Swiftsure Equine Veterinary Services

Swiftsure Equine Veterinary Services Veterinary Practice in Greater Victoria Area providing Equine Veterinary Medical Services

Veterinarian, Veterinary Practice in Greater Victoria Area providing Equine Veterinary Medical Services

So grateful to support this excellent event
01/12/2025

So grateful to support this excellent event

As we approach the highly anticipated holiday season, we want to send warm wishes to all our clients and friends! Please...
11/26/2024

As we approach the highly anticipated holiday season, we want to send warm wishes to all our clients and friends!

Please see our holiday schedule below. If you horse is running low on their prescription or supplement, please call into our office and get that filled before the reduced office hours

There is a Veterinarian on call for urgent and emergency services at all times through the holidays

Joy to all!
The Swiftsure Team

Congrats to the CVS 2024 Halloween Show Hunter Results!2’ Hunter Division:Champion: Vanessa L. & Beau TieReserve Champio...
11/26/2024

Congrats to the CVS 2024 Halloween Show Hunter Results!

2’ Hunter Division:
Champion: Vanessa L. & Beau Tie
Reserve Champion: Rachel E. & Cappuccino

The SEVS team takes great joy sponsoring these shows and watching young riders get out there and showcase all their hard work!

We want to wish all of our clients and friends a happy Thanksgiving weekend! We will be closed on Monday Oct 14th to cel...
10/10/2024

We want to wish all of our clients and friends a happy Thanksgiving weekend!
We will be closed on Monday Oct 14th to celebrate Thanksgiving, but will resume regular business hours on Tuesday Oct 15th
As always, a Veterinarian is on call over the holiday weekend

Enjoy the lovely weather that is in store for the long weekend!

Fall is here and that means PPID testing! 🐴 🍂The client portal through Boehringer Ingelheim is now open for owner submis...
09/03/2024

Fall is here and that means PPID testing! 🐴 🍂

The client portal through Boehringer Ingelheim is now open for owner submissions! From now until the end of September, if you suspect your horse may have PPID (Equine Cushings) and they are not already being treated for PPID, then be sure to take advantage of this opportunity!

From now until September 30th, if you are approved for a free ACTH test, Boehringer Ingelheim will cover the cost of the ACTH test & the courier fee! Applicable charges to owners include a farm call fee + blood collection/sample prep.

To apply for a free ACTH test, visit https://www.bicanadaequine.ca/ppid before September 30th to submit your application! 🐴

08/27/2024

The results are in for our Hunter Day Divisions!

2’ Hunter Division:

Champion: Emily Plante & Trinity
Reserve Champion: Coco Morton & Mango

Sponsored by:

Swiftsure Equine Veterinary Services

Congratulations riders!

We would like to congratulate the Champion and Reserve Champion in the Swiftsure Equine Veterinary Services 3'0 Children...
08/08/2024

We would like to congratulate the Champion and Reserve Champion in the Swiftsure Equine Veterinary Services 3'0 Childrens Hunter Division a the 2024 VIHJA Benefit show

CHAMPION - Graffiti ridden by Teia Fennell
RESERVE CHAMPION - London Fog ridden by Kate Shaw-Lewis

Congrats everyone on another successful Benefit show!

A great day was had by all on Friday at the Lochside Lane Relay sponsored by Equerry Equine We had a great team of gals ...
06/18/2024

A great day was had by all on Friday at the Lochside Lane Relay sponsored by Equerry Equine

We had a great team of gals in the the fierce competition of 9 relay teams!
*Take a peek at our outfit swap to add a degree of difficulty to our day*

Pictured from left to right
Chantell riding Gossip for our dressage test (but dressed like a barrel racer)

Kaitlin riding Roux for our jumping round (but dressed like a Reiner)

Lena riding Rosie for the reining pattern (but dressed like a dressage rider)

And Maddy riding Sadie for our barrel racing (but dressed like a show jumper)

So much fun!

05/28/2024

I’m so proud of Blink (Illusion)! We worked hard and won Champion of the 2’ Hunters yesterday!

A special thank you to Swiftsure Equine Veterinary Services for sponsoring the Cedar Vista Stables’ 2’ Hunter Division!

Huge shout out to the Manestream Vaulters that held a showcase over this past weekend to promote the vaulting discipline...
05/27/2024

Huge shout out to the Manestream Vaulters that held a showcase over this past weekend to promote the vaulting discipline!

Let the show season begin!

- The Swiftsure team

As we approach the long weekend ahead, we would like to post our office hours Friday March 29th - Office CLOSEDMonday Ap...
03/28/2024

As we approach the long weekend ahead, we would like to post our office hours

Friday March 29th - Office CLOSED
Monday April 1st - Office OPEN, but no routine appointments

As always there is a Veterinarian on call at all hours through the holiday weekend.

Have a great long weekend!

You're invited! 🌟We're hosting a collaborative first aid/emergency client talk with Eden & Plaxton Equine Veterinary Ser...
03/15/2024

You're invited! 🌟

We're hosting a collaborative first aid/emergency client talk with Eden & Plaxton Equine Veterinary Services Inc. on April 4th, 2024 at the Saanich Fairgrounds Poplar Room!

Discussion topics will include: First aid kits, learning normal TPR, GI sounds, anatomy, wounds, when to call a vet, abscesses, fractures, colic signs, and a full bandaging demo on a horse 🐴

Doors open at 5:45pm, lecture starts at 6pm & will last approximately 1 hour ✨

We would love for you to join us for this incredibly informative event on our equine companions. Please RSVP to [email protected] by March 27th, 2024 to claim a seat! 💫

Meet our new mascots helping us get through spring of 2024! Danny the Bernese Mountain Dog (owned by Lena) is turning 1...
03/12/2024

Meet our new mascots helping us get through spring of 2024!

Danny the Bernese Mountain Dog (owned by Lena) is turning 12 weeks old this week and Dahlia the Shilo Shepherd (owned by Danica) is turning 8 weeks old this week

Are you suspicious that your horse may have ulcers? SEVS, along with Boehringer Ingelheim, are teaming together to offer...
03/01/2024

Are you suspicious that your horse may have ulcers? SEVS, along with Boehringer Ingelheim, are teaming together to offer a Gastroscopy Day on March 20th at our clinic! We are offering 25% off of a gastroscope and 25% off Gastrogard treatment for those horses who are newly diagnosed with non-glandular ulcers. Fasted horses will need to haul into our clinic on March 20th.

We can only accommodate a few patients so please connect with the our team in the office to reserve your time!

02/26/2024

A Huge THANK YOU to the Sponsors of our Hunter Divisions:

Swiftsure Equine Veterinary Services
Greenhawk Vancouver Island
Buckerfield's Langford
Willow Wind Feed & Pet Supplies
DriveWise British Columbia

We are so grateful for your support!

Sometimes the unexpected happens... that's the topic of this featured Case of the Month!This summer, Lilly was turned ou...
02/12/2024

Sometimes the unexpected happens... that's the topic of this featured Case of the Month!

This summer, Lilly was turned out on pasture with her herd mate overnight, like every other night. However, the next morning proved to be unlike any other morning when her owners were shocked to find Lilly with a large wound to her chest. Overnight Lilly had torn a large flap of skin away from the underlying tissue across her right shoulder and pectorals, as well as cut into the muscle in one spot over the shoulder. The first thing Lilly’s owners did was to call us and send photos. It was very clear that Lilly needed to be seen on emergency to try to save that damaged tissue. Dr McDonald repaired the laceration in the muscle over Lilly’s shoulder, as well as closing the skin flap back over all that exposed subcutaneous tissue and muscle. You’ll notice in the photos of the repair that she placed a sterile drain at the very bottom of the wound to allow blood and serum to drain out of the wound space and allow the tissues the best chance to re-adhere to one another.

It is not uncommon for horses to suffer from large skin flap lacerations like Lilly’s, and while we will never know what caused Lilly’s wound, in many cases these lacerations result from the horse either running into a stationary object at speed or catching their chest skin on something and rearing up and back away from the source of pain. It is very typical for the skin flap created by these lacerations to have a narrow base attaching it to the unaffected skin, which can lead to complications in the healing process. With only a few remaining intact skin blood vessels, oftentimes much of the flap suffers from poor to no blood supply and will end up dying off (also known as necrosis). As you can see in looking through the photos of the progression of Lilly’s wound healing, her skin flap had started to necrose at the two pointed edges by day 5 (you can tell this because the skin is getting wrinkled and looks thick and tough), with the majority of the flap dying and pulling away from the living skin by day 11. Many people will ask with an outcome like this, why do you bother to spend the time to suture the skin back in place if you know it’s likely to die soon after? The reason is that we don’t know at the time how much of the flap will survive vs necrose, and while the skin is in place - even if it doesn’t survive - it provides a protected, healthy environment for the tissue underneath to begin to repair itself.

For Lilly’s wound, once most of the skin flap had necrosed and pulled away from the healthy skin and wound bed, Dr McDonald saw her again to trim away the dead tissue. This left a large area of exposed granulation tissue (which unfortunately Dr McDonald did not get a photo of) which still provided protection from drying out and contamination. Because the shoulder is an exceedingly difficult area to get a bandage to stay in place, Dr McDonald placed a tie-over bandage on Lilly’s shoulder. A tie-over bandage involves placing several large loops of thick suture material through the healthy skin around the edges of the wound, and then using these loops like shoelace eyelets to feed a long line of gauze or umbilical tape through in a criss-cross pattern across the wound and then cinch it down over bandage material to hold it in place. You can see Lilly’s tie-over bandage in place on day 21. Lilly’s owners diligently cleaned her wound and applied flamazine to keep the new skin and granulation tissue moist and protected and laced up her bandage to keep it all in place. After a little over a week with the tie-over bandage in place it was no longer needed and they continued to manage the wound with fly repellant around it and manuka honey over the ever-shrinking wound bed. Lilly healed up beautifully with just a small scar to remember her ordeal by, although now that she’s grown her winter coat in, you can’t see it at all, save a few white hairs.

If you'd like to see all of the photos from Lilly's unexpected wound, check out our post on our website here: https://bit.ly/3tMQLv1

*TRIGGER WARNING - graphic images are present in the photos on our website. Please view at your own discretion.*

Ready for a Birdie update? We've got one in this featured Case of the Month!Birdie has faced some big challenges this su...
02/05/2024

Ready for a Birdie update? We've got one in this featured Case of the Month!

Birdie has faced some big challenges this summer. Firstly, she underwent the first surgery to restrict the growth of the maxilla and its incisors to give the mandible some time to catch up in size. Not only has the surgery and sequelae been difficult for Birdie as she couldn’t nurse afterwards and had to be weaned. But she also injured the skin of her hind legs being an active foal, and required further antibiotics. Due to these events, Birdie then developed chronic diarrhea and a failure to thrive. Despite exceptional care and nutrition, we couldn’t seem to bring her back to the pillar of health that she was prior to the surgery. The surgical wire was removed and in October, Birdie received a f***l transfaunation with her mother’s f***s. She has certainly been the youngest horse we’ve ever performed a transfaunation on but thankfully she has improved substantially and is on the path to health again. The next decision is whether to try this surgery again, or opt for a different surgery in which the mandible is extended surgically. Stay tuned for her progress.

Read the post here: https://bit.ly/3NVGKm5

Our next featured case of the month is the little Birdie that could!Breeding your talented and proven mare to an up-and-...
01/29/2024

Our next featured case of the month is the little Birdie that could!

Breeding your talented and proven mare to an up-and-coming stallion can be very a gratifying and fulfilling adventure. However sometimes unforeseen developmental issues arise, as it did with one of this year’s foals, Birdie. Foaling went very smoothly, and Birdie seemed to be doing very well in the first few hours of life until it was quickly discovered that she was not latching and nursing correctly, despite her best efforts, correct position, good attempts, and mare tolerance. On exam, we discovered Birdie had a severe overjet and overbite where the maxilla extends horizontally beyond the mandible as well as extends vertically covering over the mandible. Initial treatment involved milking out the mare and feeding Birdie the colostrum via nasogastric tube; and followed by teaching her how to drink from a bucket. This little filly was so smart that she took to the bucket right away and eventually even taught herself how to nurse from the teat using the side of her mouth. Luckily for Birdie, her exceptional team of supporters worked tirelessly day and night milking out the mare to feed Birdie the mare’s own milk every hour for the first two weeks of life before reducing the frequency of feedings. The mare was equally remarkable allowing handlers to milk her out repeatedly. Defying the odds, Birdie has been thriving. Her biggest challenge is yet to come. She’s going to need corrective surgery to help better align her maxilla and mandible so that she can have more incisor alignment and a more functional bite. We will keep you posted with her progress.

Check out the post here: https://swiftsureequine.com/may-a-little-birdie-that-could/

Address

1765 McTavish Road
North Saanich, BC
V8L5T9

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 5pm
Thursday 8:30am - 5pm
Friday 8:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+12505889438

Website

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Is your horse on Prascend? If you answered YES, this post is for you! As of January 1st, 2024, clients can now request a box of 160 tablets of Prascend for their horse's Prascend prescription refill! By purchasing a box of 160 tablets, you're getting a 10% savings. As long as your horse's annual exam is up-to-date within the last year, you are able to request prescription refills when they're required. Get in touch with us today to discuss picking up your next Prascend refill in the 160 tab box! 🐴

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