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Equine Asthma

Equine Asthma

May 27, 2019 | Equine Asthma, Heaves

Tuesdays with Tony

Wowza!! It has been a hot one this weekend. Hopefully you all made it through the long weekend. Who am I kidding? Of course you made it through the weekend, you had to in order to read my blog this week.  Luckily, my staff knew just what a scorcher it was going to be and left me and Teeny in the lovely air-conditioned office for the weekend. I spent my weekend getting caught up on my sleep and refreshing my memory about equine asthma.

 

Equine Asthma, COPD, Recurrent Airway Obstruction, Heaves, Inflammatory Airway Disease, which is it? Why can’t these humans pick a term and stick with it? Well, as I found out this weekend, there is a reason why it has so many different names. The current accepted term for equine airway disfunction is Equine Asthma. Subcategories of equine asthma include Inflammatory Airway Disease and Heaves/RAO. To break it down even further, Heaves/RAO can be divided into Pasture-associated and Barn-associated. So, how do we determine if your horse has Equine Asthma, and if they do, which form they have? That’s where my docs and I come in. I’m going to give you a brief overview of the different forms of Equine Asthma and if you have a concern about one of your horses, you’re going to call the clinic and schedule an appointment with one of my docs.

 

Inflammatory Airway Disease

 

IAD is a respiratory disease that typically affects younger horses. It is characterized by a lingering cough, poor performance, increased breathing efforts, and prolonged recovery after exercise. Some horses may have watery-to-white nasal discharge but will never develop a fever. What sets these horses apart from horses with Heaves is that they are normal at rest with no increased respiratory effort or rate. Their appetite and attitude remain unchanged at rest.

 

What do you do if you notice your horse showing any of these symptoms? First, you call my clinic and my docs will come out and perform a thorough physical examination. This may include a rebreathing exam where they place a bag over your horse’s nose and mouth. While your horse is staring at you like, “what the heck are they doing to me, mom?” my docs will be listening closely to your horse breathe. Once the bag is removed, they will continue to listen while monitoring how long it takes your horse to breathe normally again, as well as note any change in lung sounds or coughing. Depending on what is seen and heard on the physical exam, my docs may recommend you bring your horse to the clinic for further diagnostics.

 Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

When you bring your horse to the clinic there are a couple diagnostic tests we will perform. First, my docs will perform a Bronchoalveolar Lavage (BAL) where they will obtain samples from your horse’s airway to send to the lab and look for inflammatory cells. They will also perform an endoscope exam to the upper airway. A small camera is passed up your horse’s nose and into their trachea where they will look for excessive mucous buildup.  I sure hope my docs don’t ever try and stick anything up my nose. I can’t promise I won’t scratch anyone if they do!

 

Based on the diagnostic results, my docs will recommend certain treatments, including environmental changes. The goal of environmental changes is to reduce dust allergens. This can be accomplished by soaking hay and grain, and bedding horses on paper or wood shavings. Your horse should be out of the barn during cleaning and remain out for an hour after chores are complete. This will prevent them from breathing in excessive dust particles that may be floating about after cleaning is complete.

 

My docs may also recommend a course of systemic steroids to reduce inflammation in the airways. It has been shown that Omega-3 fatty acids help to reduce inflammation as well. I’m not convinced that horses will readily eat fish oil, but it sure sounds delicious to me! There are commercially-developed Omega-3 fatty acids that are more palatable to horses than straight fish oil. My docs may also recommend bronchodilators such as clenbuterol or albuterol which may come in oral or inhaled forms.

 

Luckily, if your horse is diagnosed with IAD, the prognosis of a full recovery if treated is excellent. If cats got IAD, I would just take it as my sign that I should never exercise again. Oh wait, I don’t currently exercise. I guess we will never know if cats get IAD.

 

Heaves/Recurrent Airway Obstruction

 

Unlike IAD, a horse with Heaves/RAO is not normal at rest. You may notice your horse breathing rapidly or with more effort. You may even hear them coughing more frequently. You may also notice nasal discharge along with exercise intolerance. Horses with Heaves will have the classic “heave line” at the bottom of their ribs due to increase in abdominal muscle mass from excess work performed in order to breathe. Some horses with Heaves may become in appetent, although why horses decide to stop eating is beyond me. The horses usually experience weight loss due to decreased feed intake. Similar to IAD, horses with Heaves will not typically have a fever.

 

You may recall I mentioned early on that there are two different types of Heaves, Barn-associated and Pasture-associated. Horses with Barn-associated Heaves spend the majority of their time kept in a stall where they are exposed to typical molds, dust and endotoxins in hay and straw. Horses with Pasture-associated Heaves typically reside in the Southeast and spend the majority of their time on pasture where they are exposed to inhaled allergens. Both types of Heaves result in lower airway inflammation, but exact factors causing the airway dysfunction is unknown.

 

Heaves is diagnosed by BAL and endoscopic examination. Radiographs and thoracic ultrasound are also useful diagnostic tools used to further characterize the inflammation in your horse’s lungs.

 

Treatment for heaves is similar to that of IAD. At the forefront of treatment is to reduce allergens by soaking hay and grain. It is also important to keep horses with heaves off of round bales as they are very high in endotoxic and organic dust. Horses with Barn-associated Heaves should be kept on pasture and horses with Pasture-associated Heaves should be kept stalled except in the winter months when allergens are low. Systemic steroids and bronchodilators are also recommended for horses with Heaves.

 

Now that you are an expert on Equine Asthma, if you are concerned that your horse may be showing any of these signs, be sure to contact me at the clinic and I will get you in touch with one of my docs.  We will get out to check on your horse as soon as possible.

 

Now it’s time for me to go back to enjoying the remainder of this holiday weekend in the cool AC. Take a moment to remember all those who have served our country and provided us with the freedom to nap all day.

 

Until next week,

~Tony

Tuesdays with Tony is the official blog of Tony the Clinic Cat at Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic in Newberry, Florida. If you liked this blog, please subscribe below, and share it with your friends on social media! For more information, please call us at (352) 472-1620, visit our website at SpringhillEquine.com, or follow us on Facebook!

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When It’s Time

When It’s Time

May 20, 2019 | End of Life

Tuesdays with Tony

We’re going to talk about a tough subject today, so I’m going to be on my best behavior. It’s an important topic, one my Docs face all the time with owners. How do you know when it’s time to euthanize your horse? Let me help you with what I’ve learned from years hanging out on the front counter here at Springhill Equine.

 

Guidelines

 

Let me start by saying this entire blog is full of guidelines. Sometimes it’s crystal clear that euthanasia is the only option: badly broken legs, some very bad lacerations in very bad locations, and the older horse who is down and can’t get up. Most of the time it isn’t so clear. It’s muddy like a limerock road after rain in Florida. My very best cat advice is to talk through your concerns and fears with my Docs. They have helped people make this decision many times, and can help you find the right option for you and your horse.

 

What does pain look like?

 

We all know that some horses, just like some humans, (and some cats) take pain better than others. However, horses as a species are really, really good at hiding pain in general. When you live and die on the grasslands based on who is the easy-to-pick-off weak one, you hide your pain. Horses do give us clues to look for, though. The biggest clue that your horse is painful is weight loss. These are horses who continue to eat everything in sight, but continue to lose weight. And I don’t mean a little bit of weight loss. These horses are often in the 2 to 3 body condition score range, despite a ton of effort by their owners to manage the weight loss. I recommend weekly or every-other-week pictures of your horse. This way you can swipe back and see what your horse looked like over the past few months.

 

A change in routine is another sign of pain for horses. Has Flicka always been under the oak tree at the far end of the pasture at 3pm? Now she isn’t even going to the far end of the pasture? This can be a sign of pain. As the person who knows your horse best, you are in the best position to notice these often subtle changes. Especially as horses age, the change in routine can come on slowly. Take a moment every month or so to evaluate your horse’s patterns.

 

Get out the Magic 8 Ball

 

Next up is the future life problem. For this one, there are two different categories: young vs. older. Why are there two different categories, you ask? Time is the biggest reason, and capacity for healing is the second reason. Let’s take a bad laceration to the back of the lower leg as an example. These injuries can take years to recover from. They make an athletic career unlikely, and they put a lot of stress on the other three legs. A young horse has a much better chance of being able to heal one of these wounds without one of the other legs giving out. It is very realistic to ask yourself if you want your older horse to go through the years of work that will be necessary, and if they can handle it. The answer is often yes, but it’s important, on young and old, to think about.

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

Money

 

I’m going to be very brief on this part. Have a plan for how much you can, and are willing to spend on your horse ahead of time. I promise my Docs aren’t going to judge you for this. The reality is some of the things horses do to themselves are very, very expensive to fix. If that’s not right for you, we understand! Some quick guidelines: colic surgery-$10,000, infected joint-$5-6,000, bad, bad wound repair-$2500-3000. Insurance and programs like SmartPak’s ColiCare can help with these expenses, but you have to look into them early.

 

Most important thing I’ve ever said

 

The absolute single most important thing to consider when considering euthanasia for your horse: what is their every day like? We animals live for today. We aren’t trying to make it to our kids graduation, or the end of the Game of Thrones season. We live day by day. If those days aren’t good, we aren’t happy. Consider what the day to day looks like for your horse. Please be honest with yourself, and if it isn’t good, let them go.

 

I know this week was tough, but it’s really important stuff! My Docs are always, always, always available to talk with you about your horse, and help you make decisions.

 

Now be a good human and subscribe to my blog. It’s a simple button push after scrolling down a wee, tiny bit further.

Tuesdays with Tony is the official blog of Tony the Clinic Cat at Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic in Newberry, Florida. If you liked this blog, please subscribe below, and share it with your friends on social media! For more information, please call us at (352) 472-1620, visit our website at SpringhillEquine.com, or follow us on Facebook!

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Talk To The Foot

Talk To The Foot

May 13, 2019 | Farriers, Feet, Hoof, Lameness

Tuesdays with Tony

With the amount I talk about horse feet, you all must think I’m obsessed with them. Well, you kind of have to be when you run an equine vet clinic like I do. Horse feet are kinda important. It’s not like a dog, where they can get along just fine on 3 legs. Horses need all 4 of their feet to be in good working order just to survive. So today I’m going to teach you a few things you can look for to make sure your horse’s feet are going in the right direction instead of the wrong one.

 

Lameness

   Did you know that over 85% of lameness in horses originates in the foot? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen humans bring their horse in for “soreness in the stifles”, “hock injections”, or even a “broken shoulder” and the problem ends up being in the foot. The silver lining in this is the fact that foot problems can often be easily corrected by trimming and shoeing, which is an easy and inexpensive fix, relatively speaking. Believe me, you WANT your horse’s lameness to be in the foot. That’s a much better scenario than a bone cyst, severe arthritis, or a torn suspensory ligament.

    This should go without saying, but recurring foot lameness is usually an indicator that your horse isn’t happy with how he’s being trimmed or shod. Now, I’m not telling you to pick up the phone and call a new farrier. A great place to start is with X-rays of your horse’s feet. There is only so much a farrier can tell from the outside of the foot. Many times, the bony column within the foot doesn’t match what the hoof would lead you to believe.

    There is so much we can learn from just a single side-view of the foot. My docs can tell you if your horse has any signs of laminitis, such as rotation or sinking of the coffin bone (the bone inside the hoof). They can even tell you if these changes are acute (new) or chronic (old). They can determine your horse’s palmar angle, or the angle between the ground and the bottom of the coffin bone.

white line disease horse hoof

They can tell you if your horse has signs of coffin joint arthritis, or navicular disease (note: to get a full evaluation of the navicular bone, a few more views would be necessary). They can tell you how good the bony alignment is from the fetlock joint down to the tip of the toe. This hoof-pastern-axis should be a straight line, neither “broken-forward” nor “broken back.”  Your farrier may be surprised to see how much excess toe or how little sole your horse has. Additionally, he can get an idea of the side-to-side symmetry and balance of the foot from one more front-to-back view.

 

A Good Trim

 

Everything about horse feet starts with a good trim. You can see my Everything You Need To Know About Horse Feet blogs for tons of information and pictures. Here’s the basics: the heels should be brought down to the widest point of the frog. Yes, brought down. Do not leave bad-quality heel on. You can’t “grow better heels” on a horse. They’ve got what the good Lord gave ‘em and you can’t fix it, you just have to manage it.

Alignment side equine hoof demo at equine hoof care semina

From there, your farrier should trim the foot as they normally would. When finished, the widest part of the hoof should be halfway between the toe and the heel. If it isn’t, the trim is adjusted until it fits this ideal. If it can’t be….well, that takes me to the next section of this blog

 

Shoes or no shoes

 

I hear it all the time: “My farrier just wants to charge me more so they said my horse needs shoes.” Nope, not true. Farrier myth busted. Every farrier I met doesn’t want to put shoes on a horse until they absolutely need it. However, when the hoof has been trimmed to the best of your farrier’s ability, and the mechanics are still all messed up, a shoe is needed to fix what’s messed up.

If your horse has really weird feet, your farrier is definitely going to want an appointment with our Docs and the x-ray at the same time. This will get your horse the best possible shoeing job. Heck, your farrier and my Docs get so much information from foot x-rays that we recommend them for every performance horse, every year.

No hoof, no horse, is the truest thing ever said about a horse. Be sure to use my Docs as the great resource they are to help your horse have the very best feet they possibly can!

 

Now be a good human. Scroll down a teenie, tiny bit further and subscribe to my blog. All the cool humans do it. And if you listen to the podcast my Docs do, which is another cool human trait, you can listen to more about horse feet. The more you know, the better care you can provide for your horse.

 

Until next week,

 

~Tony

Tuesdays with Tony is the official blog of Tony the Clinic Cat at Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic in Newberry, Florida. If you liked this blog, please subscribe below, and share it with your friends on social media! For more information, please call us at (352) 472-1620, visit our website at SpringhillEquine.com, or follow us on Facebook!

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Electrolytes and Horses

Electrolytes and Horses

May 6, 2019 | electrolytes, Sweating/ Not sweating

Tuesdays with Tony

As I was lying in the middle of the driveway yesterday, I realized it was a bit warm. Humidity wasn’t too bad though, but that can only mean one thing: Summer is coming. With summer comes sweat, for horses and humans. Cats simply will not lower themselves to something as banal as sweating. Sweating is tough on a critter! I found out just how tough while researching electrolytes and horses.

 

That’s a lot of water!

 

At full exertion, horses can produce close to 4 gallons of sweat per hour! Yeah, I’m never going to exercise that much. That means they have to replace all that water when they’re done exercising. More importantly, it means a horse exercising gets dehydrated really, really quickly. That horse losing 4 gallons of water is at critical dehydration levels at the end of the hour. Let’s be honest, most of your horses (and humans) don’t exercise to max levels, but even sub-max is a decent amount of fluid loss. Why are we discussing this? Make sure your horse has access to PLENTY of water before, and after exercise. If you’re exercising for longer than 30-45 minutes you should even have water available during exercise. Another fun fact, horses (and humans) sweat even more in hot, humid weather. It’s never hot and humid in Florida, right? (should be read in an extreme level of cat-sarcasm tone).

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

More than just water

 

That sweat is more than just sweat. It contains a bunch (and I do mean a bunch) of electrolytes. For horses, they lose electrolytes in this order: Chloride> Sodium> Potassium> Calcium> Magnesium. Why does that matter? It means any electrolyte supplement should replace them in that order. In other words, check the label on your supplement. It also matters because those electrolytes are really important for things to happen the way they should in the body. One thing they do is make sure the gut moves the way it’s supposed to. You horse people don’t like colics, right? Electrolyte levels get whacked, you’ve got a colic. Electrolytes make sure all kinds of muscle contractions happen correctly, besides just the gut ones. The heart beat and muscles depend on proper electrolytes, as well. Basically, they’re pretty darn important to life.

 

I see sugar

 

Know what else horses use a lot of when they exercise? Sugar. That has to get replaced back into the muscles. This is what horses are surprisingly not great at. If you run a marathon (I don’t know why you would, but if you did), you could replace the energy stores in your muscles in about 12-24 hours. A horse doing equivalent exercise takes 48-72 hours to do the same thing! Crazy! Most of this energy is replaced by the normal process of eating hay and grain, but some of it is replaced by the sugar you see in electrolyte supplements. That sugar also helps the GI tract absorb the electrolytes. I think we can all agree a lot of sugar is bad, but a little bit is critical for exercise recovery.

 

What does all this really mean?

 

It means, if your horse is a pasture potato, having a salt block available and feeding a good quality hay and concentrate will meet all their needs. If your horse has to work for a living (this means physical labor as opposed to being in a supervisory role like myself), you will need an electrolyte plan.

 

On a day-to-day basis, a salt block along with a good diet is probably adequate, unless your horse is in hardcore training. When work gets stepped up though, it’s time to add in additional electrolytes about an hour before the hard work starts. Even better, but this can be nearly impossible with horses, add electrolytes to about a gallon of water, and have your horse drink them. Yeah, I know, you can lead them to water, and all that, but a bit of training before big events will help your horse learn this valuable skill. Make sure your horse has plain water available as well.

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

After work, be sure to offer electrolyte water again, or add to the next concentrate meal. This will help your horse replenish those valuable electrolytes as fast as they can.

 

The Perfect Electrolyte

 

There are approximately 1 bajillion different ones on the market. Look for ingredients in the order horses lose electrolytes, with one exception: chloride. Chloride tags along for the ride with all the others, so sort of by default, you’ll get lots of that.

 

Bottom line: look for Sodium (often listed as salt), potassium, calcium, and magnesium in the ingredients. There will be sugar in there too, and that’s okay! A little bit of sugar helps the gut absorb those electrolytes. BUT (and it’s a big BUT) sugar should NOT be the first ingredient on the list. It should be around 3-4 down on the list, and will likely come before magnesium. Once you have the right ingredients in the right order, pick the one your horse likes. That’s the really hard part.

 

Electrolytes are way more complicated than I ever dreamed! Speaking of dreaming, I’m going back to holding the chair in the back office down. You be a good human and scroll down a little further to subscribe to my blog. You’ll get it a day earlier than everyone else, and that will make your Monday a little cheerier.

 

Until next week,

~Tony

 

P.S. I know that I’m the resident celebrity around here, but my docs are starting to get worldwide attention with the podcast they do. Horse people all over Canada, UK, Europe, and Australia are listening, as well as people in all 50 states here in the US. Have you checked it out yet? It’s called Straight from the Horse Doctor’s Mouth. You can click on that link and find out for yourself what all the fuss is about!

Tuesdays with Tony is the official blog of Tony the Clinic Cat at Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic in Newberry, Florida. If you liked this blog, please subscribe below, and share it with your friends on social media! For more information, please call us at (352) 472-1620, visit our website at SpringhillEquine.com, or follow us on Facebook!

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Horse Eye Problems

Horse Eye Problems

Apr 29, 2019 | Eyes

Tuesdays with Tony

By now you already have it marked on your calendar to attend this month’s meet and greet with yours truly. Of course, if you don’t, here is your friendly reminder that this Thursday, May 2nd, 2019 at 6:30pm I will be hosting the world-famous ophthalmologist, Dr. Dennis Brooks. So when you come, you not only get to meet the world’s most famous cat, me, you also get to meet him and ask him all your burning questions about eyes. And I’m here to prep you with a quick tidbit about all the eye problems your horse may, and likely will, encounter during his lifetime.

 

Superficial Corneal Ulcers

 

Probably the most common eye condition my docs see in horses is superficial corneal ulcers. What does that mean, you ask? Well, that means that your horse probably did a silly horse thing like scratch his face in a bush, or roll in dirt and then rub his eye on his leg. When he did that, he caused damage to the epithelium (thin tissue layer) of the cornea leaving the layers below exposed to the elements. Luckily, most horses are giant wimps and will let you know right away that they have hurt their eye. You may notice your horse squinting more, tearing, or even some swelling of the eye lids.

 

Once you call my docs and they come out, they will perform a full ophthalmologic examination of your horse’s eye. This will likely include sedation as well as nerve blocks to make the eyelid less difficult to open. They will then use an ophthalmoscope to examine the surface of the eye as well as the back of the eye.  Then they will stain the surface of the eye with fluorescein stain and that is when you will see it, the dreaded yellow spot on the surface of the eye indicating that there is a defect in the corneal epithelium and thus a superficial corneal ulcer has formed.

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

Once my docs see this, they will prescribe certain topical medications as well as systemic NSAIDs. That’s where your job begins. You’re going to be very diligent and apply medications twice a day, if not more, depending on what my docs tell you. If you are lucky, the ulcer will be healed within a week and your job will be done. Unfortunately, that is not always the case, and some ulcers just do not heal no matter how diligent owners are. That is where I come in. The docs are going to recommend you bring your horse into me at the clinic where I will oversee the docs placing a subpalpebral lavage system in your horse’s eyelid which will allow for more frequent application of topical medications without having to manipulate your horse’s eyelid. I will also ensure that my staff is administering medications to your horse every 2 hours while he is hospitalized. This is great for me, as I get treats and pets every time someone comes in to treat your horse.

 

On occasion, even with increased medications and the SPL, ulcers may not heal and my docs will have to deride the cornea.  I am a bit of a squeamish cat so I usually find a nice warm place to nap when this happens, but from what I have heard around the clinic, this is when the docs take cotton swabs and try to remove corneal epithelium that is not healing and preventing the ulcer from healing.

 

If, after debridement the cornea has not healed, my docs will probably call in the experts like Dr. Brooks or Dr. Mangan. Everyone at the clinic always gets so excited when the ophthalmologists are coming, though I have yet to figure out why. When the experts come, they will assess the eye and tweak my doc’s plans. They may perform other diagnostics and adjust your horse’s medications. I even heard that horses may sometimes require contacts. I have perfect 20-20 cat vision so I wouldn’t know what it is like to have contacts. My docs tell me a horse having a contact is not the same as humans, but instead the contact acts as a protective barrier on the cornea to encourage ulcer healing. As you can see thus far, eyes can be a giant pain in my kitty rear-end, so remember, if you notice your horse showing signs of eye problems, call the clinic ASAP and get my docs on the job.

 

Stromal Abscess

We all live in Florida for a reason, the warmth! There is nothing better than laying on the hood of the doc’s trucks and taking a warm sun bath, ahhhhh I love Florida! Unfortunately, horse eyes do not have the same love for Florida that I do.  The heat and humidity here make for an excellent breeding ground of fungi and bacteria, which also means that your horse’s eyes are at an increased risk for developing stromal abscesses. This is when the fungi or bacteria find a tiny little defect in the cornea and work themselves into the deeper layers of the cornea. The defect heals without you even noticing any problems and then a few days later you come out and see that your horse is squinting, has a lot of tearing from his eye and is very, very painful.

 

You’ll call my docs out and they will perform their usual ophthalmologic examination. Except this time they will not find an ulcer. Instead, they will see a white dot somewhere below the corneal surface. This is the result of the body trying to combat the fungi or bacteria that has gotten into a place it shouldn’t be. Stromal abscesses are even more difficult to treat, and my docs will almost certainly place an SPL and start your horse on multiple medications including anti-fungal medications. You will probably decide that you want to bring your horse in to me for treatment so that you are not having to get up at all hours of the night to treat your horse. Of course, I will always oblige and love to have the company, the more the merrier, right?

 

Stromal abscesses take what seems like forever to heal and sometimes even require surgical intervention. My docs do not perform corneal surgery; that’s when they call in the experts again. Even after surgery, stromal abscesses take a lot of care and time, but in the end they are rewarding when all your hard work has paid off and you horse’s eye has been saved.

 

Equine Recurrent Uveitis

Equine Recurrent Uveitis an immune mediated disease. I have diabetes, but that’s not an immune mediated disease, that’s just because I used to be a fat cat.  Immune mediated means that the horse’s body is attacking its own cells, in the case of ERU, the horse’s body is attacking its eyes. Eeek!

 

ERU is a common cause of blindness in horses and is a painful disease. You will notice that your horse’s pupil is very small at all times, even in the dark, they will likely be squinting, and may have tearing. You may also notice that your horse’s eye appears to be smaller. ERU can affect one or both eyes and is most common in Appaloosas but can occur in any breed of horse. If ERU is left untreated, your horse’s retina may become detached or a cataract may form in the lens of the eye.

 

My docs will assess your horse’s eye and usually will see that his eye is smaller, they may notice that there are blood vessels surrounding the cornea and the eye may be cloudy.  They will recommend treatment that will include immunosuppressants topically and sometimes systemically. They will also put your horse on systemic NSAIDs for pain control. Some horses require lifelong treatment and may require surgery to place an implant that releases immunosuppressants slowly over time. The goal with treatment is to decrease the number of times medications are administered to the fewest times possible while maintaining your horse’s comfort.

 

By now, you’ve listened to me, and you’ve listened to my docs and you know that if you notice any of these signs or symptoms, you will call the clinic or emergency line because, remember, eye problems are always an emergency!

 

These are by no means the only eye problems that horses have. In fact, I’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of problems. But I have been up for more than 5 minutes now and must nap before I prepare for my next nap. So, if you want to hear more about eyes from the expert, come out to see me on Thursday night. Remember you can always watch the seminar on Facebook live or later on my YouTube channel.

Until next week,

~Tony

P.S. If you want to know more about equine eyes, make sure you check out the podcast my docs put out. It’s called Straight from the Horse Doctor’s Mouth. The episode on eyes is ah-mazing 😉

Tuesdays with Tony is the official blog of Tony the Clinic Cat at Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic in Newberry, Florida. If you liked this blog, please subscribe below, and share it with your friends on social media! For more information, please call us at (352) 472-1620, visit our website at SpringhillEquine.com, or follow us on Facebook!

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