Bleeders

Bleeders

Tuesdays with Tony

Bleeders. Nothing ruins a good run like seeing blood at your horse’s nostrils. This week we’re gonna chat about Exercise Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage, or EIPH. That’s the fancy acronym doctors use to describe bleeders. EIPH is complicated! Hang on for a wild ride with some really good prevention stuff at the end.

Bleeding while running seems like a bad plan

It seems like a theme to life here at the Clinic. Horses have some serious design flaws, and bleeding from your lungs because you ran too fast certainly seems like one of them. As an apex predator, I do have to run down the occasional mouse out in the shed, but I’ve never encountered bleeding from my lungs. When I asked my Docs about this, I was blown away by the explanation (total airway pun there. I do crack myself up). 

Fast-running horses move air out of their lungs so quickly, they literally suck the air across the blood vessel wall. What the what?!? That’s just crazy. When horses are running fast (cats too, just in case you didn’t think we were athletes), the guts are a huge component of breathing and heart rate. As the inside front foot hits the ground, the guts push forward on the diaphragm, pushing the air out of the lungs, and causing the heart to contract. As the hind feet push off to propel the horse forward, the opposite happens. The guts move back in the abdomen and pull air into the lungs, and give the heart room to expand. This means horses aren’t moving air in and out with their muscles alone, that massive GI tract is throwing its weight around. This all works in a very delicate balance. Anything messes that balance up, and poof you’ve got blood cells on the wrong side of a blood vessel wall.

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

Small bleeds

A cat could lose himself in Google Scholar for days looking at EIPH research. You don’t think I spend all my time just sleeping on the keyboard, do you?? Anyway I spent a long weekend with no humans around diving deep into EIPH. The literature is kind of scattered on the early stages of EIPH. This is not because no one is looking! Completely shameless plug here for supporting basic level science research. This is how curious cats find the answers to life’s questions! 

Anyway, a pretty decent association has been made between inflammation and EIPH. Fungus in the airways plays a role, and Winter/Fall seems to, as well. Oddly, bacteria don’t seem to matter. The research also shows that lots of these horses start out with tiny bleeds, the lungs scar and develop more inflammation, and they bleed worse. It is well documented that age is a huge factor in EIPH with older racehorses being way more prone to having career-limiting episodes. 

What’s it all mean??

Great, you say, but what does this mean for horses? Never fear, I have wisdom to drop. Many of you have heard of giving furosemide (Lasix) to bleeders. It works, but it only works OK, not spectacularly. Furosemide makes the blood thicker so it’s harder for it to cross those blood vessel walls. It does this by dehydrating your horse a little bit. If you’re going to use it, make sure you talk to my Docs about managing this dehydration, and the potassium loss that goes with it. 

The way, way more important thing to do is prevention! Those fungi I talked about earlier? Those come from the air. Keeping horses in really well-ventilated spaces is a huge preventative measure for not just EIPH, but also all kinds of respiratory challenges. Think about hay bags on the trailer, stabling at equine events, arenas (especially those indoor ones). All of these are great ways to put your horse in an area with massive amounts of fungus traveling through the air. 

What’s a human to do? Wet your hay down, especially if you’re feeding it from anywhere higher than the ground. Keep your stall meticulously clean and dust free. This goes for anytime, really, but in particular those indoor stalls at horse shows can get NASTY. Think about the ammonia smell that knocks you down as you walk in the doors. All that ammonia is murder (literally murder) on lung cells! Finally, encourage show management to keep arenas appropriately watered down to keep dust in the air to a minimum.

Confounding factors

EIPH rarely shows up all by itself in older horses, and by older, I mean horses over 4 years. It’s really, really important to do what’s called a Bronchoalveolar Lavage (BAL) on these horses to make sure all the lung things are taken care of. In one study nearly half (!!!!!) of all the barrel horses tested had asthma and EIPH. You can give that horse all the Lasix you want; it’s not going to run any better because it still can’t breathe! Lameness is also strongly associated with EIPH. What I’m saying is don’t go all cowboy tough on this one. Talk to my Docs!!!! This is complicated and you need help to keep your horse performing at their best.

EIPH is way more than a little blood from the nose. Manage your horse well, and they’ll have years of performance ahead of them. You know where to go for help with that. My awesome Docs are just a phone call, email, or even a text away.  

Until next week,
~Tony

P.S. The humans have a great podcast on this topic called Airway Issues. You can find it over on the Podcast Page if you’re not already subscribed to the podcast. If you want to step up your game on this stuff, that’s a great resource. Trust me. I’m a cat.

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 Team at Springhill Equine

The Team at Springhill Equine

Tuesdays with Tony

In case you all missed it, a few weeks ago, everyone here at the clinic up and abandoned me and Teenie for a weekend.  Yes, you read that right, they left us all alone to fend for ourselves. Well, not really, they had a kitty-sitter come and feed us and medicate me, but don’t think for a second that I didn’t protest their absence.  When they came back, they explained to me that the reason they left was to go on a team-building trip. That’s all well and good, but aren’t Teenie and I part of the team too? Then they explained that they went kayaking and that it involved water and getting wet, so I finally understood why they left us. Team building is such an important aspect to the well-oiled machine that is this clinic.  So, this week, I want to talk to you about the people in my clinic that make the gears turn and allow us to come treat your horses every day.

The Office Staff

When you call the clinic during the day you will get the girls in the office. They are the first line of communication between you and the docs. They control the schedule. And let me tell you, sometimes they can be really strict! They keep the docs on point making sure they get to their appointments on time, bill and collect money appropriately, and answer all your questions throughout the day. Furthermore, they keep the financials of the clinic up and running. Without them, the doctors and technicians would be lost.  Not to mention they make sure my feeding schedule is set and I receive my insulin daily, as you all know I am extremely demanding when it comes to food. Thankfully, I have them wrapped around my little paw.

Beyond keeping the docs in line, the office staff processes, packages and mails lab work. When we have a horse hospitalized, they will also administer medications as per the docs instructions. Similarly, when you call and request a medication for your horse, they get doctor approval and then get the medication prepared for you to pick up. I have been thinking about getting my own Facebook/Instagram page, but then I am reminded, I don’t have thumbs so making posts would be rather difficult. Nonetheless, Springhill Equine has both Facebook and Instagram which are primarily monitored and run by the office staff. I suppose I could employ one of them to manage my page, but I’ll just take over Springhill’s page when I want to. As you can tell, the office staff is essential to the everyday ins and outs of running the clinic.

 The Technicians

This past week was veterinary technician appreciation week. A week really isn’t long enough to show just how much our techs are appreciated. They deserved to be recognized every single day for their efforts. Teenie and I like to show our appreciation by vomiting daily, drooling all over the computer screens, and getting locked into places we are not supposed to be.  As you know, whenever my docs are working with your horse, they almost always have a technician with them. This is not only for the safety of my docs but for your safety and your horse’s safety.  Our technicians are first and foremost horse people. They are wonderful at reading horse language. This allows them to know what a horse is going to do before they do it. Knowing and understanding horse language allows them to predict when and how a horse is going to react to certain situations. This allows them to keep the docs out of harm’s way.

Beyond horse handling and communication, the technicians provide your horse with love and care as if they were their own horse. They love each and every horse. A major part of the techs job is to be prepared for every appointment. They arrive at the clinic before the docs, they look at the schedule and get everything ready to load on to trucks for the day. When the docs arrive, the techs go over the plan for the day, they check to make sure the truck is stocked and that all equipment is charged and ready to go. When we have horses that are hospitalized, they administer medications and provide treatments to any hospitalized patients.  The technicians are the doc’s right hand women. They are always one step ahead of them and always cleaning up after them. In case you didn’t know, the docs can be pretty darn messy. They expect me to clean it up but, I have more important things to do. Thank goodness they have amazing technicians who don’t mind picking up after the docs, and, well, me.

The Veterinarians

You all know my docs and you know what they do for you and your horses. I want you guys to know a little more about them though. Veterinarians go to school for at least 4 years before they even go to Veterinary School. Veterinary School is also 4 years long. So at the very least they have been through 8 years of school to become veterinarians. All the docs in my practice went on to participate in a year-long internship after veterinary school where they got to practice all they had learned while under the watchful eye of another veterinarian.

When you schedule an appointment with my docs they are giving you and your horse their undivided attention. They look over every aspect of your horse to develop a diagnosis and treatment plan going forward. What you probably don’t know is that even after your appointment is over, they are still thinking about your horse. They will often go home, research, and think about your horse for hours. So, while they may not be with you and your horse, I can promise you, cats honor, they are thinking about you and your horse. They worry, they internalize, and they grieve right along with you every step of the way. And they do it all because they love horses as much as you do.

 The Wild Card

Dr. Lacher’s husband, Justin, is the wild card on our team. He does a lot of different things. For example, he pays all the bills and does the bookkeeping so we can keep getting drugs and supplies to use on the horses. If you’ve been to one of my seminars, you’ve seen him running the audio and video equipment. You might have even listened to the podcast he hosts and produces with Dr. Lacher called Straight from the Horse Doctor’s Mouth. Or maybe you’ve read one of the books he’s written about all the crazy horse things that happen around here, called the Adventures of the Horse Doctor’s Husband series. If you’ve watched one of the videos we’ve released, he was behind the scenes making it happen. Justin wears a lot of hats around here, but the most important one is Chief Cat Scratcher. It’s a critical role.

 The Cats

Not to be out done by any of the other team members, the cats, aka myself and Teenie, are an essential part of the Springhill Equine team. We provide hours of entertainment for everyone. We regularly get ourselves into trouble which keeps the team on their toes. Teenie enjoys bathing everyone in her drool and screaming demands for treats daily. I, on the other hand, prefer to keep things a little more lowkey and would rather wander down the street only to have the docs and techs come find me later.  Of course, you know yours truly provides you with this weekly blog, but did you know that when you bring your horse to the clinic, I also provide free “CAT” scans of your trailer?  When your horse is hospitalized it is up to Teenie and me to keep a close eye on him and alert the docs of any problems.  They say they check the cameras at night, but we know they rely on us to keep the horses in line.

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

Needless to say, the Springhill Equine Team is a group of fine individuals who have been selected carefully. Everyone plays an imperative role in your horse’s care and without each and every one of them, I would surely starve. It is the goal of the Springhill Equine Team to provide care and support to you and your horse, night and day, no matter what.

 Until next week,

~Tony

P.S. If you haven’t been listening to that podcast I mentioned, you can find on the Podcast Page. It’s what all the cool cats are listening to these days!

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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Melanoma

Melanoma

Tuesdays with Tony

As horse owners I know you all know every curve, every scar and every lump or bump your horse has. So, when a new bump pops up it can be concerning. Any time I have a new scratch or lump or scab the humans are all over me, making sure I am okay.  Frankly, it’s rather annoying. I am a perfectly healthy cat and don’t need them all over me all the time. I just need them to feed me and respond to all my demands.  While I’m aware of my health, horses, they just aren’t as smart, and they need you to keep track of them.  Monitoring new lumps and bumps can be lifesaving for your hose. This week I want to talk to you about a type of tumor that horses get that, for the most part, the docs will tell you not to worry too much about and just keep any eye on: Melanomas.

 What is a Melanoma?

A melanoma is a type of skin tumor that occurs mainly in grey horses but can rarely occur in other colored horses as well. These tumors can pop up on your horse’s body just about anywhere. The most common areas include the underside and dock of the tail, corners of lips, neck, and head. They can also be found in and around your horse’s sheath, anus and from your horse’s iris in his eye.

Melanomas can pop up at any age in any horse with little known about any predisposing factors other than your horse’s color. That being said, most grey horses will not start to develop tumors until they’re around 10 years old.  I am well into my teens, I am not grey, and thankfully, I am not a horse, so I think I am safe, but be sure to check on your grey horses.

As I mentioned, melanomas are part of owning grey horses. It’s usually advised to keep an eye on them for any significant changes.  However, it is important to understand that “keeping an eye on them” does not mean allow them to grow uncontrollably. In fact, if your horse has been diagnosed with melanomas, you should have my docs check on them at least twice a year, measure them and possibly even take some photos of them. This will help ensure that the tumor does not progress rapidly and cause long term problems for your horse.

 Treatment

While it is common practice to keep an eye on melanomas, there are other treatment options for them as well. One option is surgical removal. However, removal of one tumor will not prevent the development of other tumors. Likewise, if a tumor is too large or in a precarious location, surgical removal cannot be performed.

Injection with a chemotherapy agent is another treatment option. Cisplatin in the form of injectable oil or impregnated beads can be used around tumors to reduce the size of the tumor and allow for possible surgical excision. Treatment with cisplatin can be extremely effective, but it often takes several treatments and can get expensive.

Finally, there has been a vaccination developed for use in dogs that is still experimental in horses. The vaccine is created from your horse’s specific tumor, targets proteins in the melanoma cells, and stimulates an immune response. The vaccination shows promise for treatment of melanomas in horses, but more work is needed to prove its effectiveness.

Whatever form of treatment my docs recommend, it is important to start treatment early and not necessarily just keep an eye on it.  Ask my docs which method is best and how to start treatment if your horse is diagnosed with melanomas.

 Complications

 If a melanoma is left to progress without intervention, they can become obstructive.  Tumors around the head and neck can obstruct your horse’s airway and predispose your horse to choke. As you can imagine both of these conditions can be life threatening. If left to progress and grow, tumors around the anus can prevent your horse from passing manure.

Similarly, tumors in and around your horse’s sheath can lead to difficult urination. Remember our discussion about sheaths a few weeks back? Annual examination of your horse’s sheath will help the docs monitor your horse for tumor development, and if your horse in on one of our wellness plans, this examination is included.  (Here is my shameless plug to sign your horse up for 2021 Wellness today.)  If a tumor is allowed to progress and obstruct your horse’s sheath, urine scalding becomes a concern.  When your horse cannot fully drop his penis from his sheath he’ll still have to urinate, and urine will splatter in all directions including on his abdomen and legs. This can lead to burning of these areas which is very painful.

Melanomas that arise from the iris of the eye can also become obstructive, leading to vision and other ocular problems. Any kind of tumor in the eye should be treated immediately. If left to progress, your horse may lose his vision completely, may develop uveitis (inflammation), glaucoma, or may lose his eye completely.

Besides obstruction, melanomas can become ulcerated, particularly underneath the tail.  It is a warm, moist, dirty area and the perfect environment for these tumors to get really ugly and nasty really fast.  Unlike cats, horses are disgusting creatures who fail to groom themselves regularly. Anyways, since your horse is lazy and allows you to groom and clean him, you must be the one to keep the underside of his tail clean.  However, despite your most diligent efforts, melanomas are tumors and will do whatever they want, including becoming ulcerated, necrotic and/or infected.  Once this happens, they can be nearly impossible to treat and can result in my docs having to recommend humane euthanasia for your horse.

The takeaway message is this: Have my docs monitor any lumps or bumps on your horse and show you exactly what kind of changes to watch for. Early, aggressive treatment is key and can be lifesaving for your horse.

Until next week,

~Tony

PS – Looking for more information on other conditions that may come up with your horse?My people also have a podcast that is filled with incredibly useful information, check it out here. Also, we will be having a VIRTUAL facebook seminar on Thursday October, 22 at 6:30. They will be talking about asthma/heaves. Wow, we have seen a lot, I mean a lot of heaves this year. 

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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Broken legs

Broken legs

Tuesdays with Tony

I’ve got a special edition today of Tuesdays with Tony this week. I listened in on the recording of the fabulous podcast, Straight From The Horse Doctor’s Mouth with special guest Dr. John Peloso talking about broken legs in horses. I’m going to give my blog readers a sneak peak into the interview. I know, it’s awfully generous of me. You may send your fan letters to my people at Springhill Equine. Canned Tuna can also be sent there as a token of your appreciation. Back to the podcast. I’m quite fond of the hosts as they provide me with food, shelter, and chin scratches. Justin Long and Dr. Lacher discuss a wide variety of horse topics, and even this wise cat learns something during every episode. While listening to this recording I learned breaking your leg isn’t always a death sentence for horses. Guess that Far Side cartoon got it wrong. 

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

There’s broken, and then there’s Broken

First thing I learned is that “broken” means a few different things to Docs. There’s cracked, there’s broken in two pieces, there’s broken in a whole bunch of pieces, and there’s broken and poking through the skin. These are huge sweeping generalizations, but in general cracked, and broken in two (or maybe three) pieces is better, and means you can at least start the conversation about fixing the fracture. Broken in a whole bunch of pieces, and broken and poking through the skin are really, really bad. 

This comes down to why broken legs in horses are so much worse than broken legs in cats, dogs, or even humans. Horses have to stand on those crazy sticks they call legs. If the stick is broken in too many pieces, the surgeon can’t get it back close enough to normal for the horse to be able to stand on it. Sticking out of the skin is bad for two reasons: these are usually difficult to get back to that standable stick, and that bone is now really likely to get infected since horses live in bacteria and fungus-infested environments. They aren’t like us cats who stay clean no matter what! No amount of antibiotics can win the war against the amount of bacteria on a horse leg bone that’s been in dirt. In fact, it’s really hard to do with humans, too! 

Which bone is it?

Okay, so we know that how it’s broken matters, but which bone it is also matters a whole lot. Once again these are generalities, because horses are horses and at the end of the day they’ll do what they dang well please. They’re like cats that way. I respect it. The big bones above the elbow and the stifle simply can’t be fixed with the available bone fixing stuff. Apparently there isn’t horse broken bone hardware. All of the things surgeons use are adapted from humans. I don’t know if you’ve compared the average horse to the average human lately, but there’s a wee bit of a size difference. No human plate, screw, or pin can stand up to the enormous pressures the humerus and femur have to handle on a horse. Don’t get me started on shoulders, and pelvises, pelvii, whatever the plural for pelvis is. These areas are hard to get to due to muscles and nerves, and they’re both pretty darn thin. That means you can’t just plate them. The screws won’t hold. This means fractures above the elbows and stifles are just plain bad no matter how you slice them. 

This brings me to the area between the knees or hocks, and elbows or stifles. The radius up front and the tibia behind. These bones are shockingly easy to crack with a well-placed kick from another horse. The design flaws horses have are so numerous. It’s still shocking even though I see it every day here at the clinic. If these bones are broken, broken, as in look at x-ray and go, ‘wow that’s busted’ from across the room, that’s bad. You probably didn’t need me to tell you that. However, if they’re just cracked then there’s a shot they can heal! The trick is to convince the horse to be really quiet for about 6 weeks while that bone heals. No running, jumping, bucking, or cavorting. The best scenario here is what’s called a tie line. For this the horse is tied from somewhere high in the stall so they can’t lay down. It makes for a long 6 weeks, but the act of laying down and getting up puts an unbelievable amount of strain on those bones. It’s enough to make a cracked one shatter, and then there’s only one answer. 

Finally, the lower leg. Splint bones are easy. Those barely count as a fracture and generally heal with minimal help from anyone but Mother Nature and Time. Cannon bones are a little like the radius and tibia. If it’s a crack, it will heal. Bonus down here: surgeons can put a screw in there to stabilize things making them heal faster, and better. However, if it’s shattered, that’s really bad. Pastern bones are similar. Cracks: goood. Shatter: bad. The problem is that pasterns like to shatter. Coffin bones, despite their name, handle fractures pretty well, as long as the joint isn’t involved. The hoof capsule acts like a cast for these fractures, locking them in place. 

The Horse Factor

My biggest take away from my listen in was how much the horse itself matters. A quiet horse who isn’t looking for trouble has a way better shot than the horse trying to jump over the stall door on day 2 of stall rest. Now my Docs have pharmaceutical assistance for this, but the better behaved the horse, the better the chances. This next one seems obvious. The smaller the horse, the better the chances. Horses under 600 pounds do the best. Again, physics. All that weight on those tiny sticks. Such a bad design.

Moral of the story: broken legs can still be really bad, but not always! Oh and horses have some serious design flaws. If you find your horse non-weight bearing on a leg, or really swollen, Don’t Panic!!! Call my awesome Docs. They’ll evaluate things, figure out what’s going on, and help formulate the right plan for your horse. And as with all things horse, the sooner, the better. Everything gets harder to fix with time.  

Until next week,

~Tony

P.S. The Broken Bone episode of the podcast comes out on October 1st, and you can find it on my Podcast Page. There are fifty-something other episodes to keep you busy until it comes out!

 

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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Sheath Maintenance

Sheath Maintenance

Tuesdays with Tony

Sheath Maintenance

 Whew, that’s some chilly air out there! I hope you all had a lovely weekend and enjoyed the brisk air. I know I did.  With the change in temperature, I was reminded that 2021 is right around the corner and with the new year in view, our 2021 Wellness Plan sign-ups are about to be in full swing. As you all know, our Wellness Plans are the best thing since sliced bread and include all the yearly care your horse requires including vaccines, coggins, fecal, dental, and deworming.  An often-overlooked aspect of our Wellness Plans, however, is the sheath cleaning.  This is a very important aspect of your horse’s care that my docs take very seriously.  Take it from this old cat, sometimes it’s the little things that mean the most.

 Cleaning

Your horse’s sheath can tell my docs a lot about your horse’s overall health. Believe it or not, there is such thing as too much cleaning. Once a year cleaning is all it needs. Ideally, your horse’s yearly cleaning should be performed by a veterinarian while under sedation.  Why, you ask? Well, let me tell you. For one, SAFETY. Safety for you, safety for my docs, safety for me, and safety for your horse.  Some horses do not mind when their private areas are inspected. However, most horses do not approve of such invasiveness. They like to make their disapproval known by using those muscular back legs that quickly go in many different directions when they are angry.  I know I would need some serious sedation if someone was going to inspect me “down there”, so just do yourself and your horse a favor and have my docs sedate before cleaning.

 Surprisingly enough, the cleaning part of sheath cleaning is not the most important part. During a cleaning, my docs will inspect your horse’s sheath including his prepuce, head, and shaft for any abnormalities. They will note any changes from the previous year’s exam. After the exam, they will inspect the head for any “beans”. The bean develops in the urethral fossa and is a buildup of dead skin cells, sweat, dirt and dried urine. If a bean is left to enlarge on its own, it can cause your horse to have difficulty urinating.  When any animal strains to urinate, cats included, it can be life threatening. Better for you and your horse if you allow my docs to clean out the bean once yearly. 

 You will notice that soap is rarely used in the cleaning process and typically only warm water, soft cotton and lube will be employed to clean your horse’s sheath. This is because a healthy sheath is covered in good bacteria. The more products used in and around your horse’s sheath deplete the good bacteria and allow for introduction of bad bacteria to your horse’s nether region. Best bet: leave the cleaning to the experts.

 Abnormalities

As I have already mentioned, when my docs are cleaning your horse’s sheath, they will thoroughly inspect him for any abnormalities. Abnormalities include skin lesions, masses, and injuries. It is important to recognize any problems with your horse’s sheath early. The sooner the problem is noticed, the sooner my docs can initiate treatment. Horses with pink skin are prone to cancerous lesions known as Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Squamous Cell Carcinoma is skin cancer that rears its ugly head on light pink skin in the form of ulcerative lesions. When my docs sedate your horse, they will thoroughly inspect his sheath and penis for any pre-cancerous or cancerous lesions. They may recommend biopsy or treatment depending on what the lesion looks like. 

 As you all know, grey horses like to get tumors all over. These tumors, known as melanoma, are usually benign and do not metastasize. However, they can develop tumors in and around their sheaths, YIKES! If the tumors get large enough, they may cause an obstruction in urination.  That is why it is best to have the docs check out your horse’s sheath once a year to keep an eye on any developing tumors and guide treatment. You wouldn’t believe the number of injuries that can happen to horse’s genital areas. You would think they would protect their sensitive bits, but no, as per usual, horses hurt themselves in the most inopportune times in the most inopportune ways, including their sheaths. 

 Lacerations and puncture wounds are relatively common and require emergency treatment. However, other injuries such as nerve and/or muscle damage may go unnoticed until their yearly examination by the docs.  Damage to nerves and muscles can lead to shafts that point in an abnormal direction. While this usually does not cause a problem for most males, it can absolutely be problematic for breeding stallions.  It can also lead to urine scalding of the abdomen or hind legs depending on which way it points. Having the docs perform a thorough examination once a year will help ensure your horse does not develop any problems with his sheath and if there is problem it can be addressed quickly. 

Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic

 What Not To Do

You never knew there was so much to talk about your horse’s sheath, did you? Well, don’t worry, there’s more.  I have been told that some people are obsessed over their horse’s sheath.  Please, for the love of cat, STOP! The more you mess with it the more problems you will have.  As we tell little boys, if you keep playing with it, it is going to fall off! We know that is not actually the case, but the more you mess with it the more trouble you will cause.  Unless my docs instruct you to, please stop putting medications up your horse’s sheath.  It changes the bacterial flora and allows for bad bacteria to breed and infection to occur.  Some topical can be very abrasive and can burn your horse’s sensitive skin. Yes, smegma is gross and stinky, believe me, I know, and you may think cleaning it out every day will help, but it won’t!

 Let my docs do the cleaning once a year, I promise you that’s all your horse needs.  Some approved topical for AROUND your horse’s sheath are Kinetic Vet IBH and SWAT as bug prevention, and Kinetic Vet SB as Sunblock.  Before you apply anything other than one of those 3 topicals, please call my vets. They would love to talk to you about your horse’s sheath. They are weirdos like that. But you gotta love them!

 Tune in this Thursday for a live Seminar to talk about your horse’s nutrition. I heard through the grapevine there may be some giveaways for participating!

 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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