Equicall

11/12/2024

Super proud to see one of our Equicall vets Rosemarie featured and love that our small team is recognised as a valuable part to CVS. Thanks to all who put so much effort into this video! 🧡

10/12/2024

Thankfully we don’t see Grass Sickness commonly but when we do it is a devastating experience for everyone. We see a huge amount of colic in our out of hours work and it is always in the back of our mind, especially after specific weather conditions, that there is a small chance that Equine Grass Sickness may be the underlying cause. We can usually rule this concern out very quickly but for those cases where we can’t it is great to know that the disease is becoming better understood as a result of this recent research. Thanks to Western Counties Equine Hospital for sharing the report!

Equine Grass Sickness (EGS) breakthrough‼️

The recent discovery linking EGS to a neurotoxic enzyme, similar to toxins found in snake venoms, represents a significant breakthrough in understanding and potentially treating this devastating condition.

The Disease: 🦠
Equine grass sickness is a fatal condition affecting horses that graze on pasture, especially during cold and dry weather conditions. Horses suffering from EGS experience intestinal paralysis, colic, muscle weakness, tremors, and inability to swallow, often leading to death in about 1% of cases on high-risk premises.

Identification of the Neurotoxin: 📚
The research team, led by experts from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies’ Equine Hospital, discovered that phospholipase A2, a type of neurotoxic enzyme, is likely the cause of the disease. This enzyme damages the neuromuscular junctions—the vital sites where nerve signals communicate with muscles—leading to paralysis, particularly of the gastrointestinal tract. This damage is linked to the clinical signs of the disease, such as colic and muscle wasting.

Microbial Origin: 🧫
The enzyme is thought to be produced by a microbe (likely a bacterium or fungus) that grows on pasture during cold and dry periods, which precede outbreaks of EGS.

Similarities with Snake Venoms: 🐍
The neurotoxin responsible for equine grass sickness has been shown to have a similar action to toxins found in the venom of many poisonous snakes. While venomous snakes do not cause EGS, some therapeutic treatments currently being developed for human nerve regeneration after snake bites may offer promising treatments for horses suffering from the disease.

Therapeutic and Diagnostic Potential: 🔬
The breakthrough offers hope for novel diagnostic tests and treatments for EGS. Research into the microbial sources of the neurotoxin is ongoing, and the development of treatments based on snake venom therapies is an exciting possibility.

10/12/2024

We are really enjoying seeing what all the mischievous elves are up to at all the various practices and hospitals we provide cover for! Check out Bell Equine Veterinary Clinic for some great photos! 🎄

02/12/2024

One of our awesome emergency vets, Leire (one of our most longstanding vets!) has been volunteering out in Cuba at one of the Veterinary Hospitals there in a teaching capacity 📚

Leire has an incredible depth of knowledge and experience as well as a huge passion for equine veterinary work and travel so it is fantastic that she has been able to combine all these elements to fulfil this project with BEVA - The British Equine Veterinary Association and World Horse Welfare 🧡

Leire has been focussing on teaching of Equine Nutrition and dealing with Emergencies and we hope she has enjoyed her break from the British weather!
We are so proud Leire! 👏👏👏

26/11/2024

Fantastic photo of Equicall vet Veronica who’s currently at Animal Care in Egypt - ACE volunteering with Lucinda as part of the newly launched CVS Group Plc Equine volunteering scheme. This scheme relies on the support of practices such as B&W Equine Vets and South Wales Equine Vets whose staff are covering the workload to enable Veronica and Lucinda to give their valuable time.
In addition they have taken out with them extremely generous donations of equipment and consumables such as bandage materials from Animed Direct Corner House Equine Clinic and Wessex Equine.
We are proud to be part of the CVS team who’ve all come together to help make a difference abroad where equine charities can really benefit from the help we can offer.

Please follow the ACE page for regular updates on the incredible work that they are doing 🐴 🧡 🇪🇬

Apologies, we are a little behind with our posts!

We would like to give a huge shout out to Veronica and Lucinda for kindly bringing donated items with them to Luxor.

Many thanks to:
Corner House Equine Clinic
Bell Equine Veterinary Clinic
Oaklands Veterinary Centre & Equine Hospital
Willesley B & W Equine Clinic

You are stars!

19/11/2024

We are hugely proud that one of our team has been able to take advantage of the new CVS Equine scheme which enables equine vets to participate in volunteer projects abroad. This venture (created and established by another member of the Equicall vet team) provides CVS Equine vets with additional paid leave in order to share their time and expertise. We think Animal Care in Egypt - ACE is very deserving of all the experience which Veronica can offer and we look forward to sharing more updates with you all 🧡
Good luck Veronica and Lucinda!!

New volunteers

A huge welcome to our latest volunteers Veronica Manjua and Lucinda Chisholm.
They will be a great asset to the team over the next two weeks as Veronica is an emergency vet and Lucinda is an equine dental specialist.

Thank you both so much for coming to share your time, skills and knowledge.

04/11/2024

Great advice from Western Counties Equine Hospital
Good luck to every horse owner trying to get through this difficult time safely 🧡

With firework night fast approaching it is important to remember a few things to help horses cope if necessary:

🎆 Find out where the nearest displays are
🎇 Contact organisers - they may be able to help
🎆 Stick to your horses routine where possible
🎇 Check the area your horse will be in overnight
🎆 Play music (that they are used to) & leave lights on
🎇 Stay with your horse during displays if necessary
🎆 Remain calm and keep yourself safe

03/11/2024

Disease Vigilance: ***Atypical Myopathy***

As the Autumn leaves are falling it is a really important time to be vigilant for sycamore seedlings which can travel surprisingly far in high winds.

Hypoglycin A, a toxin found in sycamore seeds is responsible for causing Atypical Myopathy, a disease which is fatal in around 70% of cases.

Signs of the disease can come on extremely quickly and include:

- Muscle soreness or stiffness
- Weakness
- Dullness and lethargy
- Muscle tremors
- Colic signs
- Prolonged recumbency (lying down significantly more than usual and reluctance to get up)
- Dark red or brown urine

The toxin indiscriminately breaks down the muscles of the horse down into products which have to be filtered through the kidneys. As the kidneys attempt to rid the body of these products they become heavily (and sometimes irreparably) damaged.
Initial signs are non specific with affected horses appearing quiet and lethargic but the disease will quickly progress with the horse showing muscle fasciculations (severe trembling), sweating, inappetence, colic–like signs and dark coloured urine. At this stage the horse will soon become recumbent and treatment is usually hopeless as the heart and lungs will start to fail.
Unfortunately the disease can progress so quickly that some horses are found dead in their fields with sycamore seeds still in their mouth.

Vets are more likely to be able to successfully treat the disease if:
* The horse has no other underlying systemic disease
* The horse has only ingested small amounts of the toxin
* The horse is still standing and able to walk

Treatment of the disease involves aggressive intravenous fluid therapy (this will require hospitalisation in almost all cases) and a combination of anti-inflammatory medication, sedation, strong painkillers and muscle relaxants. Blood samples are taken as often as twice daily to enable monitoring of the muscle enzymes in the blood as well as the response to treatment.

The vast majority of cases are seen in the Autumn when the seeds have recently fallen onto pasture but the prevalence varies greatly from one year to the next, probably due to differences in climatic conditions. Every Autumn, however, we would recommend the following guidance:

- Fence off space around sycamore trees in paddocks or manually collect fallen seeds
- Provide additional forage if needed to reduce overgrazing of pasture which may have seeds on
- Check the boundaries for sycamore trees if you have recently moved your horse to new pasture
- Signs can take up to four days to appear even once a horse has been removed from pasture contaminated with sycamore seeds so remain vigilant
- Contact your own practice immediately if you are concerned that your horse or pony may be showing signs of atypical myopathy - they will be available 24/7 to answer your call and to discuss your concerns

Photo shows a fantastic survivor of Atypical Myopathy thanks to one of our Equicall vets!

29/10/2024

A hugely inspiring day for Equine Veterinary Nurses and very proud to see Bonny Millar from our excellent Equicomms team up on the stage!
Equicomms is a team of Equine Veterinary Nurses led by Natalie Lyons who handle almost all of the calls coming into our Equicall team. They are the first contact that the client has when they pick up the phone in an emergency situation which provides reassurance and enables the right information to be efficiently passed to the appropriate vet. We often hear how much difference that makes to the owner and as vets we very much appreciate the super fast delivery of information with just the right level of detail!
Thank you Equicomms! We really appreciate you and all the hard work you put in behind the scenes 🙏🏻

Check out our CVS Equine Nursing Team at their CPD away day in Banbury today – working hard to stay at the forefront of equine veterinary care. 🐴

Some fascinating sessions were held on; 'Equine nurse career pathways' by Tara Ryan Chief Veterinary Nursing Officer and Kelly Tillet Head RVN at Bell Equine Hospital - where our nurses learned about development opportunities within CVS; 'What it means to be a stud RVN' by Sam Crouch RVN from Bell Equine - where our nurses had insights into equine breeding and how nurses can undertake key procedures such as fresh semen insemination and uterine lavage; and, 'Empowering equine nurses' by Bonny Millar RVN - who has extensive experience in the USA and the UK and who currently works for Equicomms.

This knowledge will now be taken back and shared with our equine teams at our 21 equine practices throughout the country.

Well done all for investing this time to ensure we can continue to collaborate, develop and offer our clients and their horses the highest standards of care!



Bell Equine Veterinary Clinic Animed Equine Vets Alnorthumbria Equine Vets B&W Equine Hospital Valley Equine Associates, PLLC Oaklands Equine Hospital Equine Veterinary Centre Severn Edge Equine Vets Phoenix Equine Cinder Hill Equine Clinic Scott Dunn's Equine Clinic Seadown Equine Wessex Equine Western Counties Equine Hospital Equicomms

[Visual description: Our equine nursing colleagues in a session led by Bonny Millar]

29/10/2024

https://www.beva.org.uk/Career-support/Jobs-board/Listing/Equicall-Vet-Positions

🔶Equicall are expanding and are able to now offer new positions including one in Leicestershire. Please follow the link for further details.

🔶If you’re wanting more time to ride your own horses, spend more time with children or pursue other hobbies without having to give up a full time wage then this could be the perfect job for you!

18/10/2024

***Trigger Warning - Pet Bereavement***

As a team who specialises in dealing with emergencies outside of normal working hours we sadly end up dealing with many end of life situations 🤍

This is a hugely emotive area of work for us and it can often be stressful and very upsetting for everyone involved.

Our staff are very experienced and hope to be able to offer a compassionate and calm approach in all situations whilst doing the very best to reduce suffering for the animal involved. In the interests of providing the very best service we would like to know from horse owners what the most important aspect of this would be from your point of view?
How can we support you better?
Is it predominantly the welfare of the horse which is your main concern? Or are there more aspects that we can help with such as assisting with finding local cremation services etc.

We typically find owners have varied needs at difficult times like this and any information that you are able to provide will be fed back to the rest of the team at one of our regular vet meetings in the future to enable us to provide you and your horses with the very care possible 🤍

08/10/2024

As our 6 year anniversary comes round, we have grown to a size where we are able to offer managerial roles within our team. It is key to diversify the group who lead a company forward, to share ideas and to learn openly from each other. Also it was important to be able to offer career progression within our team.

We are grateful to have the following
Leire Ruiz as stock manager
Kruydenberg as invoicing manager
Bednarski as fleet manager
Sara Kent Nunney as rota manager
Rosemarie Abbott as vet mentor
roberts as cpd and accounts manager

and finally a role which means we will hopefully have an improved volume and calibre of content to share with you:
storey will be taking over social media!

05/07/2024

Huge congratulations to Equicall vet Danny Chambers who has been elected as MP for Wi******er! We have loved having you as a member of the equine out of hours team, especially when it comes to providing support to the team and generating interesting discussion about the wider elements of the veterinary profession.

24/01/2024

One of our team is carrying out the study. Good luck Josh Eustace!

An online strangles survey launched by Josh Eustace, MSc student of MSc International Animal Welfare, Ethics & Law (on-line) through The University of Edinburgh is still open until the 28th February. 💛

https://www.redwings.org.uk/news-and-features/have-you-and-your-horses-been-affected-strangles

This survey is aimed at horse owners/loaners, employees or managers/owners of yards that have experienced at least one case of strangles since January 2020 and has been designed under the supervision of Dr Richard Newton, Dr Scott Pirie and Dr Marie Rowland, along with the help and support from Helen Whitelegg, Policy and Research Officer here at Redwings Horse Sanctuary. ❤️