Just wondering what vaccines everyone gives. Are pneumabort vaccines safe?
My mare has never had that vaccine before. Not sure what to expect from her. She typically swells up from her West Nile, Eastern,Western, and tetanus vaccine combo.
I used to do the pneumobort K vaccines at 5, 7 and 9 months of gestation, but did have problems with them. IDK if the vaccines actually caused these problems or not, but it became uncomfortable giving them. Since my mares were quite isolated, I quit with them. If pregnant mares are not isolated, then perhaps they are worth giving. Another breeder I knew at the time had experienced the same problems, and had quit with them before I did. Then a tetanus vaccine 4 weeks before foaling. I always gave that one, without fail. Tetanus infections are a major killer of human mothers and newborns in areas of the globe without vaccines and without good hospital availability for birth. Vaccine protects both mother and newborn through the birthing process.
I think your vaccine program needs to be tailored for your situation and risk of exposure to specific diseases. Keep in mind that one month out from foaling, the mare’s immunity will dictate what the foal will be immune to as well assuming adequate colostrum intake.
I live right next door to a very large training facility that has horses, mostly stallions coming and going constantly. Though our barns are about 50 (just a hair within) feet apart, my horses have caught infectious diseases (flu and the like) from their horses despite never touching or sharing any common items. So despite my herd being a closed herd and always showing off the trailer, not coming in direct contact with outside horses, my horses are still at risk. When I was still breeding, I was giving pneumabort K at 3,5,7 & 9 as well as boostering mares with a 5 way one month out from their foaling dates. My mares were foaling at a time that mosquitoes could be an issue. Keeping boosters to killed products only does lessen the risk of vaccine conferring disease issues during pregnancy but mares can still have reactions to them. If you have a mare that reacts poorly to vaccinations in general I think, again, you need to weigh the risk of exposure/contracting the disease vs. the mare’s physical well being. Abortion storms are real and devastating.
I have always given the Pneumabort shots to my mares at 5, 7 and 9 months of gestation. No issues whatsoever.
That said, I have never had a mare have a bad reaction to a vaccine of any kind, so… YMMV.
We are in a mosquito prone area so I will probably be boosting everything this coming month. Waiting a week or two, then starting the pneumabort series. Then booster vaccines again in the spring prior to foaling. At least that is what my vet recommended.
Nancy - what problems did you have with the vaccines?
Mares aborted a couple days after the shot. Everything looked normal, not twisted cords, not any problem that could be seen… just a dead and aborted fetus. It happened a few times, enough to spook me about the shots. Then I mentioned this to another breeder in my area- same thing happened with her, and she had already quit giving the shots to her mares because of it. My mares were TB mares, they had been raced, and had seen rhino virus many times previous in their lives- they were not inexperienced with the virus. Once pregnant and during winter, they had no contact with outside horses, so I felt that they were candidates to not get the vaccine and be OK. Did not have any other mystery aborted foals after stopping using the vaccine. I heard at one point that they changed the vaccine to something different because of this issue. Don’t know if that is true, didn’t pursue that information.
My vet prefers Prodigy over Pneumabort and yes, you should do that at 5, 7, 9 months.
The mare should get Spring vaccines before getting pregnant. If that isn’t possible (or didn’t happen), then wait at least 60 days, preferably 90, before vaccinating. Then vaccinate around Day 310. If she’s sensitive enough you need to spread them out, start a little earlier, aiming to end too far beyond 310, so she has time to build antibodies for the colostrum.
Do as few combination vaccines as possible. WNV. EWT. Rabies. Prodigy. PHF if applicable.
I don’t use Fort Dodge products even now that they have been bought out so won’t use Pneumabort but do give Prodigy at 5, 7 and 9 months. My mares are up to date on their vaccines before breeding so aside from the Prodigy they don’t need anything until their pre-foaling boosters.
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My vet doesn’t like to give any vaccines in the first 90 days of pregnancy, so I try to time my regular fall vaccines (flu/EHV for everyone, plus leptospirosis for the broodmare) for just after that point. My broodmare and my boarder’s filly don’t travel, but my riding/show horse who lives with them does, and I work in the feed industry (which means doing multiple farm visits most days), so I treat everyone as if they are in a busy boarding/show barn. My broodmare reacts to all EHV vaccines, regardless of brand; with my vet’s help, we’ve determined that, for her, it’s best to give all vaccines in the hindquarters, and to give her half doses of Banamine the day of and for two days after any EHV vaccinations. She still gets her 5/7/9 month EHV-1 boosters, though, as the risks associated with not vaccinating far outweigh her reactions (local swelling, pain, stiffness, depression). She would ideally get her full set of spring vaccines - EEE/WEE, WNV, tetanus, flu/EHV, and rabies) between 300 and 310 days gestation, though she’ll be due so late next year that I will probably need to give her spring vaccines earlier and then repeat again pre-foaling so that both she and the foal will be covered for mosquito season.
