Smokey Mountain Mobile Vet

08/21/2024

Recent social media posts about horse diseases have been wrong. I also fell for these posts. The website EDCC is a public site to track disease. Following are 2 screenshots of diseases…equine infectious anemia [coggins] and rabies. For EIA (1st picture) there are just a few states - the dark red indicating reported cases. For rabies there are NONE - I repeat NONE! Do your due diligence before believing a post.

07/14/2024

Very important

05/30/2024

Good information.

05/22/2024

Before and after. Back in black.

05/22/2024

Back in black

04/22/2024

Update on Strangles in NC.

03/25/2024

As promised to River a full acupuncture and spinal manipulation session. She’s enjoying her spa day as she discovered the alfalfa hay in the side by side. Barrel horses tend to get shoulder restrictions and use their back a lot so I will address those areas.

03/19/2024

It’s coggins season…. My phone is flooded with pictures of cute faces.

02/10/2024

Yes really people, maybe social media doesn’t have all the answers.

...how often do you seek answers on Google or on social media?

In all seriousness, we're not saying that all Internet advice is bad. You can and should use the online resources available to your advantage—like to find good tips for basic training issues or to learn more about specific diseases. But this is your reminder that there are MANY reasons to start with your own veterinarian when you're seeking answers about your horse's health.

An Internet consultation might sound like the cheapest option at first but it cannot replace the physical exam performed by a trained and experienced veterinarian, and in the end treatment without a proper diagnoses could prove more costly and time consuming.

Your horse doctor invested a lot of time and resources in their training to be able to provide the highest standard of care to their patients—trust them to care for your horse as much as you do!

02/08/2024

Assistance needed … Friday Feb 16 …. Horse leg holding among other things

01/10/2024

Get ready

Ready or not, foaling season is upon us! Is your foaling kit stocked and ready to go?

If this is your first foaling or you don’t know where to start, the graphic below lists a few essentials for you to include. Having these items ready in advance will mean less stress and scrambling at the last minute trying to acquire what you need.

As always, your veterinarian is your best source of information. Consult your horse doctor for additional recommendations and for training on how to properly use these tools to assist your mare during and after delivery!

12/15/2023

This officially my weirdest text … to date.

12/08/2023

Two recent phone calls….
- Something is wrong with my dog, but I don’t have any money to pay you
- my cat is stuck in the Christmas tree , I need someone to get him out so I can take him to a regular vet
Really people! And you wonder why that are getting frustrated 

11/04/2023

Traffic was a “bear” today. No wait that was one of the puppies. Anyhow, had to wait for the flock to cross.

10/20/2023

Way to make my Friday! Milking out an abscess. Caution if you don’t like draining abscesses don’t watch the video.

10/20/2023

Feeling frustrated. I received a call morning from a non client that needs an appointment today. They do not have regular veterinarian for their animals and they want me to come and help them. I Already have a full day of people who previously set up appointments. Why do people not maintain a relationship with their vet?. So that when they are in need of a same-day appointment, they can be worked in. how would you feel if I pushed your appointment back so that I can help someone that does not have a regular veterinarian? Picture to remind me there are people places to go when we get frustrated.

10/17/2023

Nope we are not this…help your vet by having constructive communication with them.

09/14/2023

EDCC for Potomac horse fever

09/14/2023

EDCC map for eastern equine encephalitis (part of your 4-way)

09/14/2023

I get disease updates often from a public website called EDCC. Here is a screenshot of West Nile virus. The dark red is cases of west Nile in the US. More disease alerts to come.

09/01/2023

With so many new horse owners I thought it would be helpto share my thoughts on what a horse “needs” throughout the year. Though I understand that not everyone will agree this is my opinion , an opinion based on 20 years get experience stacked onto 25 years of horse experience with work in horse show to trail riding to breeding.
What your horse “needs” (bare minimum) is EWT preferably with Flu (aka 4 way) and rabies. West Nile virus and Potomac horse fever are also vaccines available. Beyond the minimum what you get depends on how much and where you travel. Potomac horse fever needs to be vaccinated in June so it is most protective in Julycwhen it rests it’s ugly head. Also if vaccinating with a lot of vaccines I don’t like to vaccinate all in the same day due to vaccine reaction.
To summarily:
Bare minimum recommended care is
- yearly exam
- Coggins
- ewt/ and rabies vaccine
- teeth float (teeth checked at yearly exam and float as necessary). In NC this needs to be done by a veterinarian and with sedation.
Other vaccines depending on travel or other exposure
- West Nile virus and Potomac horse vaccines

Other care:
Body work :
- spinal manipulation (some call it chiropractic but a chiropractor is a human doctor who may also work on animals so not necessarily trained in animal physiology ) but a trained practitioner
- acupuncture
- massage
- and much my more.

I hope this helps.
Happy trails. Pic of some of the girls at the truck bed buff.

06/24/2023

Heading to Franklin. Here are 2 days.

06/24/2023

Tolken LOVES his cold laser therapy. He is being treated here for some swelling in his knee. A perfect patient, chillin’ with endorphins.

06/13/2023

“This is probably the worst part of your job,” Mr. Smith tells me. He’s in his late 80’s and wears a hat that says ‘VETERAN’ on it. In his…

06/12/2023

Getting a treatment and getting ready to go.

05/22/2023

They are NOT pretty flowers, spray for them, control them or you might experience the worst colic you have ever seen.

Buttercups can cause mouth pain and blisters, drooling, oral and gastric ulcers, colic, and diarrhea in horses that eat them.

05/01/2023

You cannot deny that I have the BEST patients! 

04/12/2023

Acupuncture on a newborn lamb? Yes! She has weak back legs because she is big. Acupuncture (along with owner physical therapy) will help this girl!

02/27/2023

This makes me so angry. This article basically states that illegal and unethical practices such as reusing needles and not testing for a negative coggins (mostly at illegal racetracks) is causing the spread of equine infectious anemia). Come on people! Test and be firm on having a negative coggins before the horse comes into your barn. If you would like a copy of this article let me know and I will get you a copy.