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Large Animal Emergency Rescue

Large Animal Emergency Rescue

Jun 11, 2018 | Large Animal Emergency Rescue

Tuesdays with Tony

My Docs love to have adventures on weekends. Normally it’s injuries that make for the most interesting stories, but this past weekend it was a sinkhole and a large animal emergency rescue. We have had a ton of rain so far this year in Florida. Combine that with some other factors, and sinkholes become a problem. This past Saturday a sinkhole opened up in a pasture where a blind patient of Springhill Equine lives, and she ended up in it. And that’s where my story begins.

The Situation

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

Springhill Equine got the call very shortly after the owner found this poor girl in the sinkhole. Luckily, this was about a horse-sized hole, and it wasn’t terribly deep, as you can see.  After some questioning, it seemed she had, at most, been in there since morning (it was now late afternoon), and she was interested in food and water. She didn’t seem to have any injuries, and was mentally pretty OK about everything. This means the safest place for her to be was in the hole until help could arrive. Dr. Lacher told the owner to keep offering water and grain, keep her as calm as possible, and she was headed that way (as soon as she finished treating the colic she was at, because horses get together and plan emergencies). Dr. Lacher hung up the phone and called the University of Florida VETS team. This is like calling MacGyver out to your emergency. They get called when animals are stuck and need help getting unstuck. Like in a sinkhole, trailer accidents, swimming pool, or recently, a pug in a 30 foot hole. You get the idea.

I’ll just do this thing…

There’s a temptation when you see this horse is this hole to think “We can just dig that out.” Don’t. It seems like an easy solution, but it can make things a lot worse. First, in this situation the hole had just formed. The owner knows it wasn’t there as little as 18 hours before finding the horse. Bringing in a backhoe, or other heavy equipment, could have caused unsettled ground to unsettle more. Second, horses and large machinery don’t mix well. My not so humble advice: call my Docs, get their thoughts, then get them there before you do anything!

Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue (TLAER)

TLAER is what the UF VETS team does. It’s the use of straps and pulleys, and A-frames, and all kinds of stuff to get live animals out of the crazy places they get themselves without further harming them. They say curiosity killed the cat, but I rather think that statement could include horses and cows. Back to TLAER. Training starts with classroom work on how animals respond to scary situations (Pro Tip: we usually go with either fight or flight, and sometimes both at the same time), concepts in leverage, and how to attach animals to said leverage devices safely. Animals, kind of like people, come in all different shapes and sizes. To get them out of tight quarters, straps and webbing are often used. There are safe places these straps can go without causing harm, and there are places they can go and cause tremendous pain and injury.

Part two of training involves practicing on model horses. Not model as in super model, model as in life-size plastic model. It takes a lot of practice to formulate a plan for how best to get the horse, or cow, or pug, out of wherever they’re stuck in the safest, most efficient manner. It also takes practice putting straps on, setting all the gear up and working as a team. This means there’s the initial training, and then there’s lots and lots of practicing so when it’s a real emergency the team is ready!

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Up and Out

The UF VETS team decided that for this mare, the best answer was to slide her out. This meant digging the hole out a little further so that a large heavy plastic mat could be placed next to her. Luckily, this wise girl took it like a champ. Dr. Lacher was standing by with sedation in case she got nervous about all the goings on. Next, the mat was put in the hole so that it was next to her, with another on the ground just outside the hole. Webbing was then placed around her just behind her front legs, and just in front on her hind legs. Again, this mare was amazing through the entire process! She let them place the webbing with reassurance from her owner that it was all OK. Once the webbing was placed, Dr. Lacher sedated her.

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

The hope was that she would let us get this done with just sedation, but Dr. Lacher was ready with the knocked-out-all-the-way drugs if they were needed. While they were letting the sedation have a few minutes to kick in, the webbing was attached to a super cool block and tackle system which gave the humans enough leverage to pull the horse out without having to rely on heavy equipment. Sedation having kicked in, they gave hoisting the mare a try, but she wasn’t having it. Can’t say I blame her!!! So the knock-out drugs were given. Once she was asleep, she was hoisted up and out of the hole in about 5 minutes, and gently placed on the plastic mat on solid ground. An ATV was hooked up to this mat, and she was moved a safe distance away from the hole to wake up.

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

Teamwork!

It’s hard for a cat to say teamwork makes the difference, but there you have it. This is an excellent example of a case where teamwork made all the difference. It took an amazing owner, a veterinarian, and an entire team of dedicated large animal emergency rescue folks to get this mare safely out of the hole. I teared up a little thinking about how they all worked together to make the world a better place for horses!

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Tuesdays with Tony is the official blog of Tony the Office Cat at Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic in Newberry, Florida. 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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What is a Retained Placenta?

What is a Retained Placenta?

Jun 4, 2018 | Foaling

Tuesdays with Tony

   As I curled up in my usual spot on the seat of Dr. Vurgason’s truck Monday morning, I noticed a distinct, slightly unpleasant, yet oddly familiar odor. It was the scent of placenta. You see, Dr. Vurgason had been out the night before working on removing a retained placenta from a mare that had just given birth to an adorable foal. Curious, and slightly grossed out by the realization of what I was smelling, I started asking Dr. Vurgason all sorts of questions about mares and placentas.  Read on to learn why this is something you need to look out for during the immediate post-partum period.

When is a placenta “retained” and why does it matter?

    In normal mares, the placenta should pass on its own within 3 hours of the birth of the foal. This recommendation is based on the fact that at birth, the placenta begins to disintegrate almost immediately. That’s Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinicbecause the placenta begins to separate from the uterine lining right after birth, and blood flow through the placenta stops. When blood flow stops, a process called autolysis begins. The placenta becomes friable, turns a brownish-green color, and begins to smell quite unpleasant. In short, as soon as the foal is born, the placenta starts to die. Unfortunately, when you leave a dead, decaying, fluid-filled pile of placenta sitting in the uterus for several hours, you end up with a nasty infection.
   The mare’s post-partum uterus is basically a giant open wound. During this time, there is great opportunity for an infection within the uterus to enter the bloodstream and spread throughout the body. This is called septicemia, or sepsis. And, since horses will be horses, guess what septicemia leads to? You guessed it: laminitis. For this reason, mares with retained placentas will often be treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medications, and will need to wear ice boots until the threat of laminitis has passed.

Why does this happen?

   During a normal delivery, the weight of the foal will begin to pull on the placenta as the foal is born. The umbilical cord attaches to the foal on one end and to the placenta on the other. When the mare stands and the cord breaks, it also gives a good tug on the placenta at the same time. A normal delivery also includes uterine contractions after the foal is born in order to expel the rest of the placenta. This passing of the after-birth is actually considered Stage 3 of labor.
    A retained placenta usually happens for one of 2 reasons: either the mare’s uterus doesn’t contract enough, or it contracts too much. If the uterus doesn’t contract enough, or the uterine contractions aren’t strong enough to expel the heavy, blood-filled placenta, it will just sit there indefinitely. The other possibility is that the uterus contracted too much, and in the wrong places. A mare’s uterus is essentially Y-shaped. One arm of the Y would have been the pregnant horn of the uterus. The pregnant horn of the placenta is thin, stretched out, and covers a large surface area. The other arm of the Y would have been the non-pregnant horn of the uterus. The non-pregnant horn of the placenta is thick, narrow, and covers a relatively small surface area. Fun fact: the most common piece of placenta to be retained is the tip of the non-pregnant horn. Too much uterine contraction can actually cause the uterus to grab hold of the thick, narrow non-pregnant horn of the placenta, and refuse to let it go! You see, the attachment between the placenta and the uterus is kind of like Velcro. There are thousands of microscopic, finger-like projections called microvilli that hold the two layers together. Prolonged uterine contractions can in fact cause these microvilli to get stuck within the uterine lining, like a Chinese finger trap.

How do you get a retained placenta out? 

   I’m so glad you asked, because the technique I’m going to tell you about is super awesome! First of all, the one thing you DON’T want to do is pull on the placenta. In addition, nothing heavier than the weight of the placenta itself should ever be tied to the end of the hanging-out bits. Putting too much traction on the placenta can cause tearing, which leaves fragments of the placenta stuck inside. Even worse, pulling on the placenta can cause uterine prolapse or uterine artery tears, which are definitely life-threatening.
   The first thing to try is a single dose of oxytocin. Oxytocin induces strong, rhythmic uterine contractions for a short duration, aimed at pushing the placenta out from within. This takes care of those placentas that are retained because of the first scenario described above: the uterus didn’t contract enough. I’d say about 50% of the time, this works. The mare says, “oh yeah, I forgot about that part!” And out it plops. However, often when the mare has failed to pass her placenta after we gave her 3 hours to do so, there is a reason for it.
   So the next step is to call our docs, of course. But you already knew that. One of the methods they might employ to get that stubborn placenta out of there is called the Dutch Technique. In this procedure, the vet makes a small incision in the umbilical vein, just above where it broke away from the foal. Then, a tube is inserted into the vein headed toward the stuck placenta. The other end of this tube is attached to a water hose or pump, and water is steadily pumped into the blood vessel. What this does is distend the vessels throughout the placenta, causing it to separate from the lining of the uterus. After infusing several liters of water, we patiently wait 5 minutes. This part is hard…cats are not particularly patient. After 5 minutes, gentle traction is applied to the placenta. Then, if all goes well, out it plops! It is seriously the coolest thing to watch, trust me.
    Well, I hope you learned something from this wise old cat today! Now remember folks, don’t try this at home. Just call one of my docs the moment you suspect there may be a problem.
Until next week,
Tony

Tuesdays with Tony is the official blog of Tony the Office Cat at Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic in Newberry, Florida. 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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Pregnant Mare Care

Pregnant Mare Care

May 29, 2018 | Breeding

Tuesdays with Tony

Pregnant Mare Care 

Congratulations! You’ve got a bouncy baby horse coming in about 11 months! In my experience watching the humans around here, it’s a very long 11 months. There are important things to do during that time to make sure the baby arrives happy and healthy. In my experience, humans are really good at getting the heartbeat ultrasound check at 30 days, but not so good at the rest of it. Read on for Tony’s words of equine wisdom regarding pregnant mare care.

Ultrasounds

These are just so freakin cool! You get to see that baby go from a black dot on the screen at 2 weeks to having a heart beat at 30 days. At the 60 day ultrasound there are legs and something resembling a head! They grow so fast. My Docs are checking way more than just the baby when they’re ultrasounding, though. They are also checking the entire uterus and ovaries to make sure they’re doing what they should.

The most important thing they are checking is where the cervix and placenta meets. This is where the outside world meets the uterus, and it’s where problems often start. My Docs will check to be sure the placenta is tight up against the cervix, along with measurements to be sure it’s not too thick. A thick placenta can be an indication of infection. If infection is spotted early, it can be easily treated with antibiotics. On young mares who don’t have a lot of exposure to other horses, ultrasounds should be done at 5, 7, and 9 months to check for infection. On older mares (over 12 years), problem mares, or mares who see lots of other horses all the time, the Docs recommend ultrasounds at 3, 5, 7, and 9 months.

Vaccinations

Rhinopneumonitis vaccines are super, super, super important for pregnant mares. Most humans call this a Pneumobort shot. Rhinopneumonitis is a Herpes virus. Herpes viruses are nasty little buggers. Once a horse has the virus, they’ve got it for life, and most horses are infected in their first year of life. The virus spends most of its time hibernating, but stress (I hear pregnancy is definitely stressful) can make it wake up. Frequent vaccinations keep the immune system on high alert for this virus. This means that if it does wake up, the immune system is right there to tackle it.

Rhinopneumonitis vaccines follow the same rules as ultrasounds. If your mare doesn’t meet new horses often, she can get a vaccine at 5, 7, and 9 months. If she is a social butterfly, she should get vaccinated an additional time at 3 months. This vaccine can be what my Docs call hot (horses often get a mild to moderate vaccine reaction from it). The Docs recommend some Bute beforehand to help reduce the reaction if you’re worried.

At around 10 months of pregnancy, your mare will need all her “regular” vaccines. For most mares this is Eastern and Western Encephalitis, Tetanus, Influenza, West Nile Virus, and Rabies. This makes sure the baby has great protection against these viruses when it gets here.

Deworming

Don’t. Ha! That was easy. Seriously though, see my numerous blogs on deworming. Watch an entire presentation by my Docs about deworming here: Deworming Seminar  Fecal egg counts and targeted deworming is the way to go. Don’t go deworming all willy nilly like you humans are prone to doing.

Nutrition

Don’t go crazy. Again, easy! Have your mare on a good feed. If she gets skinny easily, then a mare and foal feed may be necessary. If she’s an easy keeper, then good quality hay and a ration balancer may be all she needs. This is not the time to get her fat. It won’t make foaling easier on you or her.

Exercise

Yes. Of course they tell me that too, but I don’t like exercise, so I don’t. Pregnant mares can go out and do what they did before they were pregnant with a few guidelines in place.

  1. Don’t do more than you did before she was pregnant. If you went for 5 mile trail rides, great. Don’t sign up for the 50 mile endurance ride.
  2. Watch how hot she gets in the early stages of her pregnancy. Being really hot can be really, really bad for embryos younger than 90 days.
  3. Listen to your mare. At some point, later in her gestation, she’s going to tell you she doesn’t want to work anymore. Respect that.

Before you know it, 11 months will have flown by and you will be anxiously awaiting your foal. Spend the time wisely by thinking up perfect baby names, and keeping your mare up to date on all her prenatal care! Bring her into the Clinic for her happy mom check ups and I’ll even throw in a free CAT scan by yours truly.

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Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

Tuesdays with Tony is the official blog of Tony the Office Cat at Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic in Newberry, Florida. 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 Injuries, and How To Prevent Them

Horse Injuries, and How To Prevent Them

May 21, 2018 | Exercise, Injuries

Tuesdays with Tony

Horse Injuries

It rained around here a lot over the last week. It’s Florida, and almost summer. It’s what we do here. For the record, I’m going to state that I don’t like rain. Wet paws are not something I enjoy, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about. While it was raining here, I was watching (or attempting to watch) Justify run in the Preakness. Wow, was it raining!!! Also, while it was raining here, Dr. Lacher was showing her horses down in Venice, Florida, where it was also raining. Her event wasn’t nationally televised, so I couldn’t watch it (seems unreasonable, but she said it’s not nearly as exciting as the Preakness). However, she said she had some tough decisions to make about riding because of the rain, and the potential for horse injuries. That got me wondering: do horses hurt themselves in all that mud and slop? I mean, horses hurt themselves on sunny days, when the temperature is a lovely 72, and the wind is out of the east at 4 miles per hour. How can they not hurt themselves in the rain??

Springhill Equine Veterinary ClinicThe Short Answer: It Depends

Ah, that most-human of answers. Racehorses are running at top speeds, pushing the limits of how fast the equine skeleton was designed to go. However, they are running in mostly straight lines, and big curves. The tracks are also meticulously maintained, especially for a race as big as the Preakness. What that means is, yes, the horses may have to put in a bit more effort to overcome the wet track. Overall, though, you probably would have found the track to be quite good to run across, even in the chosen human running gear of sneakers and inappropriate shorts.

Events which require quick turns and changes of speed, like the jumping Dr. Lacher does, may have a different answer. The other major difference in pretty much any horse sport but racing is that the horses are going to be going over the same spot repeatedly. There should be serious thought put into how the footing will handle that, and if it can. If you are the last one to go before they drag the ring, what kind of damage has been done to the footing around the barrel, or the jump, or the obstacle? Horse factors should be considered as well. If your horse is young, or working on confidence, asking them to handle footing that is even a little challenging can be hard on the brain, if not the body.

Eventers are crazy and don’t even realize it’s raining, so we won’t talk about them. (Just kidding, eventers!) Same as everyone else who isn’t racing in the Preakness, I recommend you evaluate the track, and decide if it’s going to be OK. You humans have enormous brains. You should put them to good use.

Why rain matters less than you think

There are two kinds of injuries horses get: the wrong step/trip and something-tears kind, and the low-level repetitive strain kind. Guess which horse injury is more common? And guess which one is sometimes really disguised as the other? That’s right, repetitive strain is the real bad guy. Lots of times there’s a weak spot created by that repetitive strain that breaks when there’s a bad step or trip, so I’m counting that as a repetitive-use injury, too.

How to avoid injuries

Appropriate fitness is the answer. Just like people, horses need to be fit to do the job asked of them. Just like people, horses can get bored, bored, bored with the same old stuff. Know why CrossFit became a thing? Bo Jackson (if you’re under 40 you may need to Google him) got bored doing the same drills, and his injuries kept getting worse from doing those same drills over and over. He started incorporating strength and coordination exercises of all different types to keep him fit enough for baseball and football without the repetition. You can CrossFit your horse, too! It’s called dressage with your jumper, or jumping for your dressage horse. Team pen with your barrel horse. Take your reining horse to an obstacle challenge. The absolute best thing you can do for them is trail riding. I don’t mean the cat version of trail riding: a slow meander involving lots of naps. I mean a ride across terrain with a purpose. Ask them to collect downhill, push uphill, bend around trees. Take advantage of any training opportunity the terrain provides. While you’re busy enjoying nature, your horse will be working on coordination, strength, and balance without even realizing it. As an added bonus, the next time conditions are a little sloppy, your horse will be ready to deal with it.

Fitness is hard. Need help with a plan? Ask Dr. Lacher. She’s rehabbed not only client horses, but her own horses as well. Dr. Lacher seriously knows her stuff when it comes to fitness for equine athletes.

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Until next week,

~ Tony

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

Tuesdays with Tony is the official blog of Tony the Office Cat at Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic in Newberry, Florida. 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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Warmblood Fragile Foal Syndrome

Warmblood Fragile Foal Syndrome

May 14, 2018 | Breeding, Warmblood Fragile Foal Syndrome

Tuesdays with Tony

This week we’re going to talk about a tough topic: Warmblood Fragile Foal Syndrome. I apologize to those who enjoy my feline brand of sarcasm, but it will be largely missing this week. Even a cat can’t be snarky when it involves death, and Warmblood Fragile Foal Syndrome causes foals to die soon after birth, which is even worse.

What is Warmblood Fragile Foal Syndrome?

Springhill Equine Veterinary ClinicWarmblood Fragile Foal Syndrome (WFFS) is a point mutation in the PLOD1 gene. I’m going to get a wee bit nerdy here because I can’t help myself.  A point mutation means that in the DNA for this gene where a Guanine should be, there’s an Adenine. PLOD1 is responsible for helping raw collagen turn into something that can support all the stresses skin, tendon, ligaments, and blood vessels undergo every day. That single change from a G to an A means the skin can’t handle shear forces. That’s it: one letter. It can also be a cause of abortions in pregnant mares because of umbilical cord ruptures. The umbilical cord grows from the foal side of things, so if the foal has WFFS, the umbilical cord will be made with defective collagen. You know those bubbles you see in a water hose before it bursts? That’s what blood vessels made with defective collagen do. And once the umbilical cord bursts, the foal can’t survive.

I tell you, the more I learn, the more amazed I am that life even happens. There are so many places where one tiny little error makes the whole system fail.

How does my foal get it?

WFFS is an inherited genetic mutation, and specifically an autosomal recessive condition. Every foal gets one copy of genes from the sire, and one copy from the dam. For an autosomal recessive condition to cause problems, the foal has to get two copies of the gene. This is a good news/bad news scenario. It means that most foals won’t be affected with the syndrome. However, autosomal recessive is a great way to have a gene silently make its way into a population.  For example, let’s say we cross a mare that is A/G (this means she’s a carrier) with a stallion that is A/G (so he’s a carrier too). With this cross, there is a 25% chance we get a G/G foal (not a carrier and normal), 50% we get an A/G foal (normal but a carrier), and a 25% chance we get an A/A foal (fully affected). This means it is very, very important to know the status of your mare and stallion if you are breeding!

How do I test my horse?

First, if your horse is a gelding there is no reason to test unless you are curious. WFFS carrier status will NOT affect performance.

Ok, now that that’s out of the way. UC Davis and Etalon Diagnostics are the two places my Docs recommend. Many, many warmblood breeders are testing aggressively right now. This means there may be a wait to get your results, but both labs are trying to get results out as fast as they can. Both labs have submission forms on their websites. You will need to pull about 25 hairs, being sure to get the roots, and mail them in along with the submission form. That’s it.  

And if my horse is a carrier?

That depends on you. Responsible breeding would mean removing carrier horses from the gene pool by not breeding them. I do understand that’s easier said than done. At the very least, avoid breeding two carrier horses. As I said, many stallion owners are trying to determine the status of their horses. Hilltop Farm has done an excellent job getting information to mare owners. They have also said any mares bred to carrier stallions must have proof of non-carrier genetic status. This is a great start. It gives me hope for you humans.

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Until next week,

Tony

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

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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!