines.
For others’ reference, I wanted to share what worked for me this year - this seemed like a good thread for it.
- I loaded my horse with Zyrtec for 2 days prior and 2 days after - the higher end dose.
- Vet administered Banamine while giving shots
- Somewhat split them up but not totally - we did rabies, EWT at the same time, and I’ll do Potomac & Flu/Rhino later
- Light lunging for 10 minutes after - gets everything worked through
- For sensitive horses, don’t pair teeth with shots
For two years in a row now, we have had basically no reaction when following this (smallllll lump at site, similar to what I get).
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We had a gelding colic pretty severely following the Rabies vaccine last year. Kicking at his belly, leaning on the walls, and wanting to roll. Banamine made him more comfortable for a while, but when it wore off he was still colicky. Vet wanted to ship him to the clinic, he was that bad; the vet thought he probably had a twist. Owner opted to wait since it was on the heels of the vaccine, and he came out of it, but it was touch and go for about 48 hours. This particular horse has known allergies to a number of things, but he had not reacted so badly to a vaccine before. (His mother was scary vaccine reactive though, not colic but lethargy and edema in all four legs.) We had several horses in the barn react to the same vaccine with swelling and discomfort last year, too. They are trying a different manufacturer this year for everyone else, and the gelding isn’t getting one this year.
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Yes. First time, new to me horse ran temp of 103 and colic. Scared me, so now vet preemptively gives Banamine /Tylenol day of and fluids if they feel needed, then does his vaccines.
My other pony gets sore feet and slightly elevated temp even with banamine. We just give core vaccines as he’s older and doesn’t travel.
I will always use a vet for vaccinations for this reason. Not worth the risk on my own.
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This must be more common than I realized. I ask my local vet to split them up…but a 6 way was used.
The vet that came for the colic was not the vet that did vaccinations. The vaccinating vet was not available. I wonder if the combined vaccines are a problem.
