P.S. We gave the shots to all 5 2x, everyone did fine, ages, 7,9,11,20 and 15 months.No reactions at all. Hope it works.Laurie and Rascal (who was so good on the 2 1/5 hour ride, even thought he went out of his way to smell that beer can! UNtil, Until, mom held him back from rejoining Champ (she actually thought he should walk to catch up, right after going past he racing 4 wheelers, and the hole in the woods bypass with the stove and puddles, and the noisy car that came up behind and did a 8 buck routine, showing mom she could have an exciting ride.......
----- Original Message -----
From: Howard Bramhall
Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 8:28 PM
To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [RC] West Nile
I don't want to scare anyone with this, but my Vet came out today, for shots, Coggins and a Health Certificate to get me up to Georgia next month (yea, watch out Peach State, I'm coming) and she talked me into getting the West Nile vaccine. Now, this woman doesn't try to persuade me to do much, she knows I'm kind of cheap and not the first one to jump in line with a new vaccine. She didn't push it much last year. But, she's pushing it now.
Seems like a few horse owners in my county have had some of their four legged buddies come down with the virus. And, there's a 40 percent mortality rate. Then, my vet, threw in the kicker. It seems the ones who do survive don't quite seem the same after they recover. Kind of lose that spunk they used to have. Yea, she scared me good.
So, I reluctantly agreed, she injected and I paid the bill. Later tonight, on the news, they were talking about it, but discussing humans contracting it, not horses. Evidently it's spreading much faster than anyone predicted it would. Louisiana seems to be the hardest hit down in the South (human, they didn't talk about the horses).
I just checked my guys, they seem fine, no swelling where they got the shot. Anyway, just thought I'd pass it along. Yea, it's a pain in the butt, the vet has to come out again anywhere between 2 weeks and 6, but that's OK. I feel better now about his one. Just thought I'd let ya'll know.
cya,
Howard (I got a persuasive Vet. She lets me know when it's time to get serious, something I rarely do.)
