Post Op Castration Care
As many owners of our colt patients from last year are calling to book castrations, we thought we would share one of the most important at-home treatments to help recovery from castration surgery.
It’s exercise.
Keep your new gelding moving around during the first week to two weeks’ post castration. Body movement is vital to ensure adequate drainage, infection prevention and to promote healing of the incision sites. A common recommendation is lunging your gelding multiple times a day to encourage movement.
Watch Seymour, one of Dr. Lauren and Dr. Jane’s favourite miniature donkey patients. He doesn’t lunge but he does enjoy his favourite ball.
[Dare we say watch out FIFA world cup?] Video footage was captured the day after Dr. Jane castrated Seymore. Enjoy his adeptness and ball handling skills. As you can see, he’s doing a great job following Dr. Jane’s orders to exercise – all by himself.
Thanks to Seymour’s owners for taking such diligent care of him. Watching such a special Seymour moment makes the whole equine team smile.
#horsesinbc #horselife #horselove #miniaturehorse #donkey #FIFAWorldCup
Post Op Castration Care
As many owners of our colt patients from last year are calling to book castrations, we thought we would share one of the most important at-home treatments to help recovery from castration surgery.
It’s exercise.
Keep your new gelding moving around during the first week to two weeks’ post castration. Body movement is vital to ensure adequate drainage, infection prevention and to promote healing of the incision sites. A common recommendation is lunging your gelding multiple times a day to encourage movement.
Watch Seymour, one of Dr. Lauren and Dr. Jane’s favourite miniature donkey patients. He doesn’t lunge but he does enjoy his favourite ball.
[Dare we say watch out FIFA world cup?] Video footage was captured the day after Dr. Jane castrated Seymore. Enjoy his adeptness and ball handling skills. As you can see, he’s doing a great job following Dr. Jane’s orders to exercise – all by himself.
Thanks to Seymour’s owners for taking such diligent care of him. Watching such a special Seymour moment makes the whole equine team smile.
#horsesinbc #horselife #horselove #miniaturehorse #donkey #FIFAWorldCup
Recognizing the importance of Farriers
International Farrier Week – July 4 - 10
https://nationaltoday.com/national-farriers-week/
Were you aware that one of the most common sources of equine lameness is the hoof?
Often, collaboration between the farrier and equine veterinarian is necessary to address such cases.
Dr. Jane Westendorf and her Farrier recently worked together on Dr. Jane’s gelding, Levi.
Levi was showing some significant front-end lameness. After localizing the source to both of his front hooves, Dr. Jane performed x-rays that showed to both her and her Farrier a couple of problems. They identified coffin joint arthritis, thin soles, and some less-than-ideal hoof angles.
Three weeks later, after joint injections and the Farrier’s specialty shoeing, Levi is showing off how comfortable he is with a flashy trot. A great story of teamwork.
The equine team at Agwest salutes all Farriers for their hard work and commitment to the equine community. Farriers are a vital team member to ensure the continued horse health for our patients.
#farrier, #NationalFarriersWeek
Busted! Being adorable. Happiest *girl* with so much room for activities!
Meet Bill who resides on a farm just south of Duncan in Cowichan Valley.
Bill is an Agwest fan and truly loves Dr. Jackie Wrigglesworth and Dr. Kelsey Campbell
Thanks to parents Renee Davy and Henry Rekers for sharing Bill’s social media debut
Owners of Cowichan Station Creamery Ltd, Renee makes by hand the most flavourful artisan cheeses available for purchase on the farm.
Cowichan Station Creamery
#debut #jerk #bovine #castration
It’s hot in the Fraser Valley and the Island! Our animals can suffer from heat stress just like we can. Here’s a tip to help keep them cool;
Ensure horses have access to clean, fresh drinking water at all times.
Add water to their feed to increase fluid intake. Adding salt or electrolytes to the feed can also encourage water consumption.
Cold hose frequently, especially over major blood vessels such as the jugular vein.
Ensure there is enough shade available for all horses from the herd to get out of the sun.
Place a box fan in or front of the stall, being sure to keep all electrical cords out of reach.
Do not exercise horses in the heat of the day; rather schedule training sessions for the early morning or late evening.
Agwest wants to give Rockycrest Holsteins on Vancouver Island a huge congratulations 🎉 on their official start up milking with two V300 DeLaval robots! We can’t wait to see the exciting future of this herd after all the hard work Van Huizen’s have put into getting to this point!
Small Ruminant Ultrasounding
Small ruminant breeding season is well underway! Did you know that Agwest Veterinary Group can help you diagnose pregnancy in your sheep and goats? Knowing whether ewes or does are pregnant can help producers understand the nutritional requirements of their animals and can also save them money on feed costs. Dr. Watson has been busy ultrasounding the sheep flocks and goat herds of Vancouver Island to help local producers better meet the needs of their animals.
Check out this video showing a little lamb on ultrasound!
We have had a busy and successful 2021 equine breeding season here at Agwest Vet! One of the most exciting parts of the repro side of our practice is seeing the fruits of our labour on the ultrasound screen during pregnancy checks.
Can you spot the tiny flicker in the embryo on the ultrasound video? That’s the embryonic heart beat, indicating a live baby at 25 days of gestation. The embryo proper is outlined in red in the still photo. #equinerepro #2022foal #agwestvet #heartbeatcheck
It’s a crazy hot 40 degrees Celsius this afternoon in the Fraser Valley! Our animals can suffer from heat stress just like we can. If we’re lucky, we’ll find a lake or a river to jump into to beat the heat. That’s rarely possible with our horses and cows.
Here’s a tip to help keep them cool; soak them right through to the skin and then get them in front of a good breeze or a well placed fan. The principle is just like jumping into the lake - the water feels cool, but you feel even cooler when you get out of the water if there is a breeze. It’s the water evaporating off of your skin that pulls heat off of your body and really cools you down! On days like today I’d like to be in and out of a lake all afternoon so I’ll treat my herd the same - water and fans throughout the day. It’s going to keep them cool, happy and healthy 😊
Be careful not to simply wet them superficially. Water on their hair coat that doesn’t soak their skin will act as an insulating layer and actually make them warmer!
