Clutha Vets Equine

23/06/2024

Sorry for any disruptions this week. We have our annual stock take of our depots and clinics happening.

🔹We will be closed Thursday from 12pm but still have our vets available for emergencies 🔹

14/05/2024

🌟 Check out our 2024 Winter Equine Dental Special 🌟
Bring your equine companion into our (Balclutha Clinic) or we can come to you !!

01/05/2024

Half price! $57.50 expires this month.

Only 1 available! Located in balclutha but give us a call and we can get it to your closest clinic.

29/04/2024

Did you know , Clutha Vets offers in-clinic and on farm equine x-rays, providing you with a diagnostic service for your equine companions. With our portable X-Ray machine and experienced veterinary team, we ensure accurate and efficient imaging to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of your horse's health issues.

24/04/2024

Tomorrow (Thursday the 25th of April) we will be closed for ANZAC day.

Our team of on call vets and nurses are available for emergencies on 034181280

18/04/2024

Only 1 available! Located in balclutha but give us a call and we can get it to your closest clinic.

10/01/2024

Electrolyte usage in horses. 🏇🐴☀️

During the summer, horses, when doing extensive exercise can sweat a lot and lose a lot of electrolytes. This can affect their performance whether this is barrel racing, cross country jumping or long days trekking. The horses can suffer from symptoms that range from feeling “tired” to being ‘tied up’, to having “heaves”.
The main electrolytes that are involved are
Sodium, Potassium, Chloride, Magnesium and Calcium. Some of the electrolytes are in a horses feed, but if the horse is doing extensive exercise, this will not be sufficient to replace what is lost from sweat.
We can do blood tests to check their levels electrolytes if they are in work, and this can help you plan their supplements.
There are many different types of electrolyte mixes available to purchase. You do need to be aware that not all are created equal.
If you would like some more info, please contact us at Clutha Vets to discuss your horse’s requirements.

14/11/2023

Do you know what your horses "normal" vital signs are? 🐴🩺🌡💓

15/08/2023

We have some horse wormer back in stock! Very limited supply and currently only in 250ml.

04/05/2023

🐴 Winter Equine Dental Deals!!

Get your horse or pony booked in for their annual check up. Dental issues can contribute to weight loss and resistance to the bit or bridle in ridden horses, so this is a great chance to help your horse or pony out!

23/04/2023

❗️ sorry phone number is 03 418 1280 ❗️

06/04/2023

🐰 We are closed for Easter. If you have an emergency please call 03 418 1280 for our on call vet. 🐰

03/04/2023

AUTUMN/WINTER DRENCH FOR YOUR HORSE

Parasite management is an important part of owning horses. There are two main concepts to focus on when planning your annual health plan for your horse regarding drench use.

1. Reduce worm burdens in paddocks and therefore reduce ingestion of eggs.
2. Reduce the development of resistance of parasites to the drenches.

Firstly, establish if your horse(s) or foals have a worm burden. Bring in a fresh manure sample (Monday-Thursday) to be tested to determine if parasites are a problem on your farm. For adult horses; during the autumn time, Cyathsome or small red worms are the worm of most concern. These worms nature is to burrow into the wall of the gut of the adult horse. This burrowing behavior means they are protected from many of the common drench pastes on the market. The only active ingredient shown to have reliable activity is moxidectin, which is found in Ultramox. We recommend using this product this time of the year.
For foals, Parascaris equorus (noodle like worms) is the parasite of concern. This parasite in NZ has good resistance to most ivermectin products, therefore we recommend Equitak Excel containing oxfendazole and performing 8-12weekly FEC.
There are many ways to help prevent reliance on drenches to control parasites. Below are some examples of things your team can do at home to reduce parasite populations on the pasture:
1. Twice weekly manure removal.
2. Compost manure/bedding for higher temperature to kill parasites.
3. Cross grazing with sheep/cattle.
4. Ensure appropriate stocking rates: 1horse/1.5arces.
To prevent resistance, we need to be strategic and target parasite as we identify them. This includes performing FEC prior to drenching and when drenching ensuring we are dosing to the correct weight. Under-dosing will mean the active ingredients in the paste will not be at a high enough concentration to kill the parasites.

27/03/2023

⭐️⭐️ Ultramox and Excel promo currently in store ⭐️⭐️

15/03/2023

🐴 A great success story from one of our vets!
Brad is a 14.5 year old quarter horse, originally from the North Island, who is ridden at steer wrestling competitions. His owners got a nasty shock one evening when they came home to find him with a very swollen hindleg hock and only touching his hoof to the ground when trying to walk on it, although he had been in the field all day with some other horses. He also had some grazes on his front knees and his other hind legs. It is quite incredible how horses manage to injure themselves where there doesn’t seem to be anything to injure themselves on! And also often in the middle of competition season as in Brads cases.

Brads owner immediately called the vets – he had a 1cm deep laceration on the point of his hock and his whole hock joint was swollen, puffy and sore. This plus not bearing weight on the leg indicates a joint infection which requires rapid intravenous treatment (plus painkiller/anti inflammatories) to prevent the infection getting out of control and causing joint damage and clinical sickness. The wound was clipped, cleaned and a poultice applied to draw out any pus/debris, bandaged to protect it from further contamination by mud etc, and a support bandage was placed on the other hind leg as he would be putting extra weigh on it, which can also cause problems.

Despite Brads owner reporting him being a bit feisty in the steer wrestling ring, he was a very amenable patient. After 3 days of both intravenous and intra muscular injections the joint was much less swollen and painful and he was starting to put weight on the affected leg so he started on oral antibiotics and anti inflammatories. But he still had a big swelling at the point of the hock – usually these solidify and resolve on their own but in his case it needed draining. A needle was placed at the point of the swelling and lots of excess joint fluid came out. Immediately after the drainage he was moving a lot better. The leg was bandaged to prevent any infection getting into the needle hole, antibiotics and anti inflammatories were continued for another week and he was gradually returned to work, just in time for the end of the steer wrestling season!

15/02/2023

⭐⭐ Good News!!!!! ⭐⭐

Clutha Vets now have afterpay for purchases over $100, currently in the Balclutha and Milton clinic but coming soon to Lawrence

14/02/2023

🐴 We have PalaMountains Pre Boost back in stock. Great for the cavalcades coming up.

30/01/2023

🐎 We have PalaMountains Pre Boost in stock! This is a liquid multivitamin & electrolyte supplement for preparation and recovery in horses while competing & travelling. 🐎