After years of never reacting to vaccines, my 13 year old oldenburg gelding had Vetera four way this spring with no issues, but three weeks later he had his Vetera flu/rhino and he has been terribly ill with extreme neck swelling and general muscle tension all over. We treated with Banamine for five days, and he was slight better. No fever at this time. I was icing his neck and hand walking him lightly. We have tried warm and cold hosing, red light therapy. Nothing is helping. He is turned out on pea gravel paddocks with his mini/shetland companion who has not had the same reaction. My gelding can no longer tolerate the Banamine (gut issues) and is on robaxin, tylenol and gabapentin with the prognosis looking poor. His SAA levels are up so we started antibiotics three days ago. He is exhausted from the muscle tension pain. He is eating hay and drinking. If I give higher doses of robaxin he stops eating his timothy cubes carrier and his vitamins. The only thing the vet hasn’t tried is the antihistamines. Looking for anyone who’s horse has had this terrible muscle tension reaction. He hadn’t run a fever until last week, but that seems to be managed by the medication regimen he is currently on. No access to an equine hospital. Would appreciate any feed back on severe reactions to flu/rhino vaccinations in particular, but any other vaccines as well. TIA.
One of my ponies didn’t have the same muscle reaction, but the Rhino/Flu shot (given individually so I could narrow it down) gave him laminitis. All 4 of my other ponies had 0 reaction.
I have since given him Rhino/Flu IN with 0 issues. I’m sorry your guy is going through this, but maybe speak with your vet for the next time to give it to him IN instead.
My gelding has been extremely vaccine reactive since Ive had him. There is an intranasal flu/rhino from Calvenza that has never bothered him (knock on wood). Talking with vets throughout our journey, many times its not the vaccine itself, but the adjuvant that carries it that can cause these reactions. Make sure you report it to your vet, and they will have the batch number to report back to the manufacture. Many times if there is a cost to manage the reaction, the manufacturer will comp it.
I have found there are no rules when it comes to reacting to vaccines. This spring, since he reacts to everything, we just threw the kitchen sink so I only have to do the banamine once with the Zoetis Core which is EEE/WEE/West Nile/Rabies/Tetanus, plus Potomac plus Flu/rhino. NO REACTION. First time in 5 years.
Is there any concern here that you’re actually looking at something like a clostridial myonecrosis, rather than a vaccine reaction?
I would suspect CM too with the neck swelling. I would involve another vet at this point.
I was going to ask the same question. Was any banamine given lM?
It could happen from the vaccine itself. Anything you put into the muscle. Just more likely to happen with Banamine compared to some other things. Happened to a friend’s horse years ago. She has gnarly scars and muscle damage from it but she lived through it.
Maybe it didn’t start that way, but with the temp and SAA positive, that’s the infection I’d be most concerned about.
Another reason why I always have a vet vaccinate my animals.
Clostridial myonecrosis scares the crap out of me. I’ve seen one horse with it and OMG. Never again.
I had one get it from a tetanus vaccine. He is fine now, but it was something I never, ever want to go through again.
This is the main reason I have a vet give vaccines. The meds for the infection would have cost me more than his kissing spines surgery did.
A friend had gone through this shortly before I met her…the pictures she shared were jaw dropping.
I have one that has a bad reaction to the Flu/Rhino vaccine too- edema in the neck, fever for a couple of days that seems to be a little longer lasting each year. We pretreat with banamine before vaccines and for 2 days afterwards now. But this protocol makes me increasingly nervous like what if he founders the next time, etc… This year the new vet practice I’m using suggested trying the intranasal version of the vaccine! So keeping my fingers crossed!
I know we’ve re hashed vaccine reactions and vet vs. personal administration many times here, but it sounds like you’re saying you didn’t have to pay for the meds because your vet gave the vaccine, is that correct? If so, who paid for them? Admittedly I’ve never had a reaction that bad, but I think a reaction would fall under the category of “sh*t happens” and I’d be on the hook for meds if it happened to one of my horses.
If the vaccine is given by a vet and there is a reaction the manufacturer of the vaccine will pay the costs to treat. There’s a process for the vet to file the reaction with the manufacturer.
That makes sense, thanks!
My vet never said, but I assumed that she got at least a partial reimbursement from the vaccine manufacturer. I never saw a bill for anything.
My friend had a horse have a neurological reaction to a vaccine. She will no longer vaccinate that horse at all. I felt super guilty as I typically order vaccines for both of us. My horses were fine and so were the rest of her horses.
I would go ahead and give antihistamines because it could be an allergic reaction. My horse as a child had a sting or bug bite and her neck swelled up. We called the vet and administered antihistamines and the swelling went away. She also was pretty notorious for reacting to vaccines with swelling. She actually went up to the house and stood by the window as I would knock on the window if i needed something when I was riding. She knew that she could get our attention if she waited by the window.
I have stopped vaccinating in the neck and moved to the pectorals as at least they can still eat and drink with swelling in the pecs. If their neck swells they can be pretty reluctant to graze or drink.
Your horse could be having a profound allergic reaction, an autoimmune reaction, or an infection.
Thank you for you reply. The vet practice I used always do my vaccines. Neither of my two go off property now and no one comes in, so I am probably not do flu/rhino again, unless I have a change of plans, and in that case the vet recommends nasal application of the vaccine. My companion pony had no issue. It seems so random.
Thank you for replying. it is always helpful to hear everyone else’s story. I have heard it is the adjuvant/carrier that causes the issue. There were nine other horses/ponies who had the same batch and they didn’t react.
So glad you didn’t have a reaction this year! it is a head scratcher though as to why or why not they react.
Thank you for your reply. It has been over three weeks, since the vaccine so I don’t believe we are looking at clostridial myonecrosis 
. He is being treated with a sulfa based antibiotic and at the 72 hour mark has started to respond and is improving. However, we are still awaiting the results of needle aspirate samples. They went off before the holiday weekend, so should have the results hopefully tomorrow. His SAA numbers were high but have come down with the antibiotics.
Thank you for your reply. My vet is working with the manufacturer of the vaccine.
