March 12, 2007 @ 10:35 pm
Horse flu and Tetanus Injections
Even though my horse is now retired, he still get an annual flu and tetanus injection. He’s been having them since he was a foal.
When competing, I thought it was important to have the flu injection to minimise the chance of catching and spreading the viruses across the different areas. Certainly in the spring, there always seemed to be a few horses coughing at the shows. Unfortunately, one was usually mine as he had allergy problems so you weren’t sure which coughing was due to the virus versus allergies. I’d also advise that you get such injections out of the competition season as it can occasionally cause the horse to be under the weather for a few weeks.
Tetanus is important too and for the owners as well as the horses. I’m not a fan of injections so had avoided having a booster for some time. However my vet kept asking if mine was up-to-date and in the end said he would give me an injection if I did not go to the doctors. I believed him and had had booster ever since. Horses carry tetanus in their feet so it is very important that owners keep their tetanus up-to-date.
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3 Responses to “Horse flu and Tetanus Injections”
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March 27th, 2007 at 8:37 am
saying that horses carry tetanus in their feet could be misunderstood ! horses carry the tetanus germ in their gut and this germ will stay alive in manure. as you rightly say it’s very important to give the horse a tetanus shot every year. for the rider/handler a tetanus booster shot every 10 years. tetanus is an extremely painful and deadly disease
April 6th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Thanks for your feedback providing a more detailed explanation of how the tetanus germ can be picked up from handling horses feet.
September 16th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
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