The Pros And Cons of Equine ProbioticsJuly 10, 2014 This article first appeared in the June 2014 issue of Veterinary Practice News. Probiotics have come to the equine market. Companies seem to be “throwing probiotics into everything,” said Joyce Harman, DVM, member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. “It’s sort of a hot item,” added Dr. Harman, owner of Harmany Equine Clinic Ltd. in Flint Hill, Va. “But that’s a good thing.” Efforts to make probiotics more widely available are being applauded by equine veterinarians like Harman, who has seen the overuse of antibiotics leave her patients’ digestive systems depleted of key bacteria. “Horses are given antibiotics at the drop of a pin,” Harman said. Patients in Harman’s area, Lyme country, may be particularly in need of probiotics, she said. Afflicted horses there tend to get placed on antibiotics for extended periods. In a typical case, Harman will get called out to check a horse that doesn’t look as well as it should, despite being on a good diet, or a horse that has weight loss, diarrhea or constipation with chronically dry stools or stools that have an excessive amount of water. One gelding was presented to …
SPONSORED CONTENTOne dose protects for 12 months.One ProHeart® 12 (moxidectin) injection puts compliance in your control. + Get started
Soring Bill at Risk as Congressional Term Winds DownJune 23, 2014 Follow Veterinary Practice News on Twitter at @vetpetnews Supporters of legislation that would stiffen penalties for soring sent a message to federal lawmakers last week: Giddyup. Introduced in April 2013, the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act has been sitting in a House subcommittee for the past year and will die if the current Congress fails to advance and approve the bill by January 2015. Representatives of the American Veterinary Medical Association joined horse owners and other backers June 18 for the Walk on Washington. Tennessee Walking Horses, spotted saddle horses and racking horses paraded through Union Square in view of the U.S. Capitol in support of the proposed law, which counts 292 House members and 56 senators as co-sponsors. The American Association of Equine Practitioners and dozens of other veterinary, horse industry and animal protection groups have called on Congress to pass the bill. The PAST Act would amend the Horse Protection Act by: • Making the actual act of soring illegal. Soring is the deliberate infliction of pain to produce a high-stepping, unnatural gait in performance horses. • Increasing civil and criminal penalties for violations. • …
Treating Equine Pain Starts With Identifying ItJune 10, 2014The first step in treating a horse in pain is to recognize that pain. It’s a common-sense first step, but it’s so important that Anthony Blikslager, DVM, Ph.D., Dipl. ACVS, professor of equine surgery and gastroenterology at the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University, drives home the point whenever he talks about equine pain treatment. Pain identification ranks as a high priority for the vet school at NC State, so much so that it has developed a behavioral pain scoring system to help veterinarians determine whether a horse is in pain. The scale takes into account a number of subtle hints to enable practitioners to determine how much pain a patient may be experiencing. Is a horse willing to lift its feet freely when asked? Does the horse face its stall door watching its environment, and keep its head position above its withers? Yes to all? That’s a 0 on the pain scale. On the other end of the scale, a horse that doesn’t move, is unresponsive to another horse and is unwilling to lift its feet when asked to do so would rate a 3. “When you add it all up, you now get a much …
Tips for Better Equine RadiographsJune 3, 2014 One of the biggest mistakes veterinarians make when buying digital imaging equipment for their equine practice is not taking the time to learn the software and the accompanying image processing and tools. That’s according to J.K. Waldsmith, DVM, president of Vetel Diagnostics and owner of The Equine Clinic, a full-service hospital, both in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Dr. Waldsmith and other professionals place lack of understanding before and after making a digital radiography equipment purchase on top of the list of possible mistakes equine practices can make. Failing to ensure the following are also errors, Waldsmith said: a good environment for radiographs; proper electrical service where needed; proper staff; proper patient restraint; not having high speed Internet to transmit images and get technical support. Another misstep is neglecting to check in with practice insurance providers about the new equipment, he said. “Make sure you are covered [before] the DR system gets dropped,” Waldsmith advised. “Make sure your policy covers the cost of loaner systems while yours is being repaired. “In my experience there is a greater need for the veterinarian to take the time to understand the technology, and how it can benefit …
Equine Nasal Strips Do Work, Kansas State ReportsMay 21, 2014 Follow Veterinary Practice News on Twitter at @vetpetnews. Flair equine nasal strips are designed for both performance and exercise horses. For the owners of the horse favored to win the Belmont Stakes on June 7, a $10.50 investment in a Flair nasal strip is a small price to pay. Researchers at the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine reported today that the nostril-opening product, manufactured by Flair LLC of Delano, Minn., is more than a cosmetic device. Howard Erickson, DVM, Ph.D., and David Poole, Ph.D., DSc, say it has proven health benefits and possible performance advantages. Their randomized control study on seven geldings running on a treadmill found that equine nasal strips "tent" the airway and hold it open, protecting the lungs. Flair equine nasal strip "The Flair nasal strip has been shown by our research to reduce exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage by approximately 50 percent," Dr. Erickson said. "I think that is beneficial." The New York Racing Association this week cleared the way for California Chrome to wear a nasal strip during his run for the …
4 Horses Die After Receiving Compounded EPM DrugMay 16, 2014Follow Veterinary Practice News on Twitter @vetpetnews. Horses are infected with equine protozoal myeloencephalitis through contaminated food or water. Cioli/I-5 Studio The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued an advisory about compounded veterinary medications after four horses being treated for equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) died. Adverse events such as seizures, fever and death were reported in two Kentucky horses and eight Florida horses that received a pyrimethamine-toltrazuril combination. Four of the horses died or were euthanized and six horses are recovering, FDA reported. Wickliffe Veterinary Pharmacy of Lexington, Ky., compounded two lots—one paste and one oral suspension—containing pyrimethamine and toltrazuril. "At this time, FDA testing indicates that one lot of product contained higher levels of pyrimethamine than the labeling indicates," the agency stated. "All of the products in these lots are accounted for and are no longer in distribution," FDA added. The usual dose of pyrimethamine in horses is 1 mg/kg when combined with sulfadiazine as an FDA-approved treatment for EPM. Toltrazuril is not approved for use in horses, the agency noted. Bayer Animal Health offers toltrazuril as the active …
Acupuncture, Chiropractic offer more OptionsMarch 13, 2014 Holistic practitioners say that while therapies like chiropractic and acupuncture are still largely misunderstood in the veterinary community, they are gaining popularity with a growing number of horse owners who are looking for options beyond Western medicine. “Acupuncture and chiropractic are excellent, particularly in performance problems with horses,” said Joyce Harman, DVM, MRCVS, owner of Harmany Equine Clinic Ltd. in Flint Hill, Va. Many performance issues that horse owners present to Dr. Harman are nondescript. Owners typically come to her for the horse “not being quite right, not being quite sound,” she said. An overtly lame horse may need conventional medical intervention, but it’s the subtle lameness problems that originate in the back, spine or soft tissue that Harman said are great candidates for chiropractic or acupuncture. For example, a horse may appear stiffer when turning in one direction than another; might not pick up leads properly, or it won’t swap leads out, or it can’t maintain a lead; it might not be good at coming out of the starting gate; it doesn’t travel straight; it has a bad attitude. All those issues could stem from the same problem. “The underlying issue is …
Equine NeedleoscopyFebruary 21, 2014 Watch as Josh Zacharias, DVM, MS, DACVS of Countryside Large Animal Veterinary Services, uses BioVision’s Needlescope to evaluate a stifle injury of a 12-year-old quarter horse mare.
Technology out in Front in Healing Horse WoundsJanuary 23, 2014 When it comes to healing wounds in horses, Dean A. Hendrickson, DVM, steers clear at first from topicals and ointments. For Dr. Hendrickson, the associate dean for professional veterinary medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University, it’s all about the dressings. “The most important thing in current wound healing is to minimize the amount of stuff you put on the wound that delays healing and apply the things that will improve healing,” Hendrickson said. “In general, I stay away from ointments and other topicals, and focus on advanced dressings that are designed for the specific stage of the wound healing process. Moist wounds heal faster than dry wounds. The dressings need to be chosen based upon what is happening with the wound.” And Hendrickson isn’t hesitant to seek the latest developments in dressings for his patients. “Advanced wound care dressings are fantastic,” he said. “They take a little while to learn, but the results are amazing.” Based on the characteristics of the wound, Hendrickson advises other vets treating equine wounds to consider foam dressings, alginate dressings, gel dressings …
First Step in Floating: a Thorough Oral ExamJanuary 23, 2014 Jack Easley, DVM, MS, Dipl. ABVP, owner of Equine Veterinary Practice LLC in Shelbyville, Ky., takes a stern view of skipping steps and getting right down to running a float in a horse’s mouth to address equine dental problems. Dr. Easley and other authorities on the practice of floating say a common problem is that some dentists are not doing a thorough examination first, and in their books that’s a huge mistake. “The most important thing about dentistry is not the floating. It’s the oral exam,” said Easley, who recommends a complete oral exam at least once a year. Easley, who has been practicing dentistry on horses for more than 30 years, said too many dentists start to grind away on teeth before a thorough exam. Easley likes to follow several steps before he gets to a point where he feels the need to float a horse’s teeth. Most horses must be sedated, and once that’s done Easley picks up his mouth speculum, a good headlight and then he rinses out the mouth and conducts a thorough visual examination as he palpates inside the mouth, …
