River City Equine Veterinary Services

05/12/2022

Hey y'all, Dr. Bridges here to share some very important news with my RCEVS family. I have been offered and have accepted the position of my dreams as the upcoming emergency and critical care resident at an equine hospital outside Sacramento, California. Many of you know my intense desire to continuously learn and improve myself, and this position will allow me to do exactly that as well as move towards accomplishing other huge goals that I have set for myself. I am incredibly excited for this next step in my career, but I will also miss the many clients that have supported me through starting my first business and helped me to grow as a practitioner. I will continue to practice here in Florida through the end of this month, but records can still be accessed and emailed after that point if you need them. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Thank you so so much for your support, love, and understanding!

04/20/2022

Please do not give Banamine in the muscle. Clostridium is a nasty bug, and myositis/myonecrosis can be avoided by giving Banamine in the jugular vein if you comfortable doing so or by removing the needle from the syringe and squirting it in the mouth.

Banamine (flunixin meglumine) is often a first line medication when horses are in pain or have fevers. How do you administer this medication? Banamine is labelled for IM administration (in the muscle); however, IM injections of Banamine can have fatal consequences. Clostridial myonecrosis (muscle death) may result from any IM injection; however, is more often seen after IM Banamine or a repository product like an oil-based hormone. The injection allows the obligate anaerobe Clostridium to grow within the site, releasing toxins that can be life-threatening to your horse. The most common signs include painful swelling where the injection was given, fever, lethargy, high heart rate, reluctance to move, gas under the skin where the injection was given, and brick red gums. Once the process of myonecrosis has begun, we need to open the skin to expose the muscle tissue to air and allow for drainage. Your horse will also receive intravenous antibiotics and fluids to help counteract the inflammatory process. This is a life-threatening emergency and your horse should be seen by a veterinarian immediately. Due to the increased risk of severe illness following intramuscular administration, we recommend that Banamine be given in the vein (IV) or by mouth (PO) and never in the muscle.

If you have any questions or are concerned about your horse, please call the Equine Medical Center of Ocala at (352) 873-7830.

03/03/2022

Dr. Bridges will be out of town and thus unavailable from 3/5 until 3/18. If you have an emergency, please contact the University of Florida Large Animal Hospital or another area veterinarian. For appointments or other inquiries, you are welcome to text River City Equine at 904-878-1229 and Dr. Bridges will respond after she returns. Thank you for your support and understanding!

02/15/2022

Please be aware of this! Botulism is very serious, and often owners only find their horses down or already deceased. If your horse is lethargic, holding their head low, letting their tongue hang out, having difficulty eating, or generally seem weak or off, please let a veterinarian know right away!

Cases of suspected botulism are emerging in Florida. While botulism is not contagious between horses, it can affect multiple horses on the same property. Sources of botulinum toxin include round bales, alfalfa blocks, soil, and contaminated grains. Click here to learn more about what to look for: https://bit.ly/3oNlCBO

01/29/2022

Following is some important food for thought courtesy of AAEP member Dr. Matt Witzel:

"I’m writing this because it needs to be said for the betterment of the profession that I love, AND the well-being and health of your horses. I apologize for the length of this and feel free to skip to the last 3 paragraphs if you’re in a time crunch.

As horse owners, how hard has it been for you to find a vet that is available all the time for your animals? Did you know right now there is a huge demand for more equine vets? In my graduating class from vet school there’s only about 5 of us (out of close to 100) that are still working on horses. That number is down significantly compared to how many of us were dedicated equine oriented vet students.

The fact is, there is a general exodus of younger veterinarians from equine practice that switch to small animal medicine because it pays better and lacks after hours emergencies. Equine practices as a general population, however, provide emergency services 24/7 for their clients because large animal emergency-specific hospitals are extremely rare. I shouldn’t have to say this but emergencies are never fun. We don’t wake up in the morning hoping for a horse to colic, or some kid’s first horse to break a leg. We don’t enjoy leaving our kids right before tucking them into bed to go see a bad laceration. It’s not fun to rearrange our 8 hour day into a 12 hour day so that we can fit in a choke that’s an hour and a half drive out of our way. It’s all awful. But we do it because it needs to be done.

The difference between the pay in the vet industry is based on the fact that you bring your dog or cat to their vet who will work on them while working on 2 or more others at the same time. Small animal vets are therefore able to see many more patients in a day. Equine vets on the other hand will most of the time be working on a single patient at a time, focusing 90% of their attention (phone calls happen during exams, it’s a thing…) on YOUR HORSE. Sometimes there’s significant travel time between appointments. It’s possible to spend 6 hours of a 12 hour work day in the truck and only see 4-5 cases in that time. Why???? Because we’re dedicated to your horses’ wellbeing and some people don’t have a trailer. Or some people don’t feel comfortable hauling a trailer on icy winter roads in MT. I get that and I don’t blame those people. It’s just something that needs to be accepted so we can move on.

With the growth in horse ownership that we’ve seen recently and the increasing demand for vet work with a simultaneous lack of available young equine vets that are willing to put up with the conditions listed above, I’ve come to the obvious conclusion that something needs to change.

Here’s my request to you:
Please appreciate your local vet. Please be loyal to him or her. Please don’t think of your vet as someone to call only when your horse is about to die because you didn’t want to pay for an emergency fee last night when treatment would have mattered. Please ask to discuss costs up front if that’s an issue for you rather than stating you’d do anything and everything necessary for your horse then turn around and complain about the bill. On that note, please compare medical costs of your animals to medical costs for yourself BEFORE insurance kindly tells you what your copay is. Please let your vet be involved with your horses’ wellness before it becomes a problem. Please consult your vet with horse health questions instead of an internet based forum.

And last but not least… please consider using your local vet for things like dentals, vaccines, and lamenesses rather than someone traveling from out of town. Income from these routine services enable service expansion and improved care. That includes things like mobile digital X-ray, endoscopy, or ultrasound equipment so that we can accurately diagnose and successfully treat your sick animal.

I want you to think long and hard about taking away the enjoyable work and needed income from us and giving that to someone who you don’t have a relationship with, who might be practicing those procedures ILLEGALLY (dentistry for instance can only legally be performed in Montana by a veterinarian or under the direct visual supervision of a licensed veterinarian; “equine dentists” who do not fall under these categories are not properly trained to handle dental diseases and have been known to cause more harm than good), who won’t be available when your horse has a joint injection reaction, who won’t get out of bed to come to your place and help get your hypothermic geriatric horse off the ground before it freezes to death.

All of us as veterinarians put a lot into the relationships that we build with our clients and it’s because of those relationships that we dedicate ourselves to becoming better at what we do and trying harder to keep your horses healthy. So when we find out that you use a traveling vet or a non-veterinarian dentist for your horses dental work because it’s $20 or $30 dollars cheaper, you’ve just put a price on what our commitment is worth to you."

01/10/2022

IS YOUR HORSE 15 OR OLDER? Read on!

With each passing year, horses are living longer lives and many survive easily to 25 years of age or older. While this is good news, it also means that horse owners need to be aware of changes occurring with age, so they can preserve the health and quality of life of their equine friends throughout middle age and the geriatric years.

For example, Equine Cushing’s disease is one of the most common diseases of horses greater than 15 years of age. This syndrome is better defined as Equine Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID) because it reflects the location within the brain that is abnormal, and the clinical signs are associated with abnormally elevated hormone concentrations in the blood.

Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) is another endocrine disorder that can affect mature horses and shares some of the same clinical signs as PPID. Although the two disorders feature some striking clinical similarities — most notably a predisposition to development of chronic laminitis — the underlying disease biology is quite different in each case and successful management requires proper diagnosis by a competent veterinarian first.

Our understanding of both conditions, especially EMS, is incomplete and subject to continuous evolution, but sufficient information is currently available to highlight some important similarities and differences for the interested horse owner. Consult your veterinarian for more information and work with them to develop the best wellness practices to ensure a healthy life for your mature horse.

Additional information regarding the older horse’s care and nutrition is available on our website at https://aaep.org/horsehealth/older-horse-special-care-nutrition

12/24/2021

Merry Christmas and happy holidays from my ponies to yours! Have fun and be safe!

11/23/2021

River City Equine will be at McCulley Farms in Jasper, FL, this Friday through Sunday (11/26-11/28). If you need any medications or services while there, please let us know ahead of time so we can be sure to have your items in stock and bring all the right equipment. Thank you and happy Thanksgiving!

11/11/2021

10/14/2021

Enteroliths are always an interesting find! Read below for some great information and photos.

10/05/2021

Dr. Bridges will be unavailable October 6th through the 11th, as she is going out of state. If you have an emergency during this time, please contact the University of Florida Large Animal Hospital at (352) 392-2229 or another area veterinarian. She will resume emergency care and regular appointments on Tuesday, October 12th. Thank you!

09/21/2021

This post by a disgruntled horse owner has gone viral over the last day, thankfully with most responses being in strong support of veterinarians, and I would like to address it as well:

Veterinarians care more deeply than anyone outside of this profession can truly understand. We stay up at night wondering if we made all of the right decisions through the day, worrying about that colic we saw in the field, and praying that our next injury (which WILL happen) is not career-ending or life-threatening so that we can continue to do this job we love so much. We work hard, strain our bodies, and fight to make a positive impact on every animal we see. To all the clients who make our days easier by being pleasant and kind, and by understanding that we are people too and need breaks and sleep and can make mistakes sometimes, we are so grateful. You make this job that much easier to come back to every day.

-Dr. Alex Bridges

08/25/2021

Equine After Hours Emergency PSA

Recently we came across several stories around the country of horse owners having an equine emergency situation and being unable to find a veterinarian to help them. We cannot stress enough the importance of having a prior relationship with an equine vet. Most equine veterinarians will only see emergencies for regular, pre-existing clients. There are many reasons for this but ultimately equine vets are being stretched further and further and are just trying to keep afloat and maintain some degree of work-life balance. Currently 1-2% of graduating vets are choosing equine practice - this is 25-50 students per year! Of those that enter the profession, 30-50% leave within 5 years, mainly due to a poor work-life balance, high student loan debt and injury. More equine vets have started providing specialty services such as dentistry, lameness and holistic services and do not provide any after hours service.

If you do not know if the vet you are using will provide you after hours service- please ask. For all the above reasons, horse owners are having increasing difficulty finding after hours care.

We strongly recommend all horse owners establish a regular relationship with a local equine vet that provides after hours services. Each veterinarians description of a regular client varies, but usually includes prior health and wellness services performed within the last 12-24 months and an active account with up to date contact information at their clinic. If you do not have a regular vet your second option is to haul to a referral facility. Have your trailer ready and know where the closest facilities are.

It is heart breaking to think that horse owners have no options after hours in their time of need. Taking the above steps will help make sure this isn’t you!

08/17/2021

Cellulitis, lymphangitis, and vasculitis can look very scary, with sudden massive swelling and strong lameness. These often occur with trauma to the limb, which can be as mild as a tiny scrape or as major as a laceration, but they can also be secondary to systemic infection, immune response, or even pastern dermatitis ("scratches"). Cold hosing, bandaging, and giving appropriate medications prescribed by your veterinarian are crucial in overcoming these events. Please give us a call at 904-878-1229 if you see any of these signs!

You go catch your horse and there he stands, in a lot of pain, with one leg swollen from the stifle down to twice its normal size (the infamous "stovepipe" leg). Sounds familiar?

What is unscientifically called a “fat leg” is usually an inflammation: of subcutaneous connective tissue (in that case it's called cellulitis); of the lymphatic system (called lymphangitis, a severe form of cellulitis); or of blood vessels (called vasculitis). Please note: lymphangitis/cellulitis is a dramatically different condition than your everyday "stocking up" (fluid swelling), which normally resolves with exercise.

A "fat leg" with no obvious trauma can be very frustrating for both horse owner and veterinarian due to its confusing nature. It can sideline a horse for days, weeks, or even months; and severe or untreated cases can become chronic, which can in turn result in fibrosis and hardened spots on the legs.

While causes may vary, once a horse has cellulitis, it’s easy to spot. If you think your equine friend has cellulitis or even if you're not sure, we encourage you to seek professional help promptly. Your horse doctor will make the best treatment recommendations, both to reduce swelling and to address any sort of bacterial infection that might be active or that could occur due to the edema in the soft tissue.

Read more on our website at https://aaep.org/horsehealth/lymphangitis-frustrating-condition

08/12/2021

Dental health is incredibly important in our equine companions. Their teeth are constantly growing and can get very sharp, overgrown, overworn, or do just about anything! Keeping on top of their teeth is instrumental in maintaining comfort with a bit, making sure they can chew properly, and preventing other issues such as choke. Most horses require yearly floating, but some may need it less or more often depending on factors like age, diet, etc. RCEVS uses a power float for dental work, which causes much less trauma to teeth than traditional hand floats, and sedation with a dental speculum allows for a complete oral examination as well. Call and ask about dentals today!

08/06/2021

Horses truly are amazing creatures!

Need a few more reasons to love horses? Check out these fascinating “quick” facts you may not know about our equine friends!

“So the horse that walks around, eats grass, looks at the view and gives every appearance of tranquillity was, in fact, designed by God to explode.” — Dr. George Pratt

Source: National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

07/24/2021

RCEVS is almost ready to get rolling! Scheduling via phone or email will start on August 2nd, and the first day of appointments will be August 9th. Business hours and contact information can be found on this page. X-ray equipment has not yet arrived, but ultrasound and dentistry are available among many other services!