After the recent outbreak of the Equine Herpes virus down South, our Tictac team have been researching the signs and symptoms of this horrible, infectious virus to help spread the word to all of our customers and keep your horses safe and happy during the upcoming show season. After some researching, we found out that you can have your horse vaccinated against the Equine Herpes Virus (EHV) and it can be given at the same time as their Tetanus and Influenza Virus Injections; prevention is better than cure after all! You are advised strongly to have broodmares vaccinated yearly, and if your mare is in foal, they should be vaccinated in the fifth, seventh and ninth month of pregnancy to reduce the risk of abortion due to the virus.
There are five strains of EHV, the two most common being EHV1 and EHV 4 which can cause:
- Abortions
Paralysis- Respiratory and neurological disease
After reading this, all of our Tictac team are definitely booking all of our horses in to be vaccinated. Don’t just shrug it off and think that it won’t affect your horse: you never know where the next outbreak may be.
Educating ourselves a little about EHV could reduce the risk of a massive outbreak and keep our horses safe. Some of the symptoms of Equine Herpes Virus (EHV) are:
· A high temperature
· A watery nasal discharge
· Ocular discharge
· Enlarged lymph nodes
· Coughing
· Loss of appetite
· Depression or looking lethargic
If you are worried that your horse might have EHV then phone your vet as soon as possible to have it officially diagnosed, treated and contained. If you have any stories or advice for our team or our customers, we would love to hear from you J
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