<< We have rabies in Texas, mostly coyotes and skunks I think
 It was a vaccine I had debated about and would give some years, but not
 always.
 Last spring I had a mare come up from the pasture with 4 canine(?)
 punctures across the bridge of her nose, 3 of them went all the way thru to
 the inside of her nostrils.  I knew she had rabies vaccine, but was unsure
 when...  well, it had been longer than I thought so she had to be
 quarantined.  Very Scary.
 
 score 1 'for' vaccines.
 
 Becky H >>
Dear Becky, I commend anyone who does what they think is best for their horse
and their situation.  This is what I am doing, by not vaccinating my animals.
 I'm glad the rabies vaccine gave you some piece of mind after your horse was
bitten.  I have to say though, that that is probably all the vaccine did for
the animal--give YOU piece of mind.  Was the animal that bit your horse
rabid?  Odds are against it.  Also, contrary to popular belief, not all
animals who are bitten by a rabid animal get rabies themselves.  When she was
4 years old, my non-vaccinated daughter was bitten by a mouse.  I debated on
taking her in for rabies shots (I say I "debated" but the word does not come
close to describing my emotions when deciding this--both my head and heart
said one thing--"common Knowledge" said another--I do not say common sense,
for common knowledge and common sense are not the same at all ).  I weighed
what I knew about the odds that mouse had rabies (it had bitten my daughter
because she rescued it from the house cats jaws), what I knew and know to be
the health RISKS of vaccinations in general and the rabies vaccine in
particular--THEY ARE SIGNIFICANT RISKS--and decided to not get the rabies
boosters.  My kid is a healthy 10 year old today--she is not only a healthy
10 year old, she is SO healthy she amazes freinds, family, and our
doctor--all of whom act as if there is something unnatural about a child who
just never ever seems to get sick.  When she had chicken pox the disease ran
its course in ONE DAY.  Not the 1 to 2 weeks everyone says chicken pox takes.
My non-vaccinated horses contract nothing, when the animals in my friends
barns always seem to be coming down with runny noses or whatever.  The only
thing I vaccinate for is tetenus, because I consider the risk of that to be
greater than the risk of the vaccine itself, due to conditions in my pasture
(some old fencing etc.).
I think I'll keep doing things the holistic way.  Seems to work spectaculary
well for me.
Trish & "pretty David" (who doesn'[t have needles puncture his pretty,
dapppled hide often . . .)
"Ignorance is not NOT knowing, but knowing what isn't so." Mark Twain