Spacing out vaccines

[saitou_amaya]

My boarding barn requires that horses get the 5-way, west nile, rabies and strangles in the spring and rhino and flu in the fall. This is the same schedule I have had my horse on the last 12 years I’ve owned him. He is a 19 year old gelding and otherwise in good health. Well, I had a different vet come out to do his vaccines this morning and tell him what the horse needs. He says what, you want all those done today? Well yes…that’s what the boarding contract requires and that’s what he usually gets, is that a problem? He says oh, I wouldn’t do them all in one day, usually I space them out between two visits. If horse gets sick tonight, don’t call me. This is the first I’ve of spacing vaccines out (except in my professional life from wacko anti-vaxxers who want to space their kids vaccines out…)

I went ahead and had him do all the vaccines today, because frankly I didn’t want to spend another $45 farm call for separate visits. Plus, he has always gotten all his spring shots in one visit and never had any issues. He seemed fine tonight when I checked on him, although still a bit sleepy after getting his teeth done. Is this something others have heard? Do other people space their spring vaccines in two visits? What kind of ill effects are possible from doing all the vaccines in one visit? I’m feeling kind of guilty now.

[MGLpony]

Our vets here would be unlikely to give all those vaccine at one time and they definitely wouldn’t give them at the same time as sedating for teeth. I am just getting back into horses so I haven’t asked for their reasoning but this approach is what I’ve overheard.

[warriorhorse]

Vet I use does all vaccines in one visit, does both sides of neck. Also floats teeth same day never an issue. Horse gets a sore neck but gets over it.

Why pay for two farm calls…that’s just makes no sense. Good for vets pocket if you split vaccine which I won’t do.

[Training_Cupid]

Around here it does seem to be the norm to do all at once. Mine have never had a problem, but some horses are more sensitive - I’ve heard of them feeling sore, or running a fever. I always check my horse’s temp the next day.

[Dutchmare433]

I generally space mine out into 2 visits. They can get sore in the area of the injection and it’s nice to know which vaccine caused it. (We do Rabies/Potomac on the right, Flu/Rhino on the left, for example.) Ditto for a rxn more severe than soreness. I had a horse get a pretty severe rxn to the Potomac one year, so we switched manufacturers for the future.

ETA: My vet does not charge farm call for any call with more than 6(?) horses, so I do not pay one for either round of spring shots. They are sometimes uncomfortable doing the Strangles along with everything else, so they’ll leave that one for me and I’ll give it later on.

[Guilherme]

Where is the evidence that doing it all at once causes harm or a measurable increase in risk of harm?

G.

[saitou_amaya]

@Guilherme

Where is the evidence that doing it all at once causes harm or a measurable increase in risk of harm?

G.

See, that’s what I want to know, is there actually any evidence that doing them all at once increases the risk? Quite often I hear parents of human children raise concerns about multiple vaccines in one visit, but the research shows no risk with multiple vaccines in one visit. When I asked the vet about what kind of issues could be possible from doing them all in one day, he just kind of mumbled something about the horse being more fatigued or possibly getting a fever. I plan on riding tomorrow night so I guess I will see if he seems any different or has a fever.

Hmm…so far we have gotten 4 replies, two that space out and two that don’t. For what it’s worth, horse has never had any reactions or issues with vaccine before and isn’t the sensitive type, stocky old baroque Friesian gelding.

[Training_Cupid]

If the horse hasn’t had a problem in the past I would proceed as usual.

[Suspiria]

My vet absolutely will not do a dental and a strangles in the same visit. She explained to me that the strangles vaccine contains actual strangles viral bodies and she didn’t want to cross-contaminate a horse with a nasal vaccine if the dental caused them to have an open wound in their mouth where the vaccine could invade the bloodstream.

I’m really tired so I don’t know if I am explaining that correctly.

[Amy3996]

I’ve always given all of my vaccines in one visit without an issue. I typically do the 5 way, rabies, West Nile, flu/rhino, and strangles in the spring. The only time we’ve spaced out was with the strangles intranasal because my horse had an open wound on his leg (acquired rolling in his stall half an hour before the vet was due to arrive :ambivalence:). She felt that it was too risky to give the strangles vaccine with a new wound.

[OneTwoMany]

We give four vaccines in the spring. Some vets will give them all at once, some will balk at giving so many at the same time. None of the vets in our area will sedate for teeth floating and give multiple vaccines all in the same visit.

Perhaps a happy compromise would be to have the vet administer half of the vaccines during his visit, and draw the other half of the vaccines, leaving them for the HO or BO to administer a few days later. The result is that Dobbin gets all his shots, spaced over time and Dobbin’s owner saves the cost of a second farm call.

As for us, we space out our vaccines. When we have stacked them up in the past, there has been a propensity for one of the horses to get sick. Definitely not worth the risk.

[Texarkana]

@Suspiria

My vet absolutely will not do a dental and a strangles in the same visit. She explained to me that the strangles vaccine contains actual strangles viral bodies and she didn’t want to cross-contaminate a horse with a nasal vaccine if the dental caused them to have an open wound in their mouth where the vaccine could invade the bloodstream.

I’m really tired so I don’t know if I am explaining that correctly.

My vet also won’t give strangles at the same time as a dental, or any other injection or venopuncture for that matter (Coggins blood draw, etc.).

[LSMarnell]

We always give them all at once. I have never had an issue doing this. My horse does get a pretty sore neck, so my vet gives him IV bute with his shots and he has been so much better since we started that. He also uses both sides of the neck.

None of the vets around here really do teeth. They really try to push for everyone to use one of the equine dentists. So that is always something that is scheduled on a different day. Not sure I would be comfortable with doing all the vaccs and teeth together.

I do think splitting them up is a bit of a money grab for the vet. Here it would be an extra $85 farm call.

[2DogsFarm]

Mine are at home, but my Spring vax are all the same as yours @saitou_amaya + PHF (recommended for my area).
I do not do Strangles anymore since horses rarely travel & no equine visitors come here.

Vet does them all in one visit, plus draws blood for Coggins & no problem in 15yrs except for one horse who reacted to the rabies vaccine with a very sore neck the next day.
After that he got it in the rump & no problem.

Vet alternates sides of the neck, so if there is a reaction it is easier to identify which vaccine may be responsible.

[Snowdenfarm]

Not per my vet, but per my preference, she gives the two she is required to personally inject – rabies (PA) and rhino/flu (USEF). She leaves the rest with me and I give them in one to two week intervals – no extra farm call.

[PrincessPonies]

I’ve always done all at once. This has been through many different vets, some fresh out of school and some that are retiring within the year. I have done it at the same time as teeth, though I don’t normally do strangles so it may be different for that. The only thing I’ve had to space out is The navicular treatment. None of my vets will give it the same days as shots.

[imaginique]

I always spaced out my vaccines when I had Arabs because they were sensitive. But that’s when I did all or part of my vaccines myself. With my QH I decided to just have the vet do them all, and he does them all at once. My mare had a reaction one time and I had to call the vet at 10 pm. Since then, he has me give her bute the day before, the day of, and the day after and there’s been no problem.

[trubandloki]

For at least 10 years now the typical in my part of the world is to divide spring shots up into multiple appointments.
Though I think they will do them all at once if you are not willing to spread them over two appointments.

Having a horse that has a pretty severe vaccine reaction (to the point where she no longer gets vaccines) and knowing how sore I am after getting my annual flu shot or a tetanus vaccine both make me think this is a reasonable idea if for nothing else the comfort of my horses.

We do sedate for a float at one of the appointments, doing teeth on two horses at one appointment and the third horse on the second appointment.

This also spreads the expense of spring vet stuff over two months. My wallet likes this.

Just to compare, the farm call I pay is almost twice what the OP mentioned. I am at the extreme edge of the vet’s service area.

Edit to add: My vaccine list does not include strangles.
Edit to add 2: I am not even close to being anti-vaccine and neither is my vet who is very active in AAEP.

[Simkie]

I have a horse that reacts, so the vet comes out for rabies and I administer the others myself, spaced out along the calendar.

If you’ve never seen a reaction, probably no reason to break it up, although the comments about caution with the strangles vax are certainly spot on.

[DFL]

My vet also likes to spread them out if the horse has had a previous reaction or is older. I believe she is wiling to leave the vaccines she doesn’t have to give for the owner to spread out and administer. Her main thing is that she will not do dentals on the same day and she does not like to do strangles with any other vaccines.