Sandpoint Area Veterinary & Emergency - SAVE

11/20/2024

Our office has received a lot of calls today regarding the local outbreak of EHV/EHM in our equine community. Of course, in any disease outbreak there is always fear and apprehension. EHM is very serious potentially fatal disease and protecting our equine population is our primary objective. Here are some do's and don'ts during a viral outbreak.

DO: Shelter in place. Isolation and cessation of travel is the #1 protective measure in halting the spread of a viral disease. Haul in facilities should close their doors for the time being until we have no more new cases in the area for a period of 28 days.

DO: Take temperatures on your exposed or potentially exposed horses for 14 days. If your horse spikes a fever over 101.5 please call your veterinarian to perform diagnostic testing.

DON'T: Vaccinate your exposed horses. While we whole-heartedly recommend vaccination biannually for prevention of viral shedding, we do not recommend vaccination after exposure as there is some evidence that can increase incidence of disease.

DON'T: Engage in stressful events if your horse was potentially exposed. Just like with people, stress, travel, training all can increase viral shedding during an outbreak. The best advise is to halt or decrease intensity of training or other stressful events.

Quarantine for exposed horses/facilities is 28 days after the last febrile day. The virus typically survives 7 days in the environment but may last longer under ideal conditions.

If you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to reach out to our office for assistance! Let's keep this outbreak small and get it over quickly by limiting the movement of our equine population!

11/19/2024

ATTENTION HORSE OWNERS!!!! Please be aware of EHV-1 cases in Spokane County. (EHV is equine Herpes Virus or “Rhino”). The positive horses were at a stable where many events /lots of horse traffic occur.
For your horses' safety please refrain from traveling or hauling into facilities until this outbreak is under control. If you have been traveling with your horses, please quarantine them for now. Check their temperatures 1-2 x daily and monitor for any illness.
Any signs of neurological abnormalities or respiratory signs, or temperatures above 101.5: CALL YOUR VETERINARIAN IMMEDIATELY.
Check on your horses’ vaccination status. The rhino/flu vaccine might not prevent this strain from infecting your horse but typically lessens clinical signs as well as viral shedding.
If you are planning on traveling with your horse this winter be sure they get a 6 month booster for EHV.
The faster everyone responds to this and stops traveling /hauling to other stables, the faster we can all get back to doing that! :)

11/15/2024

In an earlier post, we mentioned that horses can chew in a funny pattern which will wear their teeth down. One side effect of this is hooks and ramps. Hooks and ramps are points on a teeth that form on the ends of the mouth (so the very back teeth or very front teeth). Overtime these points can irritate the cheeks or tongue and make it painful to chew.

11/14/2024

11/13/2024

What other issues can they get? Teeth do grow in an angle to help with grinding and when they do this, the enamel also forms points that can irritate the gums or tongue depending on what teeth are effected. The picture below shows that enamel points occur on the inside towards the tongue on the bottom teeth while the upper teeth have points on the gum side that hang down. We can come in and take down those points while still keeping the grinding surface intact and not disturbing the regular contour of the tooth

11/08/2024

What is a sign you horse needs a float? Weight loss and quidding. Quidding is when you horse chews hay and then spits it out. Horses will also begin to lose weight due to not eating properly and having issues breaking down hay. Don't forget to call the office at 208 946 1998 to save 20% on floats during the month of December.

11/06/2024

Why do horses need floats? Horses have teeth that are very different from people. Horses teeth are constantly growing and every time they eat, they're grinding down the surface. When they chew, they can create abnormal wear patterns that overtime can cause points, hooks, and ramps which can be painful and effect chewing abilities. If they lose a tooth, the tooth opposite can continue to grow and create a step. Below is the picture of a horse's mouth. All horses have incisors, Premolars and Molars. Canine teeth are more commonly seen in male horses (gelding and stallions alike) and they can have 1-4 of them. Wolf teeth are considered a premolar and show up up right in front of the regular premolars.

11/04/2024

Dental December is coming! What is dental December? During the month of December, clients can save 20% on all floats and dental exams. If you have 10 or more horses at one location (not "right down the road"), the ranch call fee could be waved. Call the office at 208- 946- 1998 to make an appointment.

10/29/2024

Tonight was SAVE's annual Halloween party. Last year we had a contest between the vets about who could remove the most pumpkin seeds using surgical instruments. This year we stepped it up. This year we had a vet round and a tech round. For each round, each person had to put gloves on, cut the top of their pumpkin off and then remove pumpkin seeds with a surgical instrument of choice within 2 minutes.

10/14/2024

And as part of veterinary technician week celebrations: how can we forget these 3 integral parts of our team (all of whom have been on the road teching in some fashion, but now
are supporting us in the office). Carolyn and Miranda are focusing on being parents right now (so the on-the-road job is a little trickier to navigate) and Angel is newer and getting ramped up. But whether on the road or in the office you ALSO are an indispensable part of our team!!!
Counter clockwise from left: Carolyn Frank, Miranda Dodge, and Angel Clark.
THANK YOU!!

10/14/2024

Today starts Veterinary technicians week!! We (the vets) would not be able to do HALF of our jobs without these wonderful side-kicks! We appreciate every minute you are with us. From driving the vehicles, navigating the back roads, handling the animals (some wild, some tame), assisting in surgery, cleaning up the mess, tolerating all types of weather, making us laugh, helping us when we cry, bandaging our wounds, driving us to the urgent care (Jenni Grimmett) helping our creaky bodies stand up after doing surgery on our knees, to just making life better: you are THE BEST!!!! THANK YOU ONE AND ALL!!!!
Pictured below clockwise
From top left: Suzie Kretzschmar, Lisa LaRoe, Meghan Kaveshan, Shelby Oaks.

09/18/2024

Please be patient as we are in the middle of dealing with phone issues. If someone doesn't answer right away, please leave a message. You can also email us . Thank you for your patience!

08/30/2024

Our office will be closed for Monday to enjoy the holiday. We will be available for emergencies as always! If a vet is needed Monday, call the office at 208 946 1998 and use extension 0.

08/28/2024

While the winter solstice is 115 days away, the days have been getting shorter. If you have a horse that you suspect has cushings or PPID (Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction), the window to test for this disease is coming to a close. How does winter and daylight correlate to a disease in horses? Horses have a pituitary gland that secrets ACTH and during the fall with the shorter daylight hours, the body naturally secrets more ACTH. ACTH causes a pathway which allows insulin to increase and horses to make thicker coats. If you were to test a horse between mid-September to the end of December, the ACTH might be 2-3 times higher than the “normal” value. The normal values are based on the other 9-10 months of the year and do not consider this seasonal pattern. Because the decrease daylight stimulates the production of this hormone and can cause it to be elevated above normal, it is not recommended to test during this period of time. If you are looking to get you horse tested, please call our office ASAP to get on the schedule. After mid-September, we will be discouraging testing due to inaccurate results.

08/16/2024

Guess who’s turning the big 3-0 today? Yes! It’s our own doctor Katelyn Jaqueway! You’ve probably seen her around at some of the farms treating anything from piglets to draft horses! You might also have seen her at some of the local rodeos or shows either acting as a veterinarian or a photographer or both! She is one of our valued veterinarians here at Sandpoint Area Veterinary & Emergency - SAVE so please join us in wishing her a VERY happy day!!!!

07/19/2024

The heat got you beat? We got some tips from AAEP for the weather.

1. Work your animals during the early morning hours between first daylight and noon. This includes livestock and horses.
2. Provide fresh clean water at all times. Some animals such as pigs might like a mud pit and some ice treats.
3. Try to provide shade.
4. Box fans can be good but make sure engines don't overheat and cause a fire. If you are using them make sure they are clean from hay and dust that could cause a fire.
5. If your cow or other livestock is open mouth breathing, this is not good and attempts should be made to cool them down without stressing them out more.
6. Horses can have a 101F with ruminate animals and swine having a 103. If animals are running higher than the normal temperature, consider cooling them off with water or alcohol baths.

07/03/2024

After an amazing 2024 breeding season having 2 shipments go missing and 2 arrive mostly dead this week, our final week of the breeding season I'm taking that as a sign that we are done this year! Thank you to all of my amazing clients for trusting me with your reproduction dreams. After 5 months of working every day of the week to get your mares bred both on the farm and at our facility it's safe to say I'm done :) Cant wait to kiss all those new fuzzy noses next year!

07/03/2024

Just a reminder that we will be closed for July 4th and 5th to give our employees sometime off to enjoy the holiday. As always a vet will be on call so if you have an emergency, please call (208) 946 1998 and use extension 0.