Frogs: an army

TABLE OF CONTENTS

•Hendra Virus Vaccine

•Equivac HeV Vaccination Schedule

•Halloween with Pets

IN OTHER NEWS Kitten Season

Kitten season begins in Spring, as the weather starts to become warmer and the days begin to lengthen.

Cats can start breeding as young as 16 weeks and have very little difficulty conceiving.

Not only does desexing reduce the number of unwanted cats and kittens that will end up in animal welfare organisations looking for a forever home, desexing has many health benefits and can also reduce nuisance behaviours.

Golden Plain Shire has been offering a subsidised cat desexing program and we have been proud to be one of the clinics taking part.

To find out more contact the National Desexing Network on 1300 368 992 or visit https://bit. ly/3n9c18F.

Hendra Virus Vaccine

A global pandemic has made vaccination very topical. The releases of various vaccines for immunisation of people against Covid-19 means its a great time to re-examine the importance of vaccination for Hendra Virus in horses.

There are many different types of vaccines. Equivac HeV is called a 'subunit' vaccine. This means it contains only a small part of the Hendra virus, a protein from the virus surface. As there is no complete Hendra virus in the vaccine it cannot cause viral disease in your horse, you , or any other person or animal.

A recent paper by Halpin et al, found Equivac HeV produced high titre levels in horses given a least three doses at the recommended intervals.

The titre results support annual boosters.

Ensuring your horse continues with annual Equivac HeV vaccination boosters is key to reducing the risk of the spread of Hendra Virus.

Equivac HeV Vaccination Schedule

If your horse has not been vaccinated against Hendra or their booster is overdue contact the clinic to organise a vaccination.