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Client Newsletter #1
August 2002
Thank you to everyone for trying the
"new vet". I am starting this monthly
newsletter as a means to provide clients
with useful veterinary horse care
information. This will also give me the
ability to inform you of any urgent
health care needs for your horse. I
would be happy to write about any topic
so if there is something you would like
to know more about please let me know.
Feel free to use my e-mail for
communication as well.
Maintenance Care of Horses
Vaccinations:
1. West Nile - Obviously very
important at this time since any horse
is at risk of contracting the disease
and will remain at risk until the
mosquito season ends. Two shot series
with a small amount of protection
provided after the first shot and then
3-6 weeks later then second shot that
provides complete protection. After the
initial series annual booster is
necessary.
2. Eastern and Western Encephalitis
- Also mosquito borne encephalitis and
vaccine consists of initial 2 shot
series and then annual booster
thereafter.
3. Tetanus - Usually included
with other shots and consists of two
shot series and then annual booster.
4. Rabies- One shot initially and
then annual booster.
5. Flu/Rhino - More important for
traveling horses. Flu is the influenza
virus and is more of a cold weather
virus. Rhino is the herpes virus and can
cause respiratory disease, neurologic
disease, and also late term abortion in
mares. This is a two shot series
initially. The booster schedule depends
on how much your horse travels or how
many horses they are exposed to. The
vaccine only provides strong protection
for 3-4 months. Rhino should be given to
pregnant mares in months 3, 5, 7, and 9.
6. Potomac Horse Fever - Protects
against this disease which can cause
high fever, severe diarrhea, and founder
in horses. Initial two shot series and
then boosters thereafter.
7. Strangles - This disease is
the same type of condition as Strep
throat in people. The problem with this
disease is that it is highly contagious.
The intranasal vaccine probably provides
the best protection. This is a two dose
series and then requires annual booster.
*The importance of each of these
vaccines may vary depending on your
horses individual circumstances and I
will be happy to discuss with you the
importance level of each of these
vaccinations.
Worming:
I try to keep worming as simple as I can
and not get into changing wormers every
time or every year. This schedule is
very basic and may need to be modified
depending upon your turnout area, number
of horses, etc.
1. Ivermectin every 6-8 weeks during the
early spring, summer, and fall. There
has been very little resistance to
ivermectin up to this point and it is
still probably the most overall
effective wormer.
2. Pyrantel Pamoate (commonly brand name
is Strongid) - This wormer should be
administered in fall once in place of
your Ivermectin. This should be given in
a double dose (i.e. if your horse is
1000 lbs then dose at 2000 lbs) which
usually works out to 2 tubes instead of
one. Give both tubes one right after the
other. They need to get the full dose at
one time. This double dose of Pyrantel
will kill tapeworms which are not killed
by Ivermectin.
3. During the middle of winter worming
is not as necessary as the exposure
level will be much lower. The money you
save during this time period can then be
applied to the next worming protocol.
If you follow this protocol you should
be able to keep your horse well dewormed.
Tube worming is not necessary if the
wormer is properly administered in the
mouth. You can reduce the exposure of
your horse to parasites by keeping clean
pastures and stalls and trying not to
have overcrowding of horses in pastures.
There are other options depending on
your individual situation such as Quest,
daily wormers, removal of fly larva,
etc. and I am more than happy to discuss
these options with you.
Dental Care:
Set up a winter appointment for routine
floating.
The best way to prevent dental problems
is through peventive care. I recommend
routine floating of horses teeth once a
year which will keep their teeth in good
shape and make floating a simple and
inexpensive procedure instead of a
complicated and costly ordeal. I float
teeth and would like to set up
appointments for this during the fall
and winter months when it is cooler with
no bugs! Floating can help your horse
chew more effectively as well as improve
comfort with the bit by making sure to
put in a "bit seat" on their first cheek
teeth (upper and lower).
**I will be out of town on September 4th
and 5th attending to family business. I
will be back on the afternoon of the
5th. Please note this in case you have
an emergency during this time.
Thank you,
Paul Weitz
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September 2002
WEST NILE
UPDATE:
As of August 28 there have been 231
confirmed cases of West Nile in the
state of Minnesota with the regional
county breakdown following:
Wright (30), Hennepin (9), Carver (6),
Dakota (5), Rice (1), Scott (1), and Le
Seur (1).
WEST NILE
VACCINATION FACTS:
The vaccination, which has been proven
to provide horses protection from the
disease, is a two injection protocol.
The first injection provides minimal to
no protection. In order to obtain the
optimum immune response the second shot
should be administered 3-6 weeks later.
Horses are not protected completely
until 10-14 days after the second
injection.
If it is necessary to obtain protection
as quickly as possible then the second
shot can be given two weeks after the
first injection. The reason for the 3-6
week recommendation is that this is the
time period for the optimal immune
response to occur but if the shot is
given at 2 weeks protective levels are
still obtained at 10-14 days following
the second shot.
If your horse is currently not
vaccinated I would strongly recommend
that the two week schedule should be
administered as soon as possible. AS
well if it is possible I would keep
unvaccinated horses in a stall with a
fan on them during the peak mosquito
times of dawn and dusk. This will not
prevent mosquitoes from biting your
horse but it will help to minimize their
exposure.
For next year, I recommend one booster
shot in mid May and this should provide
protection for 6 months. Encephalitis
occurs mainly during late summer/early
fall so a mid May vaccine will protect
the horse though October and into
November.
FOAL PROTOCOL:
Foals at 2-3 months of age: If you would
like to vaccinate your foal at this
early age then they will need a total of
three shots because their immune system
is not fully developed at this time.
Following the first shot they will then
need an additional two shots at 3-6 week
intervals.
Foals older than 3 months of age: These
foals should be given the same protocol
as that for an adult horse. An initial
shot followed by a booster 3-6 weeks
later.
*This vaccination information was
obtained from Fort Dodge, manufacturer
of the West Nile Vaccine.
How is it spread?
It is spread through infected horse's
blood. This is accomplished by biting
flies who bite an infected horse and
then fly to another horse and bit them.
The fly's feeding tube contains the
blood with the virus from the infected
horse and it is now passed on to the
uninfected horse. The range of these
flies is usually around 200 yards but
with movement of horses in trailers,
etc. you can see how it could spread
much farther than that. The virus
survives for around 30 minutes outside
of the horse. The disease can also be
transmitted by dirty needles, syringes,
or any surgical instruments with
infected blood on them.
Is there any treatment?
Unfortunately as with AIDS in humans we
have no treatment for the virus. Our
main treatment is to try to limit the
spread of the disease and this is
accomplished by either imposing a
lifetime quarantine on any infected
horse or else they are put to sleep.
What is the reason we test for the
disease?
The disease can be spread rather easily
amongst a close group of horses and
obviously the more horses that have the
disease the more than can be infected.
Before the coggins test was developed
many horses would die from this disease
and many other were carriers. It would
be a disaster if a positive horse was
brought to a show with hundreds of other
horses and spread the disease to them.
Outbreaks still do occur as evidenced by
recent outbreaks in Montana where 9
horses were involved and in Georgia
where 4 horses were infected. The best
way to prevent the spread of the disease
is to limit the number of horses that
have the disease.
When should you test a foal?
A foal will have the mothers antibodies
until are are 4-6 months of age so the
earliest that you can accurately test a
foal would be after weaning and after 6
months of age.
Is the virus in Minnesota?
Yes. Since 1970 there have been a total
of 621 positive tests which averages out
to roughly 20 per year. So far this year
there have been only three positive
tests but in comparison there were 70
positive tests in 1996.
Some people argue that vets and the
government are involved in a big
conspiracy to make money off of horse
owners by scaring them into doing
coggins tests and argue that horses
don't die from the disease. All horses
won't die from the virus but they are
not the ones that will go to a show and
spread it to others. It is important to
minimize the number of infected horses
so that your horses have less chance of
being exposed and infected. This virus
will always be around and all we can try
to do is minimize the risks to the
healthy horses by limiting the number of
infected horses.
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Helpful tip: If you notice bot eggs on
your horses hair an easy way to get rid
of them is to wipe or wet the hair down
with warm water and this will cause the
eggs to loosen their grip on the hair so
they can be removed more easily. The
reason they loosen is because they want
to get into the horses mouth so when a
horse lick them (which is warm and wet)
they release so they can get into the
horses mouth.
*I will be going on vacation from
November 3-10 so I will not be available
on these days. I hope that this does not
cause any inconvenience and appreciate
your understanding the need for a little
time off!!
Thank you for your business,
Paul
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October 2002
WEST NILE
UPDATE:
As of October 1st there have been 600
confirmed cases of West Nile in the
state of Minnesota with the regional
county breakdown following:
Wright (60), Hennepin (27), Carver (14),
Dakota (9), Rice (7), Scott (15), and Le
Seur (5).
Vaccination:
I have heard many stories about how
vaccinated horses are coming down with
the disease and in my experience I have
not seen this occurring. According to
the USDA National Veterinary Services
Laboratory (NVSL) there were a total of
738 confirmed cases in the US in 2001.
Out of these cases there were 132 cases
which were said to be vaccinated. Out of
those 132 only 3-5 had been fully
vaccinated and had enough time for the
vaccine to work. Fort Dodge sold 1.1
million doses of vaccine in 2001.
Obviously the percentages of vaccine
failure are very low and the benefits of
the vaccine far outweigh the possibility
that the vaccine may not work. Bottom
line is to vaccinate your horse before
encephalitis season next year. An once
of prevention of worth a pound of cure!
Coggins -
Always need it for shipping but why?
What is the coggins test?
This test is run on horse's blood and is
testing for antibodies against the
virus. If the horse has been infected
with the virus then antibodies will be
present resulting in a positive test.
Antibodies are proteins produced by the
body to help fight off the virus.
What does coggins mean?
Coggins is another term for the disease
Equine Infectious Anemia. This disease
is caused by a virus that is related to
the HIV virus in people. Unfortunately
there is no cure for this virus.
What is the disease Equine Infectious
Anemia?
Once the virus infects a horse it has
three types of presentations.
1. The acute form which is when a horse
shows full blown signs of the disease.
The symptoms are fever, wight loss,
swollen legs and a significant drop in
the red blood cell (rbc) count. The
course of this type of infection usually
goes 2-3 weeks and the horses usually do
not recover.
2. The chronic from causes intermittent
fevers and weight loss over a long
period of time with a decrease in rbc's
during the time of the fever. This can
go on for a long period of time and
causes a gradual wasting condition.
3. The carrier form has minimal signs
and the horse appears to be healthy
overall.
Rain Rot
- A skin condition that is more
common in wet weather.
Again the lovely wet Minnesota summer
and fall have predisposed horses to the
development of rain rot. The wet weather
causes the skin defenses to weaken and
allows invasion of the bacteria
Dermatophilus congolensis. This bacteria
(not a fungus!) thrives in a moist
environment and causes the surface layer
of the skin to separate and peel of with
the hair attached. The symptoms are
usually a matting of the hair and then
the formation of an oozing scab. These
lesions tend to be along the back and
hindquarters because this is where the
skin is exposed to the most rain.
The infections are usually self limiting
if allowed to dry out. Unfortunately we
have had very little drying out here. To
treat the lesion you need to shampoo the
area with an antibacterial shampoo such
as betadine shampoo. This will help
limit the spread as well as facilitate
the removal of the scabs. AFter
shampooing the skin should be dried an
betadine solution should be applied to
affected area and allowed to dry. If
this is done daily for 3-5 days this
should take care of the infection. If
necessary it also can be treated with a
course of penicillin.
It is wise not to share blankets or
brushes between horses as this condition
can be spread by these objects. Please
call if you have any questions.
Vaccinations
for pregnant mares:
Pregnant mares should be given boosters
for rhino virus every two months during
their pregnancy to help prevent later
term abortion caused by the herpes
virus. This can be started in between
3-6 months of pregnancy and continued
every two months until the end of
pregnancy. I will have a future
newsletter providing more in depth
information regarding mare and foal
care.
Penicillin
Reactions - Not the same as people:
A penicillin reaction is not to an
allergic reaction to penicillin. This
reaction is actually caused by the drug
Procaine which is used in the suspension
of injectable penicillin. Horses are
extremely sensitive to this drug and if
this drug finds its way into an aterial
vessel it will cause seizure type
activity in the brain. If this occurs
get out of the stall and leave the horse
alone until the symptoms cease. This is
why you always make sure their is no
blood in the syringe before you complete
the injection. The best way to prevent a
reaction is to shake the penicillin well
before injecting, keeping the bottle
refrigerated, and rotating injection
sites. Be aware that even if you follow
all of these preventive measures it is
still possible that a reaction can
occur.
****Due to family circumstances I will
NOT be leaving for vacation this month.
This vacation has been reschedule to
December 15 to December 22. The only
days that I will be unavailable in
November will be the evening of Tuesday
November 5 and the morning of November
6.
Thank you for your business and have a
happy Thanksgiving!!
Paul
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November 2002
WEST NILE
UPDATE:
As of October 28th there have been 964
confirmed cases of West Nile in the
state of Minnesota with the regional
county breakdown following:
Wright (66), Hennepin (31), Carver (14),
Dakota (19), Rice (11), Scott (32), and
Le Seur (8) and Goodhue (13).
This newsletter will cover a couple of
topics that are more prevalent due to
this lovely fall weather that we are
experiencing. These two topics are foot
abscesses and a skin condition known as
rain rot. I will also briefly cover
vaccinating your broodmare. A future
newsletter will cover broodmare,
foaling, and foal care in more detail.
Foot Abscesses:
A foot abscess occurs when bacteria and
other micro-organisms gain access to the
sensitive area of the hoof. As this
infection progresses it develops
pressure within the hoof wall which can
cause a great deal of pain and lameness.
Generally if your horse develops a
sudden lameness with no obvious causes
or swellings then a hoof abscess is
generally the cause.
The abscesses develop by small cracks or
weak areas in the white line region
which allow the bacteria to 'get inside'
the foot. A wet hoof is not as hard and
tough and is therefore more susceptible
to abscesses. Other causes are by
punctures of the hoof with a sharp
object or hematoma's that form due to
bruising of the hoof. Abscesses usually
break out the bottom of the foot but
some will break out at the coronary
band. At this time I am seeing a lot of
abscesses and this is most likely due to
the constant wet and muddy conditions.
It is important to get the absccesses
treated as soon as possible because if
the hole is not opened and kept clean
the abscess can then expand and
undermine the sole. This will lead to a
prolonged recovery period for your
horse. The abscesses are treated by
opening up a drainage hole to relieve
the pressure and to provide drainage of
the pus. After it has opened up it must
be kept clean and covered so that the
hole can heal and to precent more
contamination from getting inside the
hoof.
Many people will treat their horses with
bute at the first sign of lameness,
however with foot abscesses bute will
actually prolong the course of the
abscess and can lead to a prolonged
recovery period.
Generally speaking if your horse
suddenly comes up very lame it should be
looked at sooner rather than later. A
simple abscess may only require one week
of treatment but a complicated abscess
can need anywhere from 2-4 weeks to
heal.
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December 2002
WEST NILE
UPDATE:
No more mosquitoes, No more West Nile!
Hopefully 2003 will have far fewer cases
of West Nile. Make sure to vaccinate
next year!
COLIC:
What does Colic mean?
The definition of colic is; pain caused
by a problem with an abdominal organ.
This can be pain from any part of their
digestive tract, liver, kidney, or
reproductive organs. However, the
majority of colics are due to
disturbances of the gastro-intestinal
tract.
What is the horses Gastro-Intestinal
Tract?
The horses GI tract consists of the
stomach, small intestine, cecum, colon,
and small colon.
1.The stomach in the horse can
comfortably hold 2-3 gallons and is
basically a mixing station for food
before it is passed on to the small
intestine. The size of the horses
stomach is relatively small considering
the size of the rest of the GI Tract.
Food and liquid generally are only in
the stomach for around 10-20 minutes.
2. The small intestine is roughly around
80 feet long ans this is where the
majority of the digestion and absorption
of nutrients from their grain occurs.
This is a fairly rapids transit system
sending food along at approximately 1
foot per minute.
3.The cecum is a large wine-flask-shapped
organ capable of holding anywhere from
5-7 gallons of fluid and plan material.
This is a fermentation chamber where a
significant amount of water is resorbed
back into the body and where the
breakdown of plant material is
initiated.
4. The large colon which is around 10-14
feet in length and is basically free
floating in the belly. It generally will
contain around 20-25 gallons of water
and food material. This is where the
rest of the water reabsorption and
continued digestion of plant material
takes place.
5. The small colon is another 10-12 feet
in length and is the last part of the
system where the rest of the water is
reabsorbed and the feces are formed.
The horse is basically designed to eat
small amounts of food over a long period
of time.
What causes colic?
There are many different causes of
colic, but the bottom line is that when
horses colic there is a disturbance in
one of the five regions of the GI tract.
This can be due to impaction, gas,
entrapped or twisted small intestine,
displacement or twist of the colon,
parasites, ulcers, poor teeth care,
overeating/overfeeding of grain,
ovulation, etc.
What are the signs of colic?
A horse can exhibit many different signs
but they are all a reflection of the
fact that they have abdominal pain. They
may show any combination of the
following signs: biting at sides,
pawing, lying down, rolling, not eating,
stretching to urinate but no urination
occurs, looking at belly, kicking at
their belly, sweating, and trembling.
When to call the vet?
If you have any questions it is always
better to five me a call and let me know
what is happening and then we can make a
judgement as to what to do next. The
important thing to determine with colics,
is whether the colic is a surgical case
or a medical case. A surgical case is a
physical problem that can only be
repaired by surgical manipulation. A
medical colic is treated with just drugs
and fluids.
Surgery Prognosis:
1. For large colon colics the surgical
success rate is in between 80-90%.
2. For small intestine colics the
success rate will be more in the 45-60%
range.
How to Prevent Colic:
There is no tried and true method to
preventing colics but there are some
practices you can follow.
1. Try to keep their daily routine
consistent and try not to make any
sudden feed changes.
2. Feed a good quality hay.
3. If feeding grain, try to feed 2-3
times throughout day instead of one big
meal.
4. Provide plenty of clean, fresh water
(careful of ice in the winter!!).
5. Provide good maintenance care with
worming and teeth programs.
6. Be closely observant to changes in
their behavior or stall habits.
Unfortunately, colic can not be 100%
prevented, early diagnosis and treatment
will provide your best results from
either medical or surgical colic.
*It is helpful to your the owner, to me
the veterinarian, and most importantly
the horse, to decide ahead of time if
surgery is an option. The quicker a
horse is operated on the much better the
prognosis.*
Early
Preparation for Breeding Season:
If you want to try to get your mare
cycling early next spring now is the
time to start putting her under lights.
All you need to do is to increase your
mare's daylight exposure to 14-16 per
day. This can be done by bringing her in
at dusk and leaving her stall light on
until 11pm. Starting now and staying on
a consistent schedule will give you the
best chance to bring your mare into
season early.
Teeth Floating:
Now is the time to get your horses teeth
checked and floated. Give me a call to
schedule an appointment.
Vacation:
I will be talking one week from evening
of Dec. 14 to Dec. 22. Thank you for
your understanding.
Have a Happy Holidays,
Paul
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