May 9, 2017 | Colic, Ulcers
Stomach Ulcers
Wow, that was some race last weekend! I had a great time hosting our annual Kentucky Derby party with our Wellness Clients here at the clinic, and sampling the delicious food from O Sole Mio. When I see the hats that you people wear to watch a horse race, it makes me even more glad I’m a cat! It looks like a lot of work to make one of those things, and then carry it around on your head. I have people that do the work
for me, so that’s really not my thing at all. Anyway, the race was very exciting, especially the saddle-bronc bucking display coming out of the gate! Thoroughbreds are certainly majestic and athletic creatures. But, as a cat who works at a vet clinic, I can’t watch Thoroughbreds without thinking about stomach ulcers. Comes with the trade, I guess!
Could my horse have stomach ulcers?
Short answer: yes. Long answer: horses of any breed or discipline, horses in and out of work, young horses, old horses, horses with a history of ulcers, and horses who have never been sick a day in their life… any horse can develop stomach ulcers. Did you know that 92% of racehorses in training have stomach ulcers? That being said, barrel racers, hunter/jumpers, reiners, eventers, harness horses, and cutting horses all have over 50% prevalence of GI ulcers as diagnosed by endoscopy. FYI, endoscopy is when a vet sticks a fiber-optic camera down your horse’s throat and into his stomach to actually look for ulcers along the stomach lining. That’s pretty cool!
But my horse isn’t stressed!
How do you know? Did you ask him? The truth is, even if your horse has the life of a pampered prince that you could only dream of, he may be stressed by his normal daily routine. Did you know that keeping a horse in a stall for half a day, and feeding only twice a day can be stressful for your horse? When I get diabetic, the docs only feed me twice a day, and trust me, that’s not the way I like it! Spending hours grooming your horse may be relaxing for you, but it likely gets on his nerves to stand still in the cross-ties for that long. Hauling your horse anywhere, even to the park for a “leisurely” trail ride, is always a stress-inducing event.
OK, so how do I know for sure if my horse has stomach ulcers?
The only way to know for sure if your horse has stomach ulcers is to have an endoscopy performed. But, I recommend simply starting with an exam by one of our awesome docs. They are highly experienced with the signs of stomach ulcers, and chances are with a thorough history and physical exam they can tell you whether your horse likely does or does not have GI ulcers. Also, they can help you navigate the confusing maze of ulcer treatments to pick the best option for you and your horse.
Boy, I think all this learning is giving me an ulcer! Time for a cat nap. Until next week!
-Tony
May 2, 2017 | Injuries, Lacerations, Wound care
Wound Care
The Shock and Awe Phase
You walk out to feed in the morning and are confronted with what you are sure is your horse’s leg hanging off a bloody stump. Go ahead and freak out for 30-60 seconds. It’s OK. We all do it. Now calmly catch your horse and walk over to the water hose. Begin hosing the wound and continue to hose it for at least 15 minutes. If possible, call Springhill Equine (I’m even going to give you the phone number right here: 352-472-1620 and the emergency line number in case it’s a weekend or after hours: 352-474-5007 ) while you are hosing. Even better, email or text a picture of the wounds to my Docs, and then call. If you can’t call while hosing, hose first, then call. My minions have a saying: dilution is the solution to pollution. Basically, the water dilutes out germs, dirt, and general nastiness.
The ‘Take Deep Breaths, it will be OK’ Phase
Once you have hosed the wound for 15 minutes or so, put your horse somewhere quiet. We want them calm until one of my awesome Docs can get there. Do not apply any lotion, potion, or goop, no matter how many people tell you how great it works! It doesn’t matter that it worked great on that injury your great aunt’s cousin’s friend had. Each wound is different, and my Docs are the best people to decide which goop will be the best goop.
Your horse is likely in pain at this point. We know you want to do something about that pain, but please wait to hear what my Docs have to say! They will direct you about which pain medication to use, and how much. Generally bute, Banamine, and Equioxx are the go-to choices to start with, but your horse’s medical history and the wound severity and location can change those choices. Once they assess the wounds, they will likely add some stronger drugs to help with pain.
Let the Healing Begin!
OK, you’ve hosed the wounds really well, a super awesome Springhill Equine veterinarian has taken care of your horse: now what? Less truly is more! Once again, I know you really, really, really want to put that super cool stuff in the blue bottle, or green tub, or white bottle on the wound. Vern down at the feed store said his friend’s niece’s cousin used it and it worked great. I promise you it didn’t and it won’t. Horses really, really want to heal wounds. They do it despite all the stuff we do to the wound, but if you want it to heal the fastest and the best, you need two things: pressure and moisture.
You can apply pressure the expensive, difficult way: non-stick pad to wound, gauze, elastikon, followed by a quilt or cotton, more gauze, and more elastikon or vetwrap. Or you can go with the easy way: Sox for Horses. My Docs spent a long time doing it the hard way. Now they do it the easy way! You may remember Coby, who fell through the trailer floor. My Docs began using Sox on that horse, and haven’t looked back. Your choice. As a typical cat, I pick easy every time.
Moisture can be applied many different ways, but I find they use plain old triple antibiotic ointment the most. For some wounds they will use a burn cream called silver sulfadiazene, but for most they tell you to go buy out CVS’s supply of triple antibiotic. In a few weeks, my Docs may adjust the topical ointment to add some steroid, but early on, simple is better.
So your plan: Cold hose for 10-15 minutes daily, apply triple antibiotic to wounds, replace sock.
The Real Story from The Top Cat
There are tons of pictures of amazing wounds that healed fantastic thanks to some lotion, potion, or goop. The truth is, horses heal despite all these products, not because of them. The most important parts of wound care are your diligent care and communication! If you aren’t sure about something, call the Doc! They eat, breathe, and sleep this stuff, and they are happy to talk you through your situation so that your horse gets the right care the first time.
Apr 24, 2017 | Breeding, Foals
So, you’ve got a brand new foal, and some questions…
When should my foal first be seen by a vet?
This is a tricky question, because most foals enjoy making their debut in the middle of the night. Do you call the doc immediately? Do you wait until morning? If all looks good, does the vet need to come at all? In short, yes. It doesn’t hurt to call the vet immediately when the foal is born, check in again in the morning, and check back as often as you like afterwards. Don’t worry, our docs understand what mares are like, and they won’t be mad if you wake them up in the middle of the night. Now, sometimes when I stay over at Dr. Lacher’s house, she gets a bit aggravated when I wake her up at 5 am by making biscuits on her back, but that’s a slightly different situation.
If your mare & foal are acting normal and have followed the 1-2-3 rules (stand within 1 hour, nurse within 2 hours, and pass the placenta within 3 hours after birth), your foal can be examined the next day. Ideally the new foal exam should happen at least within the first 24 hours after birth. However, if you suspect ANYTHING is wrong in the meantime with mare or foal, you need one of the docs out right away.
That all-important First Milk
Let’s say your mare is one of the special ones, and decides to foal at noon. All went well with foaling, and mare and foal are acting normal and comfortable. Should you just have the vet out the same day to get that first checkup over with? Well, you can, but you will probably end up paying for 2 separate farm calls. There is an excellent blood test, called an IgG test, that your vet will perform at baby’s first checkup which determines whether or not he has received enough colostrum (first milk). However, this test can only be performed at 8-12 hours after birth at the earliest! If you think about it, that makes sense: first, the foal has to nurse, then, colostrum has to get absorbed across the foal’s GI tract, then the IgG from the colostrum has to make it to the foal’s bloodstream in order to show up on the test.
So, why not just wait 48 hours until the first check up? Again, the reason has to do with that first milk. The foal’s gut only stays “open” for a short period of time. That means, the foal can only absorb colostrum until 48 hours after birth. By identifying if a foal has a low IgG at 24 hours, the vet still has time to correct the problem before the gut “closes.” Horses, I tell ya…this wouldn’t be the case if a cat had designed them!
What does the vet do besides pulling blood?
Well, I’m glad you asked! Although it may take less than 5 minutes to complete your foal’s first check up, there are a lot of subtle things the doctor is checking during that time. Of course there are the usual things that she would check on any horse: heart rate (are there any heart murmurs?), lung sounds (any amniotic fluid still crackling around in there?), and temperature (foals tend to run higher than adults- especially if they’ve just been bouncing around). Then, your vet will feel the foal’s umbilicus to determine if it is abnormally thickened or moist, check for swelling within ALL of his joints. It is common for your vet to perform a complete ophthalmic exam on a foal, as congenital cataracts, persistent pupillary membranes, corneal ulcers, and entropion (rolling in of the eyelids) are all common disorders of newborns. Additionally, the vet is gaining a lot of information from her at-a-distance exam. Can the foal stand easily? How is his conformation? Is he nursing well on both teats? Is he urinating and defecating normally, and out of the correct places? Does his behavior seem normal? How is his energy level? Is the mare acting protective and motherly?
The best part is, by knowing within the first 24 hours of birth if there is a problem, the docs can get to correcting it right away! Once again, my Tony wisdom exceeds all expectations. Until next week, folks!
Sep 27, 2016 | Cushings, PPID
While Dr. Lacher was off gallivanting at the Grand Canyon last week, I was helping Dr. Vurgason groom her horse for the Racehorse Reclaim benefit horse show. As we were brushing his coat to a glorious shine, what to my wondering eyes should appear but a clump of long hair! I couldn’t believe my eyes: Smokey was already beginning to grow his winter coat. “Is this normal?” I inquired to Dr. V. She replied that yes in fact, a horse’s winter coat begins to grow in response to hormonal changes within the brain. These hormones are triggered by changes in length of daylight.
You may have noticed your evening rides being cut short recently because it is getting dark by 8:00 already. Well, horses have noticed this too. The brain actually has a very intricate system of glands that produce hormones that stimulate other glands that produce other hormones that stimulate organs elsewhere in the body.
That long hair coat comes way too early for Florida. It makes for some hot horses. In particular, if your horse has heaves (asthma in horses), or is a non-sweater, this time of year is no fun. Unlike me, your horse likely can’t come in to the air conditioning to get out of the heat. This means it’s time to fire up the clippers and get rid of that hair. Sometimes that hair can be an indication of a problem.
Long hair at the wrong time of year can mean one of the glands in charge has gone AWOL. In horses, the pituitary gland is the most likely culprit. Nobody knows why, but many older horses will grow a tumor on their pituitary gland called an adenoma. This tumor applies pressure to the gland as it grows, and causes it to over-produce its hormones (namely, adrenocorticotropic hormone, or ACTH). This condition is known as Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction, or more affectionately, Cushing’s disease.
Cushing’s disease can lead to a whole slew of problems. For one, overproduction of ACTH can confound the whole winter-coat-growing system, so your horse winds up with long, curly hair in the hottest summer months. Failure to shed out completely or patches of long hair (not in the Fall) are often early signs of Cushing’s disease. Through mechanisms which are not completely understood, Cushing’s disease can cause lethargy, muscle loss, potbellied appearance, fat deposits, laminitis, and recurrent infections. Hmm, maybe I have Cushing’s disease…?
Luckily, our Docs have ways to determine if your horse’s long hair is from Cushing’s or if they are just getting ready for winter. First they draw some blood, then it goes on a trip to Cornell University where they test the ACTH levels. When I was a kitten, ACTH levels couldn’t be pulled in the Fall since the levels go up in the Fall and the humans didn’t know what was normal and what wasn’t. They have fixed that problem with some research. Now Fall is a great time to test since horses who are just beginning to show signs will have really high levels in the Fall. Also….Springhill Equine has a contest going on now where you can get your horse tested for FREE!!!! Free you say? Yep, FREE. Just click on this link to the
“Does my horse have PPID?” form, fill it out and Voila! You are entered. That’s easier than getting Beth to share her tuna fish sandwich with you.
Sep 6, 2016 | Disaster Preparedness, Events, Uncategorized
I’m going to start with a reminder to come visit with me on Thursday evening at 6:30pm. We have a limited number of Meet Tony opportunities, so don’t miss your chance. There will also be some talk on why horses need vaccines so often. I say it’s because they are a lesser evolved critter, but the humans say that’s not true. Oh and there will be good food. All in all a good time.
Moving on to Hurricane Hermine. I realize I have discussed hurricanes before but I felt you humans would be well primed for a refresher course given recent events. Let’s start with the basics: food, water, shelter. Did you have all of these after Hermine? Where there close calls? Walk in the feed room today and take stock of what you have. Don’t forget to check on medications. We were lucky this time; the phones never went down so our Docs were reachable, but it doesn’t always work that way. If your supplies levels are good, then you probably would have done OK if you are in the greater Gainesville area. Cedar Key and similar areas weren’t as fortunate. Determine if you are prepared for that level of destruction.
Did you have enough water for the horses? Being a cat, I was fine on water but a 5 gallon bucket will pretty much last me forever. Horses do love their water. We recommend 15 gallons per day per horse multiplied by how long you think power will be out. Planning for a week without power is the minimum we recommend. Of course, our amazing power companies normally do much better than that, but the bigger a storm, the longer it takes. In 2004 many people were out for over two weeks! Have a way to get water if power stays out. A generator to run the pump or tanks to haul water make the world a much happier place.
How did you fences do? Which brings up are your horses microchipped? We were pretty lucky at the Clinic, and the human houses to have intact fences for the most part. It’s easy to see how a tree can hit a fence line and free a horse though. And being horses they will run the least safe direction. Picking a pasture that, at the very least, directs them away from power lines or other dangers is a good start. Microchipping them so they can be identified when found is an even better step.
Take this opportunity to evaluate your disaster plan. Were the cats (ok and the horses) happy? I was about to strike over the no air conditioning thing. Do you feel you were ready for worse? Look at Hermine as Mother Nature’s little pop quiz. She just wants us to know what she can do. Kind of like us cats. Shameless plug here at the end: The humans have continued the microchip special for two more weeks. It’s ridiculously easy. The $43 price includes LIFETIME registration. Can’t beat that deal. Also since the weather was not completely disgusting today, horse show season must be upon us. We are offering 10% off Back-To-School, Back-To-Horse show lameness evaluations.
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