Stacey Oke, DVM, MSc

Stacey Oke, MSc, DVM, is a practicing veterinarian and freelance medical writer and editor. She is interested in both large and small animals, as well as complementary and alternative medicine. Since 2005, she’s worked as a research consultant for nutritional supplement companies, assisted physicians and veterinarians in publishing research articles and textbooks, and written for a number of educational magazines and websites.

Articles by: Stacey Oke, DVM, MSc

Cetirizine Not Effective in Horses with Sweet Itch

The antihistamine cetirizine has no apparent benefit in treating insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH), reports a group of Swiss researchers led by Lena Olsén from the Division of Pathology, Pharmacology, and Toxicology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Also referred to as sweet itch or summer eczema, IBH is a seasonally recurrent skin disorder caused by a hy

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Older Horses Doing Poorly Could Have Diabetes

Historically a rare disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus should be considered an important differential diagnosis in mature or elderly horses and ponies with weight loss and excessive drinking and urinating.

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Intestinal Cancer in Horses: Expect the Unexpected

Consider cancer as a possibility in older horses with long-bone fractures and no history of trauma, encouraged a group of veterinarians from Oklahoma State University’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences.

Cancer is relatively rare in horses, and intestinal cancers are even more unusual. Because intestinal adenocarcinomas are especially rare, they are not often considered as

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Equine Liver Tumors Similar to Human Tumors

A review of 17 cases of horses with primary liver tumors revealed that equine and human tumors are similar and that the classification scheme currently employed in human medicine could be applied to equine tumors.

The primary malignant liver tumors hepatoblastoma (HB) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are rare. According to Dorothee Bienzle, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVP and colleagues fr

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Wound Care for Horses

Due to their inquisitive nature, a well-developed flight response, and that they are commonly confined in areas with potential obstacles such as metal or wire, horses tend to be accident prone, making wounds a fairly common occurrence.

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Roundworm Resistance to Dewormers Assessed in Canada

Resistant Parascaris equorum on Thoroughbred and Standardbred farms to ivermectin and moxidectin was identified in Ontario, Canada.

Rolph de Gannes, an equine veterinarian practicing in Southern Ontario, Canada, had the impression that ivermectin was not removing the equine roundworm Parascaris equorum in foals and weanlings on a Thoroughbred farm. Because resistance of P

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Equine Ulcers: Don’t Blame Human Bacteria

The bacterium Helicobacter pylori, a known disease-causing organism in human medicine, does not appear to be important in horses.

In humans, intensive research efforts have revealed that H. pylori can induce chronic gas

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Homeopathy in Equine Medicine Reviewed

A team of veterinary researchers in the United Kingdom recently reviewed the use and results of homeopathy for equine ailments including arthritis, headshaking, laminitis, and more.

“Homeopathy is a 200-year-old therapeutic meth

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Horses with Pica Lack Trace Elements, Researchers Report

A recent study found that horses with pica–a propensity for consuming non-food items–have lower iron and copper blood levels than horses who restricted themselves to food items, only. According to researchers from Turkey, “prophylactic u

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Drug Testing: New Test Recognizes Sample Contamination

Equine forensic scientists from Pennsylvania have developed a novel assay for equine blood and urine samples to identify racehorses and ensure that the samples destined for drug testing were handled appropriately.

Blood and urine sam

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Osteoarthritis: Not Just an Old Horse Disease

Studies show 60% of all equine lamenesses are related to osteoarthritis, and while it is incurable, there are treatments available and research is ongoing. More than 60% of equine lameness is attributable to OA, and it is widely accepted that OA can affect any horse at any age.

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High-Tech Tools Uncover Cause of Mustang Deaths

Forensic scientists solved the mystery of what killed a large portion the the wild mustang herd in southern Nevada using a technique called stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry. In July 2007, 71 horses of the 250-head herd of wild horses were…

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