Polaris Equine Mobile Veterinary Clinic

08/06/2024

Darn Debby! While everyone is preparing their Arks, this is a gentle reminder from your favorite vets that horses can swim. PLEASE do not ford / drive / or otherwise attempt to float to your horses on Thursday. The pictures below are from Dr. Freese's flood rescues in Florida, and she promises to come save you and your herd if need be once the water is less swift. Plan ahead: we are likely to lose power, you'll need lots of CLEAN water (not flood water), a thermometer, hay, towels, and backup banamine or bute. Please let us know before midday tomorrow if you find that your stash is inadequate. Expect to see more skin funk and hoof abscesses in the sunny days following. In the meantime, we are still here for you if you need us!

07/12/2024

Saw a bear on 902 this morning!

11/04/2023

Thank you for the wonderful turnout to our annual client appreciation party! It was so lovely to get to spend time with everyone outside of the work setting. Feel free to send us your favorite photos of the day 🥰.

10/27/2023

Come one, come all to our annual Client Appreciation Party! As per usual, there will be free food, beverages, and swag to take home!

10/24/2023

This post is a little late for the tech week celebration, but but staff appreciation is so important to our team culture! Please enjoy the shenanigans, courtesy of the NC State Fair.

08/09/2023

Please everyone be careful on 902 near the rocky river- this is the second time in less than a month that drivers were lucky to survive taking out the same power pole. There’s a ditch on the eastbound side near Beaumont Lane causing cars to veer across the road and into the pole.

07/03/2023

Just a reminder we are emergency only today 7/3 and tomorrow, 7/4! We will remain normal business hours on Wednesday, 7/5!

Enjoy the holiday!!! 🇺🇸

02/22/2023

Happy spring weather everyone! We’re already into the spring rush, but several of our staff took this Friday off to prepare for the normal March rush so we emergency only on Friday. We will still do drop boxes of course, and don’t hesitate to call if you think you have an emergency. In the meantime, please enjoy the weather!!

02/12/2023

It wouldn’t be 40*F and raining without an exotic emergency for Dr. Stephanie Freese. Special thanks out to the North Chatham fire department, including, but not limited to, Daniel Atkins on the power tools, Wayne Parson, Justin Hutchins, Jacob Bass, and of course the Chief John Strowd. We are please to report the calf was freed, immediately able to stand, and promptly gave Dr. Freese quite the rodeo for his antibiotic injection.

02/07/2023

Good Afternoon! We are recommending that all horses get a Coggins test this spring (regardless if they are not travelling off the property). There is an ongoing outbreak of EIA in NC. The best preventative care is insect maintenance. Here is a link with more information:

Equine infectious anemia (EIA) is a potentially fatal blood-borne infectious viral disease that produces a persistent infection among equids nearly worldwide.

12/26/2022

Just a quick reminder that we are emergency only today!

10/17/2022

Apologies to all who have been patiently waiting, but a belated baby announcement is better late than never! Dr. West is proud to introduce Eleanor Kathryn West, born 9/21. Both mom and baby are doing great!
Sadly part of this announcement is to let you all know Dr. West has decided not to return to clinical practice after her maternity leave, so we ask for your patience and understanding that we will need to book further in advance - please do not leave things to the last minute. We wish the Wests the best moving forward and they’ll always be a part of the Polaris family.

07/11/2022

Have you been waiting longer than usual for an open appointment with your veterinarian or been unable to access after-hours services for your horse? The shortage of equine veterinarians in the U.S. is likely the cause. Many veterinary practices have too few horse doctors to service all their clients.

Why? Only about 6% of new veterinary graduates annually enter equine practice. After five years, 50% of these young veterinarians leave for small animal practice or quit veterinary medicine altogether. The primary reasons are the personal demands of the profession and equine practice’s lower starting salaries. Many new veterinarians begin their career with more than $200,000 in student loan debt, making an equine position with lower compensation often unthinkable. When financial concerns are combined with the always present demands of emergency coverage, many equine veterinarians choose to leave for a healthier way of life.

The good news is that the AAEP along with private veterinary practices and veterinary schools are addressing the pain points which have led to the current crisis. But the solution is complex and will require the support and collaboration of every person in the equine industry — including horse owners. As we work to improve the profession for current and future veterinarians, you have a huge role to play in the much-needed transformation of equine practice. Horse doctors look forward to working together with you for the good of the horse and the sustainability of veterinary care!

09/13/2021

Yesterday was an amazing example of a community coming together to succeed in an incredibly challenging large animal technical rescue. In conjunction with Apex fire departments Rescue 33, Engine 35, Ladder 35, owners Denise and Samantha and their entire neighborhood, we were able to safely remove a large percheron mare named Tilly from chest deep sucking mud. To further complicate the rescue, Tilly is being actively treated for rare lung cancer and had only been just released from NCSU CVM LAH. Special shout outs to Incident Commander Ian Bass, neighbor Dennis Blankenship for letting us take down his fence line, and most especially to Tilly herself for not kicking anyone's face in during the process!

PS. Also special thanks to 4 Hooves Large Animal Rescue Tori Miller McLeod for her ongoing efforts to teach the NC community about the techniques of Large Animal Technical Rescue.

https://www.wral.com/apex-firefighters-vet-save-1-500-lb-horse-after-stuck-in-pond/19872516/

08/08/2021

PUBLIC HEALTH ANNOUNCEMENT 📣

We have seen an abnormally high incidence of proximal enteritits cases this weekend. All cases were otherwise healthy, early-mid teens patients without a history of travel and where the pasture mates seem to be unaffected. Location is central NC (within an hour of Pittsboro, but in more than one direction from Pittsboro). These patients presented with noticeable signs of colic but no fever.
Please be extra vigilant and watch your herd carefully for signs of colic, and touch base with your veterinarian at the earliest onset of any signs.

Description of proximal enteritis for further reading: http://twinpinesequine.com/anterior-enteritis/

There is a lot that can go wrong inside a horse’s abdomen. When something does go wrong, and we start seeing symptoms, we refer to it as “colic”. If you’ve worked around horses for long enough, you’ve seen the signs – inappetance, pawing at the ground, lifting the upper lip, rolling… i...

07/21/2021

We recently posted about our concerns regarding this year being a bad year for Potomac Horse Fever… and now there’s been a case already reported in Tennessee. Please consider vaccination for your horses and donkeys!

07/09/2021

Well the time of year to vaccinate for Potomac Horse Fever is a bit sooner than expected… between the hurricanes starting up and all the wet, the bugs are going crazy!

For the the many of you who are new to our family, PHF is a very nasty disease spread by may flies, dragon flies, and a couple other insects. It starts with a high fever, then causes blow out diarrhea, and ends with catastrophic founder. We have started seeing it in this area in the last several years in conjunction with the hurricanes.

These are photos of may flies I personally took this past weekend here in North Carolina… 😝

If you’re a client who has vaccinated for it before, we will be contacting you shortly; if you are new to our area or our practice, please reach out to learn more!