Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

If you mean right after injecting, no, I don’t think so.  Soreness usually shows up the next day or so, and is due to the adjuvant added to most vaccines.  Adjuvant is something intended to cause a mild local inflammatory reaction, which in turn helps boost the overall immune response.  At *that* point some massage may be helpful, but again, I prefer injecting in the pecs, then “massaging” the soreness with light exercise.  Much harder to do that in the neck area.

 

Susan Garlinghouse, DVM, MS

 

---

From: Rae Callaway [mailto:tallcarabians@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 2:53 AM
To: suendavid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [RC] West Nile Virus - Adverse Reaction

 

Does it do any good to massage the injection site after a shot?  Or is that just something that makes "me" feel better?

 

Rae
Tall C Arabians - SE Texas

----- Original Message -----

From: Susan E. Garlinghouse, D.V.M.

To: 'Sisu West Ranch' ; 'Lari Shea' ; ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 11:32 PM

Subject: RE: [RC] West Nile Virus - Adverse Reaction

 

Subject: Re: [RC] West Nile Virus - Adverse Reaction

 

Immediate disclaimer:  I am not a VET or any other medical practicionar.

 

What you experienced sounds to me to be associated with percing the skin and dragging bacteria into the wound, not WN vaccine.  Or in otherwords, it was just pure bad luck that the absesses happened with WN vaccine they could have happened with any injection.

 

Ed

Ed & Wendy Hauser

 

I agree with Ed (and I *am* a vet, <vbg>)  You will occasionally get an abscess any time you punch through the skin layers.  There are arguments both for and against swabbing first with a disinfectant --- one side says it just puts surface dirt and bacteria into suspension, thus more easily poking it down into the muscle; the other side says it at least wipes off some of the crud, if not truly disinfects it.  In reality, disinfectants don’t sterilize the surface instantly, it takes 5-10 minutes and even then isn’t perfect.

 

We still swab the skin with some dilute Nolvasan before injections, and my preference remains injecting into the pectoral muscles --- soreness is easier to work out with even light lunging or riding, abscesses drain much better due to gravity afforded by the ventral position; and worst case, any resulting scars are less obvious on the chest than on the neck.

 

Susan Garlinghouse, DVM, MS