Happy snowy day! Hopefully everyone is staying safe and warm. Do you have any pictures or videos of your horses (or any animal) enjoying the snow? If so, post here! Dr. Larsonās mini horses were having a grand time earlier today!
Caution - medical video posted below.
Warning, graphic video posted! Vaccinations are very important in keeping you and your horse safe. Here is a video, taken from a collegue, just a few days ago, of a horse suffering from EEE. This disease is highly preventable through vaccination (is the "E" component in all the EWT vaccines out there). Please don't let your horse suffer from this awful disease! Keep him/her up to date on recommended vaccinations. Contact us through FB or via phone 322-1286, if you have any questions in regards to vaccinations and your horse.
Tetanus in a horse
* Caution/Viewer Beware - medical video!* This is a video that a fellow colleague in another state recently took, which shows the classic presentation of tetanus in horses - very stiff neck, prolapse of the third eyelid. Her video was not very long, but she reported that the horse could not walk because his body was too stiff to move. He could not eat, or drink.
All horses are at risk of development of tetanus, an often fatal disease caused by a potent neurotoxin elaborated by the anaerobic, spore-forming bacterium, Clostridium tetani. Tetanus toxoid is considered to be a "core vaccine", and should be included in every horse's annual vaccination program, with a booster being given if the horse has surgery or suffers a wound and it has been longer than 6 months since the last tetanus vaccination was given.
Clostridium tetani organisms are present in the intestinal tract and feces of horses, other animals and humans, and are abundant as well as ubiquitous in soil. Spores of Cl. tetani survive in the environment for many years, resulting in an ever-present risk of exposure of horses and people on equine facilities. Tetanus is not a contagious disease but is the result of Cl. tetani infection of puncture wounds (particularly those involving the foot or muscle), open lacerations, surgical incisions, exposed tissues such as the umbilicus of foals and reproductive tract of the postpartum mare (especially in the event of trauma or retained placenta). Horses are more susceptible to this disease compared to other species, so it is very important to keep this vaccination up to date. Survival rate from tetanus is strongly correlated with previous vaccination.
Tetanus vaccination can be provided as an individual vaccine, but it is most commonly present in the most of the "combo" vaccinations that are out there, such as EWT, EWT/WNV, EWT/Flu/Rhino and EWT/WNV/Flu/Rhino...the "T" in these "combo" vaccinations is tetanus.
If you have any questions in regards to what va
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