Check out this amazing video of one of Dr Todd Booth’s surgical patients making a scorching return to barrel racing!
Hustler was referred to us for investigation of a left fore limb lameness and chronic splint bone fracture in the same limb.
Dr Todd (an equine surgery specialist) performed a full lameness workup with imaging on Hustler at our hospital. This resulted in a recommendation to remove the chronic fractured portion of splint bone as it was impinging on the suspensory ligament.
Hustler’s surgery was performed under standing sedation and local anaesthetic. We try to perform as many surgeries as possible using this technique here at Morphettville as skipping a general anaesthetic is much safer for the patient.
A huge thank you to Hustler’s dedicated owner for being kind enough to send through this video (we love seeing our patients excelling in their chosen discipline!) and allowing us to share his story on social media.
Don’t forget if you are struggling with a complex lameness issue, we offer a full service from diagnosis to imaging to surgery. Dr Todd is one of very few equine surgical specialists in South Australia and was previously a lecturer in Equine Orthopaedics at both Liverpool and Edinburgh Universities - there are not many better qualified lameness vets!
Give us a call on 08 8294 8900 if you need a lameness investigation or any advice on your horse.
#horsemedsa #horsemedhills #horsevet #equinevet #equinelameness #equineorthopaedics #equinesurgery #equinesurgeon #barrelracing #performancehorse #southaustralia #adelaidehorses
Introducing our new online shop! Now you can purchase all your veterinary needs direct from us. 👌
Our online shop has just launched and has a huge selection of veterinary and horse care products available. To celebrate we're giving you 10% off your first order when you use the code welcome10 at checkout.
Head here and check it out: https://www.horsemedsa.com/shop/
Amazing new arena boots available at MEC! Buy yours today!
Exciting Online shop coming soon !
MEC staff work so very hard to keep the horses of SA safe and well in our hospital! They actually went back into colic surgery following this Christmas celebration at the twilight races last night! Thank you so much to all our amazing vets and nurses keeping the hospital rolling 24/7 365 days a year we are here for the horses of SA! You all deserved a night out!
Well done team on another fantastic year ! 🎉🎉🥰🥰🐎🐎
Our client had a warmblood colt foal born today and has lost his mum. We have looked after him with colostrum and plasma and he is very healthy so far but looking for a foster mare! Please let us know if you can help with a foster mare and please feel free to share!
Pneumonia
Beware, travel sickness is a serious problem and may end in your horse being admitted to hospital. We’ve recently had a filly traveling from Victoria to WA that wasn’t able to continue her journey due to travel sickness, otherwise known as shipping fever or pleuropneumonia.
🐴 The filly was lethargic
🐴She had an acutely high temperature
🐴She had an elevated respiratory rate
🐴She had chest pain (pleurodynia) that presented as colic pain.
🐴She was also coughing and had a nasal discharge.
Travel sickness is most often seen in horses with the following predisposing factors –
🐴They have traveled for extended periods of time
🐴They are horses that have a compromised airway (tieback surgery)
🐴Young and old horses
🐴Horses with subclinical airway disease before they travel
🐴Horses that are under a significant amount of stress before during or after travel
Bacteria are a normal part of a horse’s upper respiratory tract (nasopharynx and oral cavity) but with extended periods of time with their heads elevated while on trucks or floats horses are at risk of these bacteria being aspirated down the trachea and into the lungs where they cause a serious infection relatively quickly. Most cases of travel sickness will present within a week of transportation.
In order to diagnose this filly’s condition we ran blood tests, used an endoscope to assess the airway and collect bacterial samples for culture/sensitivity. She also ultra sounded the filly’s lungs where she identified a large pocket of pus and fluid that would need to be drained.
Treatment for this particular case was intensive care at Morphettville Equine clinic where the filly was given;
Intravenous fluids therapy, antibiotics determined by the sensitivity testing on samples collected from her airway, gastroprotectants and pain relief.
Under standing sedation, Dr Holly Lewis was able to place a chest drain by ultrasound guidance into the poc
Travel sickness
We’ve recently had a filly traveling from Victoria to WA that was unable to continue her journey due to travel sickness, otherwise known as shipping fever or pleuropneumonia.
Her Clinical Signs
Lethargy
High Temperature
Increased respiratory rate
Chest Pain (pleurodynia)
Colic
Coughing
Nasal Discharge
Travel sickness is seen in horses with the following predisposing factors –
Traveled for extended periods of time (>5hrs)
Compromised airway (tieback surgery)
Young and old horses
Subclinical airway disease before they travel
Significant amount of stress before during or after travel
Bacteria are a normal part of a horse’s upper respiratory tract. With extended periods of time with their heads elevated while on transport horses are at risk of these bacteria being aspirated down the trachea and into the lungs where they cause a serious infection relatively quickly. Most cases of travel sickness will present within a week of transportation.
To diagnose this filly’s condition, we ran blood tests, used an endoscope to assess the airway and collect bacterial samples for culture/sensitivity. We also ultrasounded the filly’s lungs and identified a large pocket of pus and fluid that would need to be drained.
Treatment was intensive care including-
Intravenous fluids therapy
Antibiotics determined by the sensitivity testing on samples collected from her airway
Gastroprotectants
Pain relief
In addition to medical management, during standing sedation, we were able to place a chest drain by ultrasound guidance into the pocket of pus to allow it to be removed from the chest cavity. Chest drains are used in very severe cases of disease. They are very difficult to place requiring an experienced veterinary practitioner as well as requiring careful monitoring to avoid complications such as pneumothorax leading to collapsed lungs.
She was in hospital for over 3 weeks but made a great recovery with help from the devoted Morphettville team. She has
