I had one that reacted to coated needles, not so much vaccines in general until he was aged then a career ending neurological reaction to a BI vaccine.
My horse was having some severe reactions this year so we did titers (teters?) this year to test his blood and see where he was. He had anaphylaxis to them so it’s been determined he doesn’t need shots as often. I would talk to your vet about that option and just treat for only what she needs. Reactions like this could be very dangerous for your horse and it’s not too uncommon once they develop the antibodies for it.
The problem with doing titers instead of vaccines is that in horses I do not believe they have figured out what good numbers are yet.
I talked to my vet about it regarding the horse that we no longer vaccinate and she feels it is not worth the expense since there are no baseline numbers. (In other words, she saved me a bunch of money.)
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This, and they’re not really accepted as proof of vaccination. Say, if your horse starts showing signs of something that looks kind of like rabies, showing a titer is going to mean exactly nothing. The horse is considered unvaccinated.
I guess it’s better than nothing when you’re risking death by vaccinating. But until more research is there supporting what titer values are “enough” and jurisdictions accept it, a titer doesn’t mean a whole lot 
I’d rather face the life-or-death thing at some date in the future in the relatively unlikely event that my horse shows signs of rabies, rather than going through it at least annually at regularly scheduled intervals. But I can’t bring myself to spend hundreds of dollars on titres that my vets aren’t really sure how to interpret!
For example, UC Davis recently did a study on equine rabies vaccine antibody response duration, and they used the WHO serum antibody level for humans as their benchmark for vaccine duration, but how well this translates to equine infection risk is still a bit of a question mark (though I heard CSU is doing a challenge study for equine rabies, so maybe someday we’ll know more for that disease…).
Like @trubandloki , my vet ultimately recommended against doing titres because they are expensive and she didn’t feel confident about interpreting the infection risk associated with various antibody levels for any of the diseases that we could have titred for.
Anyway, doing nothing isn’t necessarily a less responsible way to handle vaccination time for these vaccine-allergic equines. What I wouldn’t give to have a horse that can tolerate vaccine adjuvants without anaphylaxis or laminitis!
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Bingo!!!
My vet, who is very experienced, is comfortable with the protocol we are following for my reactive horse.
If she is comfortable, I am comfortable.
We fully vaccinate the other two equines on my property.
To be clear, we’re still doing rabies but we’re checking for numbers on rhino/west nile/etc. And instead of him getting shots twice a year he’ll be done once a year and then rechecked. He’s to the point where he can barely move for days and has extreme swelling in his extremities. He’s also 19 and it’s been a progressive problem.
To clarify my response. I was talking about titers for everything, not just rabies.
Same. I used rabies as an example, but it’s not the only titre that a vet might be uneasy about interpreting. Encephalitis titres are widely thought to do a poor job of predicting risk of infection. Tetanus doesn’t even have a commercial titre as far as I’m aware. And if you use an IN flu vaccine (which is safer for a horse that experiences allergic reactions to adjuvanted IM vaccines) it won’t produce the same serologic effects as an IM, so a titre won’t really capture the defenses your horse has. The list goes on.
I prefer to assume my horse has zero immunity and use a risk management approach in deciding on vaccination for individual diseases. The risk of death from vaccination (by anaphylaxis) for my individual horse is high enough that I won’t give this horse IM vaccination for a non-deadly diseases. Ever. Period. Diseases that have not been reported for decades (WEE) or have not been reported in my region (EEE) have a lower risk of exposure than the risk of dangerous vaccine reaction (for my individual horse). My preferred approach for these risk categories is to do nothing.
For deadly diseases that are ubiquitous (tetanus) or common in my region (WNV) or attested but uncommon in my region (rabies) I vaccinate using an antihistamine, anti-inflammatory, and veterinary monitoring protocol developed for my horse in consultation with a vet school, but only on the most infrequent basis that I can justify. For WNV that means annual springtime vaccination, as horses in my county regularly contract this deadly disease and it cannot be avoided through strict biosecurity. For tetanus and rabies I vaccinate less frequently, since recent research suggests that immunity from booster vaccinations may last as long as 3 years*. The only things I could imagine wanting serum antibody info for are tetanus (no test available) and rabies (no interpretation info available), so I really have no use for titres.
@HRF Second Chance do you have a protocol for limiting the systemic reaction that your guy experiences when you do vaccinate? You say that he’s experienced vaccine-induced anaphylaxis and that his reactions have gotten progressively worse – that’s scary stuff!
*disclaimer: this is my interpretation of literature in a very understudied area; do your own research and consult a vet before you believe anything written on the internet
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My horse has an extreme reaction to rabies vaccine. He breaks out in thousands of hives. We have done the rabies titer for about the last 5 years with the full understanding of the limitations of the test. This year the vet inadvertently gave my horse the rabies vaccine, and he immediately treated him with Banamine when he realized his mistake. The horse was then worked lightly at a walk/trot for half an hour and turned out.
At about 5 hours post dose he had developed a couple dozen dime sized hives. Other than that he had no ill effects. I rode him and he was bright and peppy, no sign of being uncomfortable or unwilling at all.
I don’t know if it was the Banamine, the fact that he hadn’t gotten the vaccine for a number of years, or something else that lessened his reaction to almost nothing, however, in the future he will be getting pre-treated with Banamine prior to receiving the rabies vaccine.
So glad your guy didn’t have a terrible reaction to the accidental rabies vaccination! It sounds like his rabies vaccine response may be allergic in nature, given the hives. You may want to consider asking your vet about adding an antihistamine to the pretreatment regimen just to be on the safe side, since banamine alone won’t stop the allergic cascade and things can get scary fast if an allergic reaction intensifies through repeat exposure. I hope all future vaccinations are as safe and uneventful as this last one!
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Thanks. The increasing level of reaction with repeat exposure is why we stopped giving it in the first place. The vet was concerned that he might tip over into anaphylaxis. So we avoided disaster in this case. I also had Benadryl on hand in case he started to react. Pre-treatment would be the better choice I think.
We’re going back to titers again for next year at least. Believe me, I’d be much happier if we could just vaccinate and be done with it. At least we have what looks like it might be a plan for vaccination in the future if we need it.
Edited to add the the vet stayed and waited until he was relatively certain my horse had passed the point of dangerous reaction based on his history. He’s a good vet, this was a one off mistake in all the years I’ve used him.
