You, rabies and your horse

Equine veterinarian, Dr. Kevin Hankins has some dire warnings about rabies, you and your horse. Senior equine veterinarian with the Zoetis Corporation Dr. Kevin Hankins, surprised me when he brought up the subject of vaccinations and rabies in horses. We currently make vaccines for West Nile virus, eastern and western equine encephalitis and tetanus but do not have an equine rabies vaccine. That should be coming into our portfolio soon. Exposure to rabies is pretty variable year-to-year, depending on weather and depending on the amount of exposure they have two wildlife that are rabies positive. There is a frequent chance for horses to come in contact with rabies positive skunks. We have a pretty high incidence of rabies in the skunk populations. The potential for a horse to become exposed to a rabid animal are extremely high. East Coast is going to be more in the raccoon, fox populations, West Coast you could see it in the fox, skunk, you also see it a lot in the bat populations. The potential for a horse to be exposed to rabies is extremely high no matter where you live in the United States. If a horse gets rabies, it is called dumb rabies, and it will die.