One of my geldings got a nasty kick 10 days ago which resulted in stitches. Vet opted to put him on Excede instead of an oral antibiotic. He’s received 3 doses now, the final one being yesterday, and today I noticed that he won’t put his head down on the ground to eat and instead kept pawing at his feed pan.
He has 2 huge swollen knots on his neck, one on each side, where the injections were given. There’s no heat to the swelling but he’s very sore. He’s not running a temp and his vitals are good. I gave him 6cc Banamine IV tonight to help ease the discomfort.
Is this common? I have never used Excede before. Should I make a call to my vet in the morning? This gelding is a bit prone to soreness at injection sites when he gets his vaccines but I’ve never seen him develop knots like this before.
My vet has used it a few different times on my horses and I’ve not had any issues…has seemed to work pretty well. That said, I had a few horses that had huge reactions to routine vaccines or other shots, so you never know.
Yep it common with Exceed i won’t use it,if vet prescribes it i ask for something else it’s HORRIBLE stuff. I know of many horses who have been on that and all had extremly sore necks.
Give your vet a call in the am. At least she can put it in his record so he doesn’t get Excede unless he really needs it. One of my guys gets huge local reactions to combination vaccines (except is ok with Vetera except the Gold). I have had to raise his feed, hay and water for a few days. Fortunately, I now have it figured out and give vaccines separately.
Oh bummer. At least it seems somewhat common so I don’t need to panic. I’ll keep him on banamine for pain and call the vet in the am so they can at least make a note in his chart.
it is common. but when used correctly Excede is a wonderful, fantastic antibiotic.
I’ve unfortunately become quite familiar with both the administration and the price of it – but it is worth it.
It will make their necks sore - it is not a small needle, and it has to be done quite slowly - it’s a lot of fluid. Just keep an eye on him, let your vet know, and see if you can manage him in a way he does not need to lower his neck for the next few days.
Well for what it’s worth his wound looks great! I just wish he wasn’t so swollen and sore. I did alternate injection sites but it is a lot of liquid and it’s very thick.
I had to give that to my mare last year. I hated it. It was a huge needle, huge amount, and left big knots on her neck. But apparently it’s a great antibiotic. She still dropped her head to eat. I gave her some ban amine, she was also running a fever as well. I would give it again if I had to but I would definitely try other options first. I had just gotten my mare and it was a rough week! Good luck.
As said, not uncommon with this. It’s more likely to happen with the 2nd injection and even more if there are more.
For that reason, my vet will not give it in the neck, at least not as a first resort. She much prefers the pecs.
I’ve only had to use this twice. Horse #1 had no reaction other than a small knot. Horse #2 had “boobs” with the 2nd injection. Note that it’s some hefty stuff, and a dose should be split into 2 separate injection sites if the horse is large enough (and therefore the dose is large enough).
It’s not an abx that should be used just because it’s there, but it is definitely an amazing, powerful abx that absolutely has its place.
Definitely make sure your vet knows. If all 3 injections were given in the neck, that’s at least part of the problem. If the dose was big enough and not split, that’s definitely a problem.
I don’t used a needle bigger than any of my other IM shots. The protocol is usually only 2 shots 4 days apart. I tend to give in bum or pectorals if prone to reactions. I do always warn owners of possibility but if handled first shot well then I worry less on second shot, but always tell them there is a still a possibility of reaction.
I’ve used it fairly often recently and have had zero complaints from my owners, but again I always always always stress the possibility of soreness.
I used it 1 1/2 ago for my one gelding never again. He’s is horrible about needles now.
Great antibiotic or not I wont give that stuff to any horse I own. Took almost two weeks for sore neck to get better. Theres better options then exceed.
That depends on what is going on. Excede is a really fantastic antibiotic. There are a lot of factors that go into picking an antibiotic (spectrum, cost, penetration of tissue, administration frequency and route, side effects), and many times SMZs or other sulfas are not the best thing to use. Unfortunately, horses don’t have nearly as many options as small animals and humans.
I do think it helps to spread it out (1/2 dose on either side of the neck, and redirecting the needle for each stick… so 1/4 dose in 4 different spots).
that really, really depends on the situation. Sometimes, Excede is the only option, especially in cases where the horse is in shock and has multiple puncture sites. It is important that the administration be broken into at least 2 segments, otherwise IME it is next to useless. There really are not a lot of options for heavy-hitting antibiotics in horses. A lot of the go-to antibiotics for people and small animals causes antibiotic-induced colitis in horses.
For instance, when my horse got two punctures, a broken rib and fracture pelvis, we discovered a rock about 2mm from his cecum – very close to cecal perforation. There was talk of putting him down then and there, because we were worried the cecum might already have been perforated – and that’s not something horses come back from. He had a fever, he was still in shock, and he was battling about six other macro-injuries on top of whatever systemic infection was going through his body. Gentocin had done nothing, or very little, it was now several days after the injury and he was tanking. While we did have him on an oral antibiotic, we needed something that was an extremely heavy hitter because nothing was controlling his fever - he went on Excede (3 doses, over a course of a few days), and was already on generous amounts of banamine and daily Baytril/DMSO drip - he also had a small medicine cabinet (and I really mean that) of various and sundry drugs to manage pain & keep him quiet. The Excede definitely controlled his fever and it was kind of our last ‘hail Mary’. He had a small knot in his neck, but otherwise seemed fine - as fine as a horse with his extensive injuries could have been. If you are worried about it, you can ask to inject it in their chest or HQ. For my guy mentioned above, neither was an option because the location[s] of his injuries were exactly where you’d want to inject the Excede (and the subsequent swelling would have opened up the stitching,e tc)… so it had to go in his neck.
There’s a lot of reasons to not want to feed antibiotics orally – and when you have a massive wound site, Excede is almost always the best option. For vets and for clients - it ensures the horse gets what it needs. It’s quick, relatively easily administered, and once in them, it’s a guarantee – you don’t get that guarantee from giving a horse pills… they can always spit it out, not eat it, sift around it and worse, the barn staff can FORGET TO FEED IT(!!) – I have seen and heard plenty of times a horse on layup for a puncture/injury not getting his Tucoprim – BAD!.. and for horses who have a lot of gastric issues, or horses who are on other antibiotics already, oral antibiotics are not always the answer. That and, eating antibiotics orally is not an immediate reaction – Excede is - once it’s in, it’s pretty much time-release working.
Also - re: administration … I have noticed if you break it up into SMALL doses (as in less than the 20cc it says you can give per location) they are much less likely to be sore.
I’ve used Excede way more times now than I’d have liked to, and I don’t have any complaints. Yes, it made some of my horse’s neck[s] sore – but… would I rather have a horse with a sore neck or a horse about to slip into endotoxemic shock?
Exactly how my vet does it (but not the neck) - half of the dose in each side, and halfway through depressing, she’ll redirect the needle a little. It really does make a difference.
tazy, owners don’t really get to decide what abx a horse gets. With the increase in penicillin-resistant bacteria, and certain situations requiring a big ol’ whammy, Exceed may be what’s required. Better the few doses of that for a needle-shy horse than twice daily sticks of penicillin for 7-10 days, yes?
There aren’t “better” options than Exceed. There are different options for different situations, and Exceed IS better than others in some cases.In other cases, Exceed is going overboard and not necessary, to the more appropriate choice would be something else.
Administration is so important to Excede going well that my vet in CO wouldn’t dispense it. She administers herself. And, IIRC, gives in two separate locations, with a redirect in each location. We had Seven on it for quite awhile and never had any soreness.
The first time me horse got Excede (June 2016), he got the swellings on his neck. I didn’t put two and two together at the time as I was not present for the shots.
He got it again this past February from a different vet, and she recommended I massage the injection sites fairly vigorously afterward to help work the liquid into the muscle. He didn’t swell one bit with either of the two doses he got. This is what made me realize the swelling last summer was from the Excede.
I have given thousands of shots of Exceed to our piglets over the years . Never had a reaction at the site and it covers a wide range of issues we deal with in our nursery barns.
The fact that some horses may react to it has no bearing on how well it works. Soreness at vaccination sites can happen anytime. Sometimes it is the GIVER and not the stuff in the shot itself. Sometimes it is the fact of getting multiple shots over several days time.
It’s good stuff when its needed, just have to watch the administration of it closely. Not a lot of other options though and all things considered, it is a good option.
My experience with it is mostly in cattle and we see a lot of knots when it was given in the neck (instead of the base of the ear) and especially when people are mass treating with it and they can be a little rougher.
Has nothing to do with my giving the shot i’ve been doing shots on my horses for many years. Vet gave first shot and horse was sore necked next day couldn’t put his head down. Exceed is known to cause sore necks. So don’t insinuate it was my shot giving that caused it. I’m very well versed in giving shots i can do IV shots also, so think i know what i’m doing.
Pigs aren’t horses so comparing apple to oranges there not at all the same. I could careless how well exceed works.
