State Veterinarian Urges Horse Owners to Vaccinate Against West Nile

State Veterinarian Urges Horse Owners to Vaccinate Against West Nile

Susan Allen
Susan Allen
With Washington Ag Today , I'm Susan Allen. As a horse owner in a state that had the most West Nile Cases last year in the Nation, I can't begin to tell you how important it is to vaccinate your horses but maybe our State Veterinarian Dr. Joe Baker will convince you.

Here's Dr.Baker

Baker: We had more cases of West Nile Virus in horses than any other state in the country and one of the things I found the most troubling was that out of the 36 cases we had most of those horses had never been vaccinated for West Nile Virus. I talked to the owners, (I think there was only one or two where I was never able to make contact with the owners out of the 36). All of the owners I talked to I would ask, did you vaccinate, had you ever vaccinated and so forth...and the ones I found really troubling were the ones, like where the lady told me her trainer said that vaccinating your horses was a waste of money. I am here to tell you if that is what your trainer is saying don't believe them. There are highly effective vaccine products that will protect your horse against West Nile virus and it's really a shame to have a horse where the owner would have been motivated to vaccinate but the trainer said don't bother it's a waste of time.

I think Dr. Baker and I agree especially when considering the suffering West Nile causes in horses . That if you hear that from your trainer, it's time to find a new one.

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