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Summer Sores

Summer Sores

Apr 22, 2019 | Summer Sores

Tuesdays with Tony

Warmer weather is moving in, and along with it are some familiar visitors: flies! And in Florida, flies mean summer sores. Read along to learn everything you never wanted to have to know about summer sores, including how to prevent, identify, and treat these unwelcome, unpleasant, and unsightly buggers.

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

What are summer sores?

     The short version, because I’m a very busy cat and I haven’t got all day. Summer sores, technically termed Habronemiasis, happen when insect larvae end up in the wrong place: namely either in a wound or in your horse’s mucous membranes such as eyes, lips, or genitalia.
      Habronema is actually the horse stomach worm, and rarely causes any problems when it stays in the digestive tract where it belongs. However, when the larval stage is deposited in a wound or elsewhere on the skin, instead of being ingested by the horse, it causes a major inflammatory reaction.
       I guess it’s kind of a bummer if you’re a habronema larva…it would be like getting dropped off at the wrong house by your Uber driver. (The Uber driver in this scenario would be a house fly, face fly, or stable fly; and your pick-up location would be a steaming pile of manure.)

Habronema in Wounds

      Summer sores that develop in wounds are actually the easiest to prevent. Here’s the secret: cover them up!! For wounds on the legs, this means bandaging. For the face, it means a fly mask. For elsewhere on the body…time to get creative! Summer sores are definitely one of those places where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
     Even the tiniest break in the skin can offer an opportunity for habronema larvae to be deposited and set up shop. Be wary of summer sores anytime you are dealing with Scratches on the back of the pasterns, nicks from walking or riding through thick brush, and of course any time you have a wound big enough to require stitches.
Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic    In fact, preventing summer sores is one of the best reasons to have those borderline lacerations stitched up. The less space flies have to land, the less opportunity they have to drop a little habronema larva in there too. And believe me, flies LOVE wounds! Yummy, weeping serum, blood droplets, maybe some pus…it’s a fly dreamland! For those wounds on the lower limbs, we love Sox for Horses Silver Whinnys. They provide a good combination of skin coverage and breathability, while the silver-impregnated threads help the wound to heal.

Habronema in Eyes

    If I were a fly, the choice between landing in a weepy eye or a bleeding wound would be a real toss-up. Decisions, decisions. I guess I’d have to say the eyes have it, because horses always (well, usually) have 2 of those, whereas the wounds are more of a hit-or-miss thing.
    I guess what I’m really trying to say here is, keep a fly mask on your horse. Especially in the summer. And especially during the day. If your horse has allergies, uveitis, or otherwise tends to have runny eyes, then he probably should have a fly mask on 24/7/365. No, it doesn’t hurt to do that, as long as you are peeking under the fly mask at least once a day to make sure there are no  hidden injuries. Yes, they can see through a fly mask, even at night.
    Ocular habronemiasis, or habronema in the eye, is probably the most common location where my docs find these parasites. The larvae are deposited and then migrate into the conjunctiva, the third eyelid, or the nasolacrimal duct which runs from the inside corner of the eye to the nose.
    Once these larvae realize they are in the wrong place (i.e. not the stomach), they die. But THEN their little bodies calcify into this hard, yellow granular material, the consistency of which is not unlike concrete. Imagine several of these rock-hard dead larvae carcasses imbedded in your horse’s eyelid and I bet you can guess what comes next: a corneal ulcer.
    Now, you know from reading my blog and coming to my seminars that corneal ulcers are always an emergency, and often a bad deal because they can become infected so easily. With corneal ulcers caused by habronema, you have the added disadvantage of a jagged calcified granule rubbing up against the cornea and not allowing it to heal. So, not surprisingly, my vets will do their best to remove these dead larvae before they can cause any more damage. This involves squeezing them out like a pimple, pulling them out with tweezers, or flushing them out through the nose with saline. Spoiler alert: this is not a fun procedure for your horse. So, again, FLY MASK!

Habronema anywhere else

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic    The tough summer sores to treat are the ones that occur somewhere that is impossible to wrap and too deep to dig out. Common locations for these include the corners of the mouth and the sheath on males. These summer sores usually need to be treated aggressively and repeatedly by a veterinarian. My docs have a special cocktail of a dewormer, a steroid, and DMSO that they will inject directly into the summer sore. This combination is aimed at killing the larvae while also treating the severe secondary inflammation associated with habronemiasis.
    In addition to local injection, my docs will also instruct you to deworm your horse with Quest. Why Quest, you ask? Because Quest contains Moxidectin. Similar to Ivermectin, the active ingredient in most dewormer, Moxidectin is the strongest drug in its class. This is probably the ONLY time you will hear me recommend Quest, as we try to reserve it for treating summer sores and not use it on deworming for internal parasites.
    The silver lining, if there is one, is that summer sores are not life-threatening, and they will heal eventually. As the name implies, summer sores are almost exclusively seen during periods of warm weather. As such, winter in itself cures most summer sores.
    So, now you know all the secrets. If you would like to pick an expert’s brain on Ocular  habronemiasis as well as all other eye things, don’t miss my next seminar, All About Eyes, on May 2nd at 6:30pm, featuring Dr. Dennis Brooks!
   Until next Tuesday,
           -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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Banamine in the Muscle

Banamine in the Muscle

Apr 15, 2019 | Banamine

Tuesdays with Tony

Over on the Faceplace this week, my humans posted a picture of a horse with what’s called Clostridial Myonecrosis (CM). It got A LOT of attention, so I felt it only right to research this syndrome further, and drop some of my amazing feline knowledge on you guys. Like anything with horses, there’s a lot of opinions surrounding clostridial myonecrosis. I’m going to stick to the facts.

 

Banamine causes this

 

We’ll call this a sort-of fact. The truth is, any shot given in the muscle can cause this to happen. The reason any intramuscular shot can cause CM is because it’s secondary to muscle damage, and any shot in the muscle causes some degree of muscle damage. It’s often a very small amount of muscle damage, but it’s still an injury. You see, when that damage happens, it sets up the perfect growth environment for a group of bacteria called Clostridia. This bacteria likes to grow where there is no air.

But how did this bacteria get there, you ask? The obvious answer: on the needle. The wrong answer: on the needle. We all carry spores of Clostridia in our muscles! It’s part of living on planet earth. These bacteria create little tiny spores that are really, really hard to kill. We (humans, cats, horses, dogs, parakeets, you name it) likely eat these spores on food. They enter our bodies through our GI tract, and then hang out in muscles waiting for the right conditions to come along.

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

Ever heard of gangrene?

 

That’s the less fancy, not-a-doctor, name for CM. It’s one bad dude! Gangrene had a 45% mortality rate in the American Civil War!!! By World War I, mortality was down to 10-12%. By World War 2, mortality rates were approaching 1%, and by Vietnam they had dropped even further to 0.01%. Why all this talk of war? This has been the big area for CM in humans. Those bullets, and swords, and all the other uncivilized things humans do during war, cause a ton of damage to muscles. Wars are also generally fought in less than sterile environments. What the medical community learned from these cases was the importance of air.

 

Fresh air as a cure

 

Overall, this is a family of bacteria you don’t want to mess with. The Clostridia family are also responsible for such winners as botulism and tetanus. Notice a theme? Botulism is famous for happening in improperly canned or stored canned food (no air), and tetanus happens after a deep, penetrating wound (no air). CM happens deep in the muscle where there’s no air. This is why in the pictures on the Faceplace (and below) you see big, deep cuts into the horse’s muscles. It’s all about getting air in there. The tubing you see tied in a knot is to keep the cuts open so air can continue to get deep into the muscles. Every day, sometimes even two to three times per day, doctors managing these cases look for new areas of CM. These new areas are opened up with new cuts into the tissue. I’m not going to lie: these are tough cases for the patients and the doctors. No veterinarian wants to cause an animal pain, but in these horses, it’s the only way they will survive. Antibiotics and aggressive pain control are also used to help these horses survive.

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Ok, Ok, but how do I keep it from happening?

 

“Tony,” you say “all this is great, but how do I keep it from happening to my horse? That’s the knowledge I really want from your divine catness!” Maybe you wouldn’t add that last part, but you should. The bad news is you can’t 100% prevent CM from happening. The good news: 1) You can come pretty close, and 2) CM is pretty rare in horses. Horses get certain shots in the muscle all the time. Vaccines, for example, go in the muscle. Vaccines contain a very small amount of antibiotic to help combat CM before it can get started. Going to add yet another reason to get vaccines performed by your veterinarian: if this happens following a vaccine by a veterinarian, the vaccine company will cover the costs of treatment. Valley Vet definitely won’t do that. Other common shots given in the muscle are joint support treatments like Adequan. Again, these can cause CM, but are generally only mildly irritating to muscles which means they are way, way, way less likely to cause CM.

The very best way to prevent CM is to never, never, ever give anything in the muscle without checking with your veterinarian first. Banamine is a common culprit because it can be very irritating to muscles, but it isn’t the only one. Be 1,000% sure it’s OK to put the shot you are about to put in the muscle, in the muscle. Oh, and make sure your horse is clean before you do give that shot. I’m not saying they have to be ready for The All American Congress halter classes, but be sure your needle doesn’t have to go through a ½” of mud to get to the skin.

Those pictures are scary, even to this tough cat! However, an ounce of prevention goes a long way, and a conversation with your veterinarian about what medications your horses is getting goes even farther!

Now be a good human, and subscribe to my blog. You’ll get it a full day before anyone else. That’s right: Tony, a day early. Happy Monday!

Until next week,

~ Tony

P.S. Are you thirsting for more horse knowledge? You should browse through my previous blogs. Or, if you like listening better than reading, you should check out the podcast my docs put out. It’s up top in the menu bar, where it says ‘Podcast.” Or just click here. It will rock your world.

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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First Aid for Horses

First Aid for Horses

Apr 8, 2019 | First Aid

Tuesdays with Tony

It’s that time of the month again, it’s time for you all to come out and meet me, Tony! This month my seminar is all about ME! Well that, and first aid for your horse. Come out on Thursday at 6:30pm for a meet and greet with yours truly as well as a talk from my docs on first aid.

Whether you’ve owned horses for a long time or you are a new horse owner, you are probably well aware that horses try to find a way to hurt themselves on a daily basis. That is why it is a good idea to have a first aid kit prepared and ready to go at all times and in all situations. I have seen my fair share of horsey emergencies here and have a developed an all-inclusive list of supplies for you to make your own first aid kit.

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

Phone Numbers

The most important part of your first aid kit will be a card with my clinic phone number and emergency number on it. Remember, if you ever have any kind of emergency your best bet is to call me at the clinic so I can get ahold of my docs for you and they can further direct you on what to do. I am available 24/7/365 and will track down one of the doctors for you so no need to worry about that.

The Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic number is (352) 472-1620

The Springhill Equine After-hours Emergency number is (352) 474- 5007

 

NSAIDs

I know by now, you all have read my blog about bute, banamine, and previcox/equioxx. And if you haven’t yet, shame on you, you owe me extra pets on Thursday at the seminar. After you finish this blog, come back up and click on the link to read that one.

Nonetheless, having at least one type of NSAID as a part of your first aid kit is always a good idea. I personally recommend keeping a tube of bute or banamine paste on hand. I find the paste form of these medications are much easier and safer to administer than the injectable or powder forms. I am sure you humans with your opposable thumbs find administering medications orally significantly easier than I do. NSAIDs are multi-purpose and can be used in several different emergency situations. Always ask my docs for instructions before giving your horse any NSAID or other medication.

 

Bandage Material

Over the years, I’ve heard numerous stories around the clinic about how, if there is something for a horse to cut itself on, they will find it. No sharp corner goes untouched by a horse’s limb, eye, or nostril. No stray nail goes unturned by a hoof, and no wire stays nicely laying on the ground out of your horse’s way. In a lifetime of horse ownership, you will undoubtedly see a lacerated limb, an eyelid or nostril laceration, and a hoof abscess or two. Until my docs can get to you and fully assess the extent of injury, cleaning a wound with an antiseptic cleaner such as dilute iodine solution or chlorhexidine solution and applying a bandage to the wound to keep it clean and help control bleeding is never a bad idea.

Your bandage material should consist of gentle anti-biotic ointment such as silver sulfadiazine, non-stick telfa pads, combi roll or clean standing bandages, cling wrap, vet wrap, adhesive bandage such as elasticon, and of course the fix-all of all fixing things, duct tape. Baby diapers or large sanitary napkins can serve as an excellent hoof bandage for abscesses along with epsom salts or animalintex poltice. Here’s a link to a fantastic video by my docs on how to wrap a foot.

 

Equipment

One can never have too many hoof picks. When you need one, you can never find one and when you don’t need one you have five extra. Designate one to your first aid kit so you’re never without it in a time of need.

Cats have excellent eyesight, even at night. You humans, however, seem to stumble around in the dark. Since horses like to get injured at the most inconvenient times, it is likely it will be very dark when you find them. A flashlight or headlight will be an excellent addition to your first aid kit. That way you’ll be better able to assess the situation your horse has found himself in.

Latex gloves will protect you and your horse from further contamination of wounds and allow you to cleanly apply topical antibiotic ointment. Clean, sharp scissors are useful for cutting bandage material, but remember, I definitely do not recommend cutting any skin or foreign material that may be lodged or caught in your horse’s body or wounds. Leave that to the experts and call my docs! (See the section on Phone Numbers back at the beginning)

The last 2 pieces of equipment you should have in your first aid kit include a stethoscope and a thermometer. Now, you don’t have to buy one of those fancy-schmancy stethoscopes you see the docs use, a simple, inexpensive one can be purchased from Amazon. I know this because, I often place orders for catnip and cat toys on Amazon overnight when my staff forgets to turn the computers off and leaves the keyboard out for my ordering pleasure. While placing your order on Amazon, go ahead and add a quick 8 second thermometer to your cart.

The next time my docs are at your farm have them teach you to listen to your horse’s heart and take a heart rate as well as where to best listen for gastrointestinal sounds. They can also show you how to safely take your horse’s temperature. This way, if your horse is showing signs of distress or illness, you can give my docs even more information about what is going on with your horse when you call them.

 

Ointments

Along with your silver sulfadiazine ointment, there are several other ointments you should consider placing in your first aid kit. I find Vaseline or petroleum jelly useful for the tip of the thermometer to safely take your horse’s temperature. You can also mix it with cayenne pepper and place it on bandages if your horse tries to use his teeth to take his bandages off.

Eyes are always considered an emergency. Triple antibiotic ophthalmic ointment without steroids is safe to have on hand and can be used on lacerations near the eyes as well as in the eye if my docs direct you to apply it prior to their arrival.

Diaper rash cream can be applied to minor abrasions and to areas you want to keep free from moisture. It can also be mixed with silver sulfadiazine ointment to make an excellent concoction for treating and keeping wounds dry.

Finally, a wound ointment such as SWAT will help to keep flies and gnats away from wounds and provide a barrier to keep debris from entering the wound.

 

If you want to learn more about first aid and the dos and don’ts of first aid, remember to come see me this Thursday at 6:30 for free “cat-scans” by yours truly, Tony loving, pizza, and of course, giveaways! If you have a really, really good excuse and can’t come, you can always watch it live on Facebook. If you forgot to take notes and need to go back and see it again, you can find it on my YouTube channel any time after the seminar.

 

Until next time,

 

~ 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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The War on Flies

The War on Flies

Apr 1, 2019 | Flies

Tuesdays with Tony

I love Florida Spring. The weather this past week has been absolute perfection for sunbathing in the middle of the driveway at the Clinic. I love seeing how many people I can get to drive around me by laying right in the middle. It’s a good time. Unfortunately this weather has been good for something else: flies. Now I enjoy a few flies around. They are so fun to chase, especially when they get inside, and I can run around, over, and through all the hard work my minions are doing. If I get papers to go flying it’s even better. A few flies is fun. A bunch of flies is awful, and since I live in a barn, flies can be a problem.

 

Luckily, I found this handy guide to flies: Full Paper. I’m going to give you the wise cat summary version here, but I highly recommend you go read the entire document! It’s full of great information about managing flies. Now is the time (in Florida anyway) to get busy managing your environment for flies. For my adoring fans in areas that are still cold, one day it will stop snowing, and this will be useful information.

 

Whatcha got there?

 

You have to start by knowing your flies. Different flies want different things in life. This means you can’t catch stable flies with the same traps you would use for house flies. Heck, you might not even have house flies. Setting out several kinds of traps, and putting them in different areas will help you see what you’ve got.

 

You can also spend some quality time watching your flies (and your horses) to help determine fly species buzzing around. For example, house flies like to hang out with their bodies parallel to a surface, while stable flies like to set their little fly butts down. Really learning what kind of flies you have, and watching to see which kind annoy your horses most will help you pick the right ways to kill the most flies possible. I love helping my minions observe flies. It is a great time to insist on chin scratches.

 

Hit ‘em where it hurts

 

We’re going to learn a lot about flies today. We’ve already learned that house and stable flies hang out in different locations. Now we’re going to learn about fly life cycles. Knowing how flies raise fly families helps you get rid of happy fly breeding grounds. Flies go through four stages: adult, eggs, larvae, and pupae. This gives you four separate life stages to go after! Adults are best targeted with traps (but remember you need the right trap for the kind of fly you have!).

 Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

Eggs can be difficult to target, but heat is your friend here. For larvae (ie, maggots, and who doesn’t think they’re just gross), getting rid of the environment is key. Larvae can be found in damp, protected areas. At a horse farm, the absolute prime baby fly location is in those horrendous mats of hay found around hay feeders. Other great baby rearing locales are under stall mats, especially under the water buckets, and anywhere horse manure piles up. There is a cool product called sodium bisulfate (sold as Poultry Litter Treatment) you can add to stalls, or edges of manure piles. This stuff changes the pH enough to kill the larvae without changing it so much that it’s bad for the rest of us.

 

Pupae can get eaten by a cool bug called a Fly Predator! These are tiny wasps that live to eat fly pupae. They can be ordered from companies like Spalding Fly Predators (https://www.spalding-labs.com). The key to fly predators is to put them out about every two weeks in the height of the season, and start them early.

 

Control what’s left

 

Ok you’ve identified your flies, the areas they hang out, you’ve got your traps, cleaned up the wet, matted hay, and put out Fly Predators. Now what? First, you will notice you have a lot fewer flies to even worry about. You may find you have few enough that you and your horse are happy, but if not, never fear: there’s fly spray. Ever felt like no fly spray works? Here’s a few fly spray tips:

  1. None of them last for very long. Apply them right before you really, really, need them.
  2. Be sure your ENTIRE horse is covered with fly spray. Best way to do this is to wipe them down. Pro tip: a sunless tanning mousse application mitt works great for this.
  3. EcoVet. It has a funny smell, but actually works. In testing done by Dr. Machtinger (who I stole all the information in this week’s blog from), EcoVet was the only fly spray that worked.

 Remember, this is the short version of flies and horses. For even more on flies, go here: Full Paper.

 Now be a good human and subscribe to my blog. You won’t regret it, and you’ll get a super special email from me once weekly.

If you’d like to hear a podcast that my team did with Dr. Machtinger about flies, click here: Flies Podcast It’s loaded with information, and takes about a half hour to listen to. You’re welcome!

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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The Choking Horse

The Choking Horse

Mar 25, 2019 | Choking

Tuesdays with Tony

You’re walking through the barn doing one last check of all the horses after their evening feed when you notice one horse has stepped away from his feed bucket. You inspect the feed and notice that some feed has been consumed but the majority is remaining. Upon further observation you realize your horse is not showing signs of colic, but he is holding his head down with his neck stretched out and makes the occasional gag-like sound.  Then you see it, the feed and saliva material coming out of your horse’s nose and you know that you are dealing with a choke.

Most of the time, when my docs are called out to the farm for a choke, they are able to easily resolve the choke, or it has already resolved on its own when they get there. On rare occasion, the docs have enlisted my help here at the clinic when a choke cannot be resolved easily on the farm, so sit back, relax and let the master explain it all.

What is a choke?

Unlike cats (and people), in horses, choke refers to something that is obstructing the esophagus and thus does not block the horse’s airway. Choke is most commonly caused by feed material; however, foreign material cannot be ruled out as a potential cause. Cats, being the more intelligent life form, know better than to eat something that isn’t food, unless its string of course, then all bets are off, string is the best toy EVER!

What are the signs of choke?

I am a stickler for good hygiene, my counterpart Teeny on the other hand, sometimes forgets to groom herself. Of course, I am always well kept and have my coat groomed to perfection. Unfortunately, this makes me prone to hairballs. If you have ever seen a cat hack up a hairball, it is not a pretty sight, believe you me. Well, much like the retched sound us kitties make when hacking up a hairball, if your horse is choked you may notice that he makes a gagging, hacking, coughing sound. He may have suddenly backed away from his feed while appearing anxious or nervous. You may even start to notice salvia and feed material coming from your horse’s mouth and nostrils. Sometimes horses will extend their neck and hold their head low. The signs of choke can be quite alarming, even for a brave cat like myself, but remember, panicking is not going to do anyone any good, so keep calm and call the office so my staff can walk you through what to do next.

What causes choking?

I see no problem with inhaling my food as fast as I possibly can, in fact, if I eat mine fast enough, I can sometimes get seconds because my minions think they forgot to feed me! Seems like a win-win to me. I guess for horses though, eating too quickly, or bolting their feed, is the primary cause of choke. Horses need to chew and moisten their feed thoroughly before swallowing and if they don’t, it may cause them to choke. Similarly, certain feed materials such as alfalfa cubes or beet pulp, must be pre-moistened with water prior to feeding. If not, and they are fed dry, your horse may be predisposed to choke. I recommend soaking alfalfa cubes and beet pulp in a bucket of water for at least 20 minutes prior to feeding. Your horse will get more water and be less prone to choke, another win-win for the books.

Occasionally, some horses may have conditions that predispose them to choke, including diverticulum and stricture. A diverticulum is a deviation of the esophagus that forms a pouch or sac in which feed material can become trapped, resulting in a choke. Strictures are basically a scar within the esophagus and can be caused by prior choke episodes that have caused damage to the lining of the esophagus. Strictures do not allow the esophagus to expand and contract normally and therefore may cause feed material to get stuck.

Why is choking a problem?

You’re probably thinking, if my horse can breathe, what’s the big deal with choke? Won’t it resolve on its own eventually? Here’s the thing, most chokes will resolve on their own, or with very little assistance from my docs.  On that rare occasion though, chokes can be very serious and lead to very serious problems including dehydration, colic, and aspiration pneumonia. The longer a horse is choked, the more likely these complications will arise and the more likely you’ll be in to visit me at the clinic.  While I would love for you all to come visit me, I would prefer if you leave your horses at home so you are able to give me your undivided attention. So, what does that mean? It means, if you suspect that your horse is choked or may have choked recently, call me, I’ll get my docs on the case and out to see your horse ASAP, leaving you plenty of time to come visit me.

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

How is choke treated?

The first thing my docs will tell you when you call, is to remove your horse’s feed, hay, and water. Next, they will instruct you to keep your horse as calm as possible with his head down until they arrive. Upon arrival, my docs will perform a brief physical exam on your horse, they will check his heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, and listen for guts sounds. They will determine if your horse is still choked and then decide how to proceed.

Next, they will likely provide your horse with a little sedative. I never need any sedative to sleep, put me in the sun and I am out cold for a good 14 hours of my day, but I digress. My docs will also give your horse a smooth muscle relaxer to help decrease the contractions of the esophagus. We have all seen a tube passed for a colic, right? Well, you’ll also see the tube pulled out if your horse is choked. Once your horse is sedated and muscle relaxants are on board, the docs will pass a nasogastric tube up your horse’s nose and into his esophagus. This allows them to locate the blockage as well as lavage the obstruction with water.

Let me tell you something, I will never be a Coca-Cola-drinking cat again. The other day, I saw one of the docs at the clinic lavage a very stubborn choke with Coca-Cola. And you know what? It worked! That is some powerful stuff! This by no means, means that you can accomplish the same thing by sticking a hose down your horse’s throat or have him drink Coca-Cola! Remember, my docs are highly trained professionals and these medications and procedures should only be administered and performed by licensed veterinarians. If you do it wrong, like sending the tube into the lungs, you can injure or kill your horse.

What is the after-care for choke?

Most chokes that resolve easily do not require any specific care. My docs will recommend that you feed your horse soaked grain from now on. Once your horse has one episode of choke, he is likely to have more. Thus, by soaking his feed, you will reduce the risk of repeat chokes. If your horse has been choked for several hours or has a choke that is difficult to resolve, the docs will likely put your horse on a course of antibiotics to help combat any possibility of the development of aspiration pneumonia.

If your horse seems to be dehydrated or showing signs of colic, the docs may refer him to me here at the clinic for intravenous fluids and careful monitoring. Of course, once your horse arrives here, I will give you, him, your truck and your trailer a full courtesy “cat” scan, it’s just what I do for my people. Fortunately, most of the time, chokes are easily resolved and after care is minimal.

In case you just miss me, and want to come visit, but don’t want your horse to choke to accomplish that, remember, our next seminar on First Aid will be at 6:30 pm on April 11th. It will of course be featuring yours truly, so come on out and get your Tony fix while learning all about first aid 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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