This is our second week of looking at the intensive care unit of Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital. In the first photo, a foal with "dummy foal syndrome" rests. The cause of the condition, also known as neonatal maladjustment syndrome,  describes a set of clinical signs believed to originate from a decrease in oxygen or blood supply to the brain of the foal Ð or its other organs Ð in late gestation, delivery or the period right after birth. Earlier in the week, clinicians were worried this foal might start having seizures, but he is actually on the mend.

In the next series of photos Dr. Bonnie Barr inserts a catheter into a weak foal with contracted legs. Fluids and medication will help the foal recover and faciltate laxity in the legs so he can get back on his feet and nurse correctly. Dr. Bryan Waldridge updates a client by phone on a patient’s condition, and Dr. Peter Morresey shows a visiting student an ultrasound image. Ultrasound has been a major advancement in veterinary medicine in the past two decades or so. Although the hospital is now a multi-million dollar partnership, in the beginning back in the  early 1980s, the two founders and sole employees Ð Drs. Bill Rood and Tom Riddle Ð had one ultrasound between that them they had to share.

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