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Elite Veteran
Posts: 911
 
Location: Durango CO | The barn I board at is a breeding facility so they require me to vaccinate for certain things like Rhino. Otherwise I don't. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
 
| smiley - 2014-04-02 4:55 PM
Nope, nothing. Saves money, healthier horses. Same with my kids and my dogs. Herd immunity is an unproven theory based on one herd of cattle and is very misunderstood.
Herd immunity was proven with the eradication of small pox in people.
For tetanus, anthrax, anything with spores herd immunity is irrelevant due to the disease in spore form.
Since there has been a reduction in people immunizing their children, there has been an increased prevalence in measles.
I am pro vaccinating people, as there is ongoing research, surveillance, and improvements in the vaccines and administration.
In horses there is no ongoing improvement or research, and no changes to the vaccine strains contained in the vaccine. (People influenza is changed every year depending on the research) |
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 Chasin my Dream
Posts: 13651
 
Location: Alberta | yes....... |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 615
Location: kentucky | This is interesting to see what people said on vaccinating. I just kind of skimmed thru so it may have been mentioned but I had a mare come down with Potomac horse fever and was in Lexington ky for several days to the tune of a 2k dollar vet bill, west nile, Botulism, ect ... these are things that are high dollar to treat and can be deadly, there is a vaccine for them. I can live with a horse getting strangles or a upper respitory, ect we could spend a small fortune on vaccines when you have a herd of ten horses ! |
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 Coyote Country Queen
Posts: 5666
| We vaccinate 20+ horses each year. I'm not saying it's cheap, but it really isn't that expensive. I'm pretty sure that it cost me $36 per horse last year to vaccinate.
I've been going through old magazines and tearing out the articles that I want to keep. Today I found one from October 2012 in the AQHA Journal about West Nile by Dr. Thomas R Lenz. Here are some quotes that I thought were relevant to this conversation.
"Keep in mind that 30-40 percent of the horses that contract West Nile Virus die. That realization stimulated most horse owners to have their horses vaccinated against the disease when the vaccine became available in 2001. In my practice, at that time, I saw an increase of 15-20 percent in the number of horses we vaccinated compared to prior years."
"Today, I believe that many horse owners have become complacent and no longer feel that their horses are at risk. The fact that most equine veterinarians report a significant decrease in vaccinations requests in recent years confirms that. With the downturn in the economy, some horse owners cannot afford to vaccinate their horses."
"According to the USDA, 10-39 percent of unvaccinated horses will develop the disease when exposed to the virus by a feeding mosquito." |
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 Ditch the Stirrups
Posts: 5369
Location: Sorrow Not! Defending against workplace bullies | I vaccinate Spring and Fall. |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | Jenbabe - 2014-04-04 10:22 PM
We vaccinate 20+ horses each year. I'm not saying it's cheap, but it really isn't that expensive. I'm pretty sure that it cost me $36 per horse last year to vaccinate.
I've been going through old magazines and tearing out the articles that I want to keep. Today I found one from October 2012 in the AQHA Journal about West Nile by Dr. Thomas R Lenz. Here are some quotes that I thought were relevant to this conversation.
"Keep in mind that 30-40 percent of the horses that contract West Nile Virus die. That realization stimulated most horse owners to have their horses vaccinated against the disease when the vaccine became available in 2001. In my practice, at that time, I saw an increase of 15-20 percent in the number of horses we vaccinated compared to prior years."
"Today, I believe that many horse owners have become complacent and no longer feel that their horses are at risk. The fact that most equine veterinarians report a significant decrease in vaccinations requests in recent years confirms that. With the downturn in the economy, some horse owners cannot afford to vaccinate their horses."
"According to the USDA, 10-39 percent of unvaccinated horses will develop the disease when exposed to the virus by a feeding mosquito."
I'm curious to know if mortality rates have continued to be that high. It was a completely new disease to our area in 2002, so none of the horses had any immunity to it. They've had years of exposure now, so I don't think 10 or 12 year old statistics necessarily apply to today. |
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Coyote Country Queen
Posts: 5666
| Three 4 Luck - 2014-04-05 11:08 AM
Jenbabe - 2014-04-04 10:22 PM
We vaccinate 20+ horses each year. I'm not saying it's cheap, but it really isn't that expensive. I'm pretty sure that it cost me $36 per horse last year to vaccinate.
I've been going through old magazines and tearing out the articles that I want to keep. Today I found one from October 2012 in the AQHA Journal about West Nile by Dr. Thomas R Lenz. Here are some quotes that I thought were relevant to this conversation.
"Keep in mind that 30-40 percent of the horses that contract West Nile Virus die. That realization stimulated most horse owners to have their horses vaccinated against the disease when the vaccine became available in 2001. In my practice, at that time, I saw an increase of 15-20 percent in the number of horses we vaccinated compared to prior years."
"Today, I believe that many horse owners have become complacent and no longer feel that their horses are at risk. The fact that most equine veterinarians report a significant decrease in vaccinations requests in recent years confirms that. With the downturn in the economy, some horse owners cannot afford to vaccinate their horses."
"According to the USDA, 10-39 percent of unvaccinated horses will develop the disease when exposed to the virus by a feeding mosquito."
I'm curious to know if mortality rates have continued to be that high. It was a completely new disease to our area in 2002, so none of the horses had any immunity to it. They've had years of exposure now, so I don't think 10 or 12 year old statistics necessarily apply to today.
When the article was written (Oct. 2012) it said that the largest outbreak of the disease was occurring since its discovery in 1999. I don't know if the mortality rates had been updated, but considering that the vaccine came out in 2001 and the largest outbreak happened 11 years later it appears that the virus is still an issue. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2457
| Jenbabe - 2014-04-05 7:31 PM
Three 4 Luck - 2014-04-05 11:08 AM
Jenbabe - 2014-04-04 10:22 PM
We vaccinate 20+ horses each year. I'm not saying it's cheap, but it really isn't that expensive. I'm pretty sure that it cost me $36 per horse last year to vaccinate.
I've been going through old magazines and tearing out the articles that I want to keep. Today I found one from October 2012 in the AQHA Journal about West Nile by Dr. Thomas R Lenz. Here are some quotes that I thought were relevant to this conversation.
"Keep in mind that 30-40 percent of the horses that contract West Nile Virus die. That realization stimulated most horse owners to have their horses vaccinated against the disease when the vaccine became available in 2001. In my practice, at that time, I saw an increase of 15-20 percent in the number of horses we vaccinated compared to prior years."
"Today, I believe that many horse owners have become complacent and no longer feel that their horses are at risk. The fact that most equine veterinarians report a significant decrease in vaccinations requests in recent years confirms that. With the downturn in the economy, some horse owners cannot afford to vaccinate their horses."
"According to the USDA, 10-39 percent of unvaccinated horses will develop the disease when exposed to the virus by a feeding mosquito."
I'm curious to know if mortality rates have continued to be that high. It was a completely new disease to our area in 2002, so none of the horses had any immunity to it. They've had years of exposure now, so I don't think 10 or 12 year old statistics necessarily apply to today.
When the article was written (Oct. 2012 ) it said that the largest outbreak of the disease was occurring since its discovery in 1999. I don't know if the mortality rates had been updated, but considering that the vaccine came out in 2001 and the largest outbreak happened 11 years later it appears that the virus is still an issue.
These are disease maps that track "reportable" diseases sorted by year - so you can see when and where each disease came from and is going.
They are compiled by the CDC, USDA, and USGS together to track where these diseases are spreading.
The link should drop to the WNV veterinary cases but you can also sort for other diseases by the tabs up at the top ... interesting data on when and where these are breaking ....
I find it all fascinating :)
http://diseasemaps.usgs.gov/wnv_us_veterinary.html
Edited by lindseylou2290 2014-04-05 8:39 PM
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  Color My World
Posts: 4940
Location: My perfect world bubble | We are at a boarding facility that requires vaccinations twice a year. Vet has had several cases of West Nile already this year - I would dang sure vaccinate for that and Rabies if nothing else. We are in E TX. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1069
Location: Oklahoma | casualdust07 - 2014-04-01 6:09 PM I think I've skipped in the past, but now there's a least one event a year where I need a health certificate for and I haul a lot so we tend to vaccinate yearly. You can always pull coggins and do shots later to split your bill up.
Our big shows here in Oklahoma require health papers, but they never say a thing about vaccinations on them. Basically a health certificate is pointless, all it says it that they have a negative coggins, which of course I have that too. |
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