๐๐ฆ๐ช๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฉ ๐ซ๐๐จ๐๐ฉ๐จ: ๐๐ฉ๐๐ฅ๐จ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ ๐จ๐ช๐๐๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ช๐ก ๐ง๐ค๐ช๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐ซ๐๐จ๐๐ฉ
Preparing for your equine vet's visit is important for ensuring a smooth and productive assessment of your horse's health. Here's some tips on how to prepare.
๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ช๐ฃ๐๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ก ๐๐ก๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐จ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐ฉ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐
Ensuring the health and vitality of your horses is essential and implementing a comprehensive wellness regime is key. Watch the video to find out five essential components to include in your horse's wellness routine.
๐พ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐...
Your horse is admitted for magnetic resonance imaging (an MRI)?
After arrival, your horse will be assessed by a vet and a blood sample taken to ensure that they are healthy for general anaesthesia. They are sedated, taken to our padded induction room and anaesthetised. A team of vets, nurses and support staff ensure that your horse is efficiently moved into the MRI room, and positioned for imaging. This horse is having a stifle MRI. Once the images have been acquired, your horse will be moved back into the induction box where they will recover from anaesthesia and assisted back on to their feet.
MRI is a fantastic imaging tool that gives us excellent soft tissue (tendons, muscles, ligaments) detail of the structure being imaged. This allows us to diagnose injuries accurately and provide a prognosis. Because we can see so much more with MRI than we can with radiographs (X-rays), often surgical procedures can then be avoided or fine-tuned.
We are the only hospital in the country to offer this type of MRI under general anaesthesia, which allows us to image structures higher up the leg than the standing MRI machines, such as the stifle, and we can also image the brain in horses that have certain neurological problems.
๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐๐๐ ๐ฑ๐๐๐ - Saddle up for greener ride by minimising plastic waste in every aspect of horse care and ownership.
As part of the VetPartners family, we have created a dedicated team to handle a complete sustainability overhaul. So far, we have implemented environmentally conscious strategies for our clinical waste and our day-to-day energy usage. We are dedicating our open areas to planting more trees and wildflowers for the butterflies and the bees! We have also gone as far as to plant our very own staff salad garden! Not only are we implementing our policies within the hospital, but also on our ambulatory services by adopting zone visits to combat unnecessary carbon emissions.
But it does not stop there! For our next goal, we are looking to apply for the Investors in the Environment (iiE) Award which would create a baseline to help us on our environmental management mission.
By embracing our strategies, we aim to protect the environment, enhance animal welfare, and inspire positive change within our community.
๐ ๐ญ๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐๐๐
๐๐! ๐
This week is a very special one for us. Last year, our nurse Summer took on two rescue donkeys, but ended up with more than she bargained for! One of them sadly aborted twin foals, however Maggie became rounder and rounder, and two weeks ago produced a beautiful little foal, Martha, who only weighed 15kg.
Maggie did not have much milk, so Summer nursed Martha and fed her supplementary milk from a bowl every couple of hours. However, after 36 hours it became clear that Martha was not well; she became quiet and started to reject her milk. She was admitted to hospital under the care of internal medicine specialist, Lauren Gummery, and investigations found that her gastrointestinal tract was not functioning as it should, and she had ileus. This is a part of 'neonatal maladjustment syndrome' which most commonly affects the brain and results in a 'dummy' foal, but in some cases the gut is damaged instead. Martha required round the clock intensive care; her stomach was emptied every couple of hours and she received fluid therapy, intravenous nutrition, antimicrobials and drugs to encourage her gut motility. Slowly but surely, the gut started to show signs of recovery, and Martha began to tolerate small volumes of milk without refluxing (similar to vomiting in people). Her positive progress continued and gradually Martha's milk volume was increased and she became brighter. Maggie is happy to look after Martha, however she doesn't mind sharing maternal responsibility with Summer, who took her for walks to help her gut motility.
After 12 days in the hospital, Martha was discharged back to Summer's care and has continued to thrive. Safe to say that Martha is a firm favourite in the team and we are glad we will be able to follow her progress with regular updates from Summer โค
๐๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐พ๐๐๐พ๐๐๐
Laminitis is a painful and potentially debilitating condition in horses that affects the tissues connecting the hoof wall to the pedal bone.
Early detection and proactive management are crucial in mitigating the risks associated with laminitis.
Here's a handy video guide to performing a laminitis risk check.
๐๐ช๐ข๐ข๐๐ง ๐๐ค๐ค๐ ๐พ๐๐ง๐ - with summer comes dry, cracked hooves
Summer can bring its own set of challenges for horses, especially when it comes to dealing with hard ground conditions. Here is a video with some tips to help mitigate problems caused by hard ground during the summer.
๐ด ๐ญ๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐๐๐
๐๐! ๐ด
Little Bruce was referred to us by Jess at Corner House Equine Clinic after his mum sadly passed away during foaling. Coincidentally, Corner House Equine Clinic were also called to see a mare called Indy, who had also foaled, but her foal had a congenital abnormality and had to be euthanased. Corner House contacted us and subsequently Indy arrived at the hospital and was carefully introduced to Bruce. It was love at first sight, and both mare and foal have subsequently flourished. Here is a video of the first time they met.
Indy and Bruce were discharged and we have received a lovely message from Indy's owner, Cheryl:
"Indy has been such a good girl throughout this episode from losing her foal to gratefully receiving Bruce. She has been nothing short of amazing and I am incredibly proud to call her mine. Sheโs a fantastic mother and will give Bruce 110% of her love, care and protection with a couple of corrections along the way. They have met each other through the most heartbreaking circumstances for both Catherine and I, and I see Bruce as Indyโs saviour. They needed each other at the most critical times of their lives.
Iโd just like to thank you all so so much for taking care of Indy, she is an extremely special mare. Never underestimate a chestnut mare and their giant hearts ๐งก"
We are so delighted to have played a small role in finding some happiness in what was a heartbreaking situation for mare, foal and their owners. Good luck Indy and Bruce and we look forward to following your progress ๐ฅฐ
๐๐๐ซ๐๐จ๐ข๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ฒ
This allows either the bulk of the sarcoid to be removed and the base eroded in one step or the base eroded after de-bulking the main lesion/mass.
๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐:
โ๏ธ Minimised bleeding as the laser seals (cauterises) small blood vessels.
โ๏ธ Minimised risk of spreading tumour cells during removal as the laser kills the top layer of cells as it cuts.
โ๏ธ Minimised swelling as viable skin is not crushed or cut.
โ๏ธ Precise control of the excised area leading to accurate surgical removal.
โ๏ธ Less pain as the laser seals nerve endings as it cuts
โ๏ธ Laser surgery can be performed under local anaesthetic and standing sedation if the horse's temperament and the lesion location permits.
โ๏ธ Faster overall recovery due to decreased bleeding and swelling
For more information on sarcoid removal via laser surgery, please contact the practice and have an informal chat with one of our surgeons.
๐ด ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐ด
โ๐ซ๐๐
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐... Horses typically require around three to four hours of sleep each day, divided into short bouts of rest. Unlike humans, horses can do slow wave sleep while standing, employing an adaptation known as the "stayโ apparatus" that enables them to lock their limbs in place while standing. This unique ability allows them to quickly respond to potential threats in their environment, as their survival instincts remain finely tuned even during rest.
However, horses must still lie down to have and maintain REM-sleep, which usually compromises of 20-30 minutes of their total sleep in a 24 hour period. If they cannot do this, possibly because they struggle to lie down and stand up again due to orthopaedic pain, or they do not feel comfortable in their environment, they may show signs of ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. This can be quite dramatic, and the horse can look sedated, or appear to collapse.
The video below shows the lovely 'Boo', who has developed sleep deprivation as she has aged. She has been treated with pain relief, joint injections, acupuncture, physiotherapy and has a 5๐ stable.
If you are concerned that your horse is suffering from sleep deprivation, please do not hesitate to contact one of our internal medicine specialists.
๐ด ๐
๐จ๐๐ฅ ๐
๐ซ๐ข๐๐๐ฒ ๐ด
Who better to kick off our Foal Friday season than the lovely Ronnie!
Ronnie was born at the hospital as his dam was being treated for a fractured jaw. Unfortunately, when his mum started foaling he was not presented correctly and required assistance to reposition and deliver him, and therefore suffered with a lack of oxygen (hypoxia) during the peri-partum period.
Our internal medicine team were on hand and resuscitated Ronnie immediately after delivery; they gave him adrenaline to increase his heart rate and placed an endotracheal tube to breathe for him until he was stable enough to breathe for himself.
Ronnie required intensive nursing care with intravenous fluids, glucose, oxygen, antimicrobials and feeding via a nasogastric tube. He was encouraged to stand every two hours and turned over to prevent pressure sores. He suffered from small seizures as his brain recovered from the lack of oxygen, which were treated with anti-seizure medication. After 4 days, he was finally strong enough to stand on his own and since then he has gone from strength to strength.
Ronnie is now back at home and practicing being a racehorse! His mum is enjoying some grass having had her jaw fracture surgically repaired.
๐ฆ Lovely Percy has been staying with us for an orthopaedic injury. Sadly, Percy lost his sister in the same incident that he was injured in. He was a bit bored and lonely so we gave him Unicorn to cheer him up...
๐ฆ No unicorns were harmed in the making of this video (or at least, not much!)
๐๐
๐ผ๐คถ๐ปThe fantastic TCEH choir! Who came second in the Christmas Carol competition! ๐คถ๐ป๐
๐ผ๐
Wishing you a Merry Christmas!
