Vaccine reaction of the worst type yesterday...

My personal opinion on horse vaccinations has now been strongly cemented that these should be done only when a vet is on site for MANY hours. If the worst case scenario happens there simply isn’t going to be enough time to call in a vet. And whoa, lemme tell you, giving epinephrine to a horse that has stopped breathing is no minor matter. That last resort “cure” can kill them too.

As you can guess, yesterday was a pretty dramatic day at my barn.

It started out with wonderful but increasingly windy weather. All but one boarder came in to meet the vet and get part of their vaccines (we split) and yearly exams done. One gal works evenings so she went first and then went home.

2 horses received catalog ordered Flu / Rhino shots (Ft.Dodge, I’ll post the lot #s when I have them but it doesn’t mean the lot is bad -> every individual’s reaction to every single time is different)

Almost 3 hrs from when her mare was given the catalogue purchased version of one vaccine, she started definitely showing signs of colic. The vet was packed and the only reason she was still around was because she was photographing me playing carrot-stick riding with my donkey. The said mare (Lizzy) was actually IN THE BACKGROUND of the photos but her symptoms were so mild to that point that the vet didn’t see anything wrong. I had mentioned to her she ‘looks unusual’ and let’s take this over there. She’d rolled but gotten right up and trotted back to call for her friend. That’s about it. She does that stuff daily.

Anyhow, so I look over and mare has a very loose bowel movement but otherwise looked just tired. And they do sleep mid-day at my place b/c they’re out 24/7 and that’s sleepy sun-bathing time. As soon as she let fly with the manure though I knew she wasn’t “right”. Vet and I hand over donkey to someone else and go in to reexamine mare.

She’s breathing JUST a tad heavier than normal and we give her an oral shot of banamine (owner owned). I call owner but she’s sleeping so I ask her hubby to go ‘wake her’ because in the course of making 3 phone calls mare’s breathing, heart rate and overall distress increased rapidly. In fact by the time the vet got some additional on-hand shots loaded up she decided the mare definitely was having an allergic reaction.

I want to put this link in her now because I have only seen mild allergic reactions in horses. It’s HORRIFYING how fast they can go from mild to stopping breathing

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/horse-health/2006/november/07/recognize-allergic-reactions.aspx

The next 5 minutes (T-minus 7 from when mare looked just “low” and had her loose manure), weren’t much of other than holding her and discussing the situation/causes. I think it was at this point that the vet decided the mare definitely needed an antihistamine too.

Then she seemed to get more distressed. Vet then decides to give small amount of additional banamine IM. This mare actually had a mild colic on me once before an she responded exceptionally fast to the oral. She should’ve responded fairly fast to the IM. Certainly to the antihistamine. However her reaction was just too severe. I’ve already redialed the owner’s husband to tell him it’s going downhill. (T-minus 12min from initial obvious signs)

So we need to walk her a little closer to her friend who is out (paddock buddy). She goes “blank” as I think of it though and so she just sorta staggered across the lawn and collapsed. (T-minus ~14min) Vet was 50ft away calling her next appointment to say she’d be late I presume. I see her watching so I stay with mare and stroke her neck as her heart-rate increased and breathing gets weaker and more shallow. I’d say approximately 5min of this until her breathing wisped away to undetectable (by then vet was back listening to her heart). (T-minus 15-16min from onset)

Here’s a tidy wiki breakdown of anaphylactic shock; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphylaxis

I used to work at a vet clinic as a surgery assistant. I’ve held many an animal as it died and it’s one of those weird things you just feel happening and know. It’s not like anesthesia for some reason (or falling asleep). There’s something VERY still about an animal when it’s heart and breathing completely slows down and stops.

So next comes out “Pulp Fiction” reenactment scene.

The vet administers an epi shot. Wiki on how those work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epinephrine

Just like Pulp Fiction, there’s 30seconds or so of nothing. Then suddenly the mare leaps up to sitting and bellowing. Here’s the reason you don’t want to ever have to give these to horses: they can leap up and run off and die of a heart attack. Just like the movie, nothing and then very suddenly mare got to her feet with a loud bellow and started having rapid-fire muscle spasms all over. I ask the vet (still firmly ear to stethoscope to heart), if I should walk her off and the vet tells me it might literally cause her to have a heart attack too. She was pounding like an animal ill-condiditioned and forced to run a hard race. Eye dilation, dripping sweat suddenly, trembling and twitching all over.

It took about 5min for her heartrate to return to safe level.

She was of course absolutely physically drained but fine after that. Other horse showed absolutely no sign of issue despite getting the exact same combo/treatment that day.

I really wanted to get this out there as it’s spring shot season and I know people (such as myself) are aware of vaccine reaction possibilities. I’m just not sure how many know how extreme and fast they can happen.

As for the Ft. Dodge self-purchase stuff. The vet said she saw 4 horses 2 weeks before have a similar (but much milder) reaction to the same shots the barn gave when she came out to administer them. I personally had asked the owners to give the shots when the vet was around. I had no idea it would take 3hrs and how extreme the reaction could be that long after administration. On my farm the odds were 50/50 for that brand/lot. I’m sure they’re much more nominal (1ike 1% or less have an ‘extreme’ allergic reaction). All I can say is dude – don’t take minor colicy signs after a shot lightly at all. Most emergency vet calls take us 20-40minutes at least. Get the vet there asap. Even if she’d been somewhat nearby she wouldn’t have made it out in time from onset of clear symptom 1 to her heart stopping.

Also! Very important: this mare NEVER had a reaction of any type according to the owner when administered this brand of Flu/Rhino before. They change the adjuvant every year however in some types of vaccs so you just never know.

That’s my public service announcement for the day.

[Adding this link to photo in on Wed Afternoon. I'm currently waiting for barn to be "cleared" with Bleach before I go in to do chores... there was manure sprayed about this afternoon and it's better if fewer people go in touching things atm. I have been on the phone all day & warned all the boarders of quarantine protocols now in effect. Word back is that mare's CBC/Chem blood test were pretty good all things considered and she's low risk. But still worth quarantining and practicing sterile handling practices. Anyhow, in talking to one boarder, here's a photo she took accidentally while she was trying to get a hold of the owner on the phone. Vet is kneeling, I'm in the red shirt. Manure on the ground to the forefront was from a few minutes before. Guess I didn't see that come out there as I was in front of mare. Don't remember. Anyhow, it's not very graphic but all the same I'll just post a link for sensitive eyes.]