Checking the Vitals: The Lungs
Doug Byars, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM
August 7, 2010
Since you can’t tell your horse to “Take a deep breath,” listening to your horse requires some technique to hear lung sounds.
How to care for the basic health needs of horses
Since you can’t tell your horse to “Take a deep breath,” listening to your horse requires some technique to hear lung sounds.
The crooked little bacterium that causes Lyme disease is causing quite a stir in the equine community.
Like humans, horses are susceptible to sunburn, especially on the non-pigmented pink-skinned areas of the body. Sunburn is most frequently seen around the eyes and on the muzzle of pale or white-faced horses.
Knowing how to identify abnormalities in your horse’s heart rate and rhythm will help you and your veterinarian treat him or her when illness strikes.
Unlike heart and respiratory rates, abdominal sounds do not punch a specific time clock for generating “gut sounds.” The rhythmic peristaltic churning of food mixed with fluids within the gut varies in slower waves depending on meal time, the meal itself, and the level of activity. You don’t actually “time” bowel sounds, but you do want to know if they are present.
According to a research group based in Australia, if you feed your horse spores of the fungus Duddingtonia flagrans, the spores pass harmlessly through the digestive tract and are deposited in the feces along with eggs shed by adult intestinal parasites.
A hot humid day. One rider. One horse. Both are exercising at a moderate level. Who is more likely to overheat?
An adverse event can be broadly defined as an undesirable occurrence after the use of a vaccine, drug, animal device, insecticide, medicated feed, etc. Multiple federal agencies are involved in taking reports of adverse events in animals, which can make it difficult for owners and veterinarians to easily notify the appropriate agencies. Adverse reactions can range from a minor swe
Equine Insulin Resistance is a reduction in sensitivity to insulin that decreases the ability of glucose to be transported into the body’s cells from the bloodstream.
The University of Kentucky’s Gluck Equine Research Center needs Lexington-area Thoroughbred farms to participate in a study to determine Thoroughbred weanlings’ seroprevalence (presence of positive serum antibodies) to Lawsonia intracellularis, the causative agent of equine proliferative enteropathy (EPE).
Lyme disease is caused by a spiral-shaped bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi that is spread to some mammals via the bite of specific hard-bodied ticks. Also known as borreliosis, it is widely considered the most important insect-borne bacterial infection in North America. But it is unknown whether ticks transmit the bacterium to horses and cause disease or because the two coexist.
We’ve all heard the statistics about an aging America. The elderly represent the fastest growing-proportion of the U.S. population. In recent years horses have experienced a similar population shift.
A large portion of the equine population (about 15%) is composed of horses older than 20 and, even at this age, many remain actively involved in equestrian sports, reproduction, or as companion
Dr. Kevin Haussler discusses horse back problems and the use of chiropractic and complementary therapies.
Discussion of equine medication use and compounding concerns with pharmacist Scarlet Thomas.
It has been suggested that 60% of equine lameness problems are related to osteoarthritis, which stresses the importance of advancements of both medical & surgical treatment options.
Discussion of the changing recommendations for horse deworming strategies (focusing on strongyles) and how you can help prevent resistance to dewormers.
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