Pedigree Query

Has anyone had any experence with the vaccines for Lyme Disaese; i.e., any problem vaccinating mares in-foal or about to be bred????

griff

Oh this is old but...

Some vets are using the dog lyme vaccine on horses but it has *not* been tested. I would not use it on my horses (and I definitely wouldn't suggest a mare in foal recieve the vaccine).

The studies I've read re: K-9 Lyme disease vacc. with pregnant/ pre-bred mares all said "No! No! No!" I can't remember specifics, but at least I remember the bottom line....

I'd be interested to know if anyone on this board has or knows of a horse that has been diagnosised with lymes.

habitat wrote:I'd be interested to know if anyone on this board has or knows of a horse that has been diagnosised with lymes.

My aunt lives in an area that is simply crawling with ticks and their related diseases. She has to do tick checks on her horses, cats, etc. daily... she, as well as most of our family in that area and friends and acquaintences, have actually had lymes disease themselves. She lives in a more "countrified" setting but it is such a problem there that my dad, who lives in a very populated area with mostly buildings and the occasional manacured lawn, got bitten by a tick with lymes disease while spending about 15 minutes in his front yard one day. It is a very serious problem in that area, so they are much more active in dealing with it. My aunt's horse vet, who has done some cutting edge tick research, vaccinates all of her horses with the lymes vaccine because she feels very strongly that the risk of the horses getting lymes disease far outweighs the risk from the vaccine.

Now, I am no longer in that area, but last year we lost our two dogs to a condition that no vet out here could diagnose. After telling my aunt about it, she told her afore-mentioned "tick experienced" vet, who instantly said it was "tick paralysis." After researching the symptoms, there is no doubt that's exactly what it was. I posted about it here on this board when it happened. People out here are not familiar with this type of thing, they don't look for it, don't know much about it, and aren't worried about it. But if you're in a massive tick-infested area, your views are quite different.

Sort of like where I grew up every horse was vaccinated against PHF and Rabies; out here NOBODY does that... it's all about the area your horse is in and what it's likely to encounter in that area.

I have a similar concern with west niles. We have confirmed cases of west nile not far from me. My horses are vaccinated, but there is not (too my knowledge) anything I can do for my dogs. Someday you would expect that people might want these vaccines too!

Here in Florida, the mosquito-borne diseases are some of the most widely vaccinated against, i.e. West Nile. Since I live next to a wetland, this is important to me.

I have a pony that is currently fighting lyme. And a horse that always tests a low positive because she was exposed to it but the infection is currently not active (negative SNAP test). It's very common in horses especially here in the northeast. I'd even venture to say that the majority of the horse population in the NE has been exposed to the bacteria.

I hear you on the WNV.. and EEE. I've gotten my horses vaccinated for it, but there isn't anything I can do for my *daughter* or my dogs. A young woman died last year one town over from EEE.

as opposed to giving a lymes vaccine you might want to consider something like front line. I believe a tick still needs to be attached for 24 hours to transmit the disease.

What a horse absorbs from Front Line may be far more harmful than the dog vaccine . Tcks and fleas don't die and fall off a dog because the front lone smells bad.

/ Seems to me if there industry was able o develope a dog vaccine they should realize the financial incentive an equine vaccine.

griff