Pedigree Query

If you were sending a yearling to the sales, would you get a strangles vaccine done?

The place where we board the riding horses requires this to be done if we are going to be showing off of the property, but do we need this on the off chance that we bring the yearling home, or send him off for 30 days training after the sale?

Vet says not necessary, but thought I'd check with you knowledgable folks!

We've sent plenty of yearlings to the sales and never vaccinated for strangles.

On the other hand, we sent a 2YO filly to the track who had been vaccinated for strangles--and she came down with the disease anyway. When I said to the vet (at Rood & Riddle) "But she was vaccinated!" he laughed and said, "you might as well have just thrown water on her, because that's about as much good as the vaccine does."

Just my personal experience.

I have heard that the strangles vaccine is not completely effective but I don't think it has a high percentage of side effects, but anytime you are sending a horse to a place where a bunch of horses have been, you run a risk of disease. What's the cost of the vaccine, $40? What's the cost of the yearling coming down sick at the sale, thousands? In the risk vs. reward calculation, I'd vaccinate, but maybe I'd ask my vet about doing a betadine prep on the neck before. You don't need a neck abcess to really screw things up.

Edited to add: I think the last time I had that done, it might have been a nasal introduction, so the horse didn't even have to have a shot.

I vaccinate everything for strangles. Had a case once and it is something I never want to see again.

Use the Internasel and give it twice..

Abba Vet Supply, LLC at 717-838-8041 will sell you a 1 ml single dose for $18.35. It's very easy to administer.

griff

From what I've seen, horses that have been vaccinated can get strangles, but not nearly as bad as those who haven't been vaccinated. When I say bad, I mean 8 or more abscesses around their throat and chest. The one's who had been vaccinated just came down with runny noses.

The vaccine does not guarantee your horse will not contract strangles. In fact I know of a vaccinated horse that suffered a serious reaction to the vaccine, another that came down with strangles after being vaccinated and another still that suffered from purpura hemorrhagica

I don't vaccinate against it personally. It is rarely a life threatening illness (merely an inconvenience) and often a horse that contracts it develops immunity. To each their own

I think a bad case of strangles is much more than an inconcenience for a young horse..I had a very nice yearling racing QH filly that came down with it and never amounted to a hill of beans.

The internasal seems to work, is easy to administer and only cost $18.35 per dose.

griff

griff - it would be like a person getting a bad case of the flu. You get sick, feel like $hit, than you recover. It is an inconvenience, time off, isolation, treatment ... Unless your immune system is compromised in some way and perhaps you become crtically ill. It happens - but rarely. Your filly would be a rare case. I can understand though that by experiencing such a thing you would do whatever possible to avoid it again in the future. As I said "to each their own". I have seen the opposite occur. My friend had a champion roping horse suffer a severe reaction to the vaccine and develop COPD so severely as a result that he had to be euthanized. Another friend whose racing TB (an earner of over $500,000) was vaccinated yearly and still managed to contract the rare Purpura Hemorrhagica after being exposed to Strangles and had to be shipped to Guelph for life saving treatment. My own TB yearling contracted it several years ago, she was unhappy while she was sick but she survived
Anyhoo, that is my two cents

The case I had resulted in the filly's neck swelling up, bursting and pus draining fior whatt seemed like forever.. I for one will continue to do what I can to stop this from happening again to anything I own..

Also there was a stallion station in PA that was shut down by the State when they had a outbreak and that does not sound like a case of flue to me.

Have you tried the intranasal vaccine?/

griff

PS: I also get a couple of flu shots ever year

griff

My orphaned Colt developed strangles at 2 months old. It was slowly strangling him to death....we tried aggressively for over a week to drain it but could not, all with vet's assistance. The area that it was located was too close to his main artery, trachea and (sorry I forget what else it was she called it, this is a few years ago.....but it was in a major triangle). Said it was far too dangerous to lance.

On the Friday that she came to check him, before the weekend, his breathing was sooo labored, it was horrific. She ultrasounded to see if there was an area she could get in with a needle.....one slight possiblity...and if she missed....well, you can guess. Anyway.....she withdrew 150 cc's of pus from that poor little guy.....if she hadn't, he would not have made it through the weekend. So, my apologies for the long post, but....it can be deadly....depending on the circumstances I guess.

Strangles can be deadly, seen it happen. When they get so many abscesses that they can't eat. We nicknamed one dead man walking because he was so skinny. The vets tubed him with supplements, but it didn't help. He eventually died, the abscesses wouldn't go away.

I would vaccinate for it.