Omneity® Pellets
All-In-One Vitamin & Mineral Pellet
The Veterinary clinics of North America. Equine practice.
Publisher:
W.B. Saunders,
Frequency: Three no. a year
Country: United States
Language: English
Start Year:1985 -
ISSN:
0749-0739 (Print)
1558-4224 (Electronic)
0749-0739 (Linking)
1558-4224 (Electronic)
0749-0739 (Linking)
Impact Factor
1.1
2022
| NLM ID: | 8511904 |
| (DNLM): | SR0053812(s) |
| (OCoLC): | 11078671 |
| LCCN: | sn 84006968 |
| Classification: | W1 VE929F |
Alpha-2 adrenergic agonists as analgesics in horses. Administration of alpha-2 agonists to horses produces a variety of behavioral effects (sedation, somnolence, analgesia), and physiological effects. One of the most significant beneficial effects of administering alpha-2 agonists is the degree of analgesia they provide. Alpha-2 agonists have been the mainstay of analgesia for colic pain in horses since their introduction to clinical veterinary medicine. The increased potency of the more recently introduced alpha-2 agonists allows the provision of analgesia for conditions not previously relieved by other drugs. Unfortunately, there are significa...
Management of equine orthopedic pain. Pain management is an extremely vital part of equine orthopedic surgery. Providing optimum analgesia for the patient will decrease recovery time, decrease physiologic stress on the animal, and provide maximum comfort during the post-operative period. The major analgesic drug categories and routes covered are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, local anesthetics, intra-articular drugs, and epidurals.
Nontraditional approaches to pain management. The word nontraditional in the context of this article implies those modalities not normally taught in veterinary medical schools. This word has the same definition of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) as put forth by the Harvard medical school. CAM is a field of medicine that has enjoyed a recent increase in popularity in both human and equine medicine, particularly in regard to pain management. Some of the more recognized modalities include acupuncture, herbalism, and homeopathy. A brief discussion regarding the theory, scientific evidence and use of these therapies in the treatme...
Pesticide toxicosis in the horse. Toxicosis from pesticides rarely occurs in horses and is usually the result of inappropriate pesticide use or handling by humans. Organophosphorus and carbamate insecticides inhibit acetylcholinesterase and are the insecticide class most frequently associated with toxicosis in domestic animals. Metaldehyde is a molluscicide, and zinc phosphide is a rodenticide, both of which have caused toxicosis in horses. All three of these pesticides affect the nervous system of horses and can be fatal if not treated promptly.
Fescue toxicosis. Most of the tall fescue pastures in the United States are infected by an endophyte, N. coenophialum. The fungus derives nutrients from the plant while supplying the plant with toxins for defense. The most detrimental toxins for animals in tall fescue are ergopeptine alkaloids, especially ergovaline. Ergovaline functions as a dopamine D2 agonist and alters prolactin and several other hormones in the body. Pregnant mares are most susceptible during their last month of gestation. Clinical signs include prolonged gestation, dystocia, retained placentas, agalactia, and dysmature foals that are eith...
Metal toxicosis in horses. The ubiquity and stability of metals in the environment make them unique as a pollutant or an essential dietary component. Metals are neither created nor destroyed by chemical processes but are redistributed in the environment. In combination with other elements, metal compounds and alloys are essential materials of the contemporary world. Inappropriate use or distribution in the environment leads to adverse health effects on all biologic systems, including horses. Gastrointestinal upset is a common feature of acute toxicosis with metals in general. Among the metals discussed, arsenic and inor...
Mycotoxins. Horses consume feed grains and forages that can produce a range of mycotoxins resulting from mold invasion. Toxicosis of horses often occurs from fumonisins or aflatoxin in grains, from the tremorgenic mycotoxins in dallis grass, or from slaframine in red clover. Fumonisin toxicosis often is severe and fatal, and aflatoxin can be acute or chronic and debilitating. Other mycotoxins reported in horses may cause moderate to mild signs that regress when the contaminated feedstuff is removed. Overall, horses appear to have a relatively low prevalence of reported mycotoxicoses among domestic animals...
Epidemiology for the equine practitioner. In this article, I have discussed the principles and methods of outbreak investigation, reinforcing important concepts with examples from the veterinary literature. The approach presented is applicable to outbreaks caused by any agent whether it is infectious versus noninfectious or contagious versus noncontagious. The solutions vary. The experience of others presented with similar situations may be especially helpful. Because of their nature, outbreaks are difficult to prepare for. When faced with a potential outbreak, the best strategy is to approach it scientifically, systematically, and wi...
Adverse drug reactions and interactions in the horse. Drugs undergo extensive evaluation before they are marketed. The occurrence of adverse reactions, however, may be so rare that thousands of patients must receive the drug before reliable data are available. It is necessary that veterinarians be informed about the drugs they use, be able to recognize drug-associated complications, know how to evaluate the patient for evidence of drug-associated toxicity, report adverse effects of drugs to the respective manufacturers, and be prepared to provide medical support and antidotal treatment (if it exists) for a patient if toxicosis occurs.
Handling forensic necropsy cases. Immediately record the findings. A tape recorder would be excellent for this. If none is available, findings should be written down as soon as possible before memory of the examination fades. It is important to record comments on every organ that you examined. Three years from now in a court deposition, it may be difficult for the practitioner to remember if he looked at the adrenal glands or if there was no gross evidence of hyperplasia. When writing a report, it is a good idea to describe the tissue changes rather than just to give an interpretation. An example of the latter would be, "The h...
Toxic feed constituents in the horse. Poisoning cases in horses associated with dietary exposures can encompass a wide variety of etiologies that can be caused by natural or man-made components. Feed mixing errors and ingestion of feed formulated for other species are the most common means by which poisonings from man-made materials occur. Ionophore feed additives and antibacterial agents are especially toxogenic to horses. Effects of ionophores in horses include clinical, clinicopathologic, and pathologic changes associated with cardiac, muscular, and neurologic tissues involvement. The acute effects of ionophores, however, can r...
Diagnosis and approach to poisoning in the horse. Poisoning in the horse can present a highly complex case. The practitioner, owner, toxicologist, and pathologist play important roles, and all contribute information that may be important to the case. Once all the information is available, all the evidence is collected (historical, clinical, pathologic, and analytic), and proper sampling of specimens has occurred, a complete summary of the findings can be provided to the client. Based on identification of a potential toxic source and, ultimately, the diagnosis, specific treatment of affected animals and prevention of additional cases can be in...
Toxic plants. What the horse practitioner needs to know. Horses poisoned by a plant may show a myriad of clinical signs. Awareness of the poisonous plants growing in a given area and those that are likely to appear in hay and their associated clinical signs can be instrumental in making diagnoses. More importantly, the information can be shared with clients to help prevent plant poisonings in horses.
Botulism in the horse. Botulism should be considered in cases where weakness, paralysis, or intolerance to exercise might be seen in the horse. Dysphagia may also be present, although it is not a consistent finding. Potential sources include carrion in hay, moldy or otherwise rotted vegetation or forage, birds carrying material from animal burial or other similar sites, and contaminated carcasses on-site. Horses, especially foals, may also suffer from toxicoinfectious botulism, a condition where the C. botulinum might colonize and produce toxin within the gastrointestinal tract. Wounds also may harbor the organism a...
Residues and considerations for use of pharmaceutics in the performance horse. Analytic chemistry laboratories responding to the concerns of the industry over drug use and abuse in performance horses should continue to develop more sensitive methods of drug detection. The unwanted result of this increase in sensitivity is the detection of therapeutic medications days to weeks after administration. The adoption of decision or threshold concentrations for residues of nonpermitted medications should allow laboratories to focus their efforts on drugs of abuse in the performance horse industries and permit veterinarians to provide appropriate medical care to these equine athl...
Industrial chemicals and the horse. Poisoning resulting from exposure to a wide variety of industrial chemicals is not a common occurrence in horses, but it does happen on occasion. A wide range of toxicosis can occur from a wide range of industrial pollutants, such as dioxin, carbon tetrachloride, and tetrachloroethylene, to heavy metals, such as cadmium and zinc. The equine practitioner must consider industrial chemical toxicosis in differential diagnoses and work with a reputable veterinary diagnostic laboratory to confirm or rule out industrial chemical poisoning.
Risks associated with the use of herbs and other dietary supplements. The use of dietary supplements (herbs, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, and other compounds) is common in horses. They are heavily marketed in retail stores, magazines, and on the Internet. There is the perception that since these compounds are "natural" they are devoid of toxicity, and, therefore, they are safe to use. Some of the active compounds in supplements, however, have inherent toxicity, and using them may cause adverse effects. Even relatively non-toxic ingredients may be toxic if used over-zealously or for a long period of time. By and large, these compounds have not been t...
Radiographic interpretation of normal skeletal variations and pseudolesions in the equine foot. Effective radiographic interpretation requires a veterinarian who is knowledgeable of equine limb anatomy and the various principles that affect the resulting image. The normal and its variations must be recognized and understood before the abnormal can be confidently identified as pathologic. Proper patient positioning and sound radiographic technique are mandatory if reliable diagnostic radiographs are to be produced. This review emphasizes equine foot radiographic variations of normal and pseudolesions that occur with commonly used radiographic views performed in equine practice.
Equine bone scintigraphic uptake patterns related to age, breed, and occupation. It is well known that skeletal scintigraphy is an imaging modality with high sensitivity but low specificity. Sites of IRU provide good evidence of increased bone turnover but not its specific cause. Results of lameness workups, blocks, and other imaging techniques are required to determine specific causes. Overinterpretation of causes of IRU is tempting, especially in assigning diagnoses to EIBR--adaptive or non-adaptive. Nevertheless, a quarter of a century's experience with equine skeletal scintigraphy has shown that certain patterns and locations can be fairly predictive of certain patholo...
Stress echocardiography and its role in performance assessment. Stress echocardiography in the horse is in its infancy, and investigations need to continue to determine the significance and mechanism of postexercise echocardiographic abnormalities detected in horses. This work should be coupled with investigations on the exercise-induced changes in cardiac isoenzymes, cTnI, arterial oxygen content, and cardiac rhythm that may occur concurrently. With continued investigations into the cardiovascular problems that occur in the exercising horse, the sport horse veterinarian should be better able to accurately diagnose and treat problems causing poor performan...
Diagnostic thermography. Thermography is a practical aid in the clinical evaluation of the equine patient. It is particularly germane to the evaluation of lameness. This modality specifically increases the accuracy of diagnosis. Thermography is the pictorial representation of skin temperature. The technique involves the detection of infrared radiation, which can be directly correlated to blood flow. To be accurate, thermography must be performed in a controlled area free of drafts. The area should be protected from sunlight to avoid erroneous heating of the skin, and the horse's hair length should be uniform. Thermogr...
Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of the equine head. Horses are frequently presented with clinical conditions warranting diagnostic imaging of the head. Unfortunately, evaluation of the equine head can be difficult using conventional radiography. The anatomic complexity and superimposition of the osseous, dental, and soft tissue structures complicate radiographic interpretation and diagnoses. Multiple radiographic projections may be necessary to image specific regions, and side-to-side comparison is often essential.
Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of the equine musculoskeletal conditions. There is a growing interest in the use of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in equine orthopedic patients. It is well established that CT and MR imaging offer superior diagnostic information in a wide variety of musculoskeletal injuries in human beings and small animals. The highly detailed cross-sectional images obtained with these two modalities can often demonstrate pathologic changes undetected with other common imaging techniques. Based on their multiple applications in human beings and small animals, CT or MR imaging may prove to be the optimal diagnostic imagi...
Equine nuclear scintigraphy. Indications, uses, and techniques. The demand for advanced and correlative imaging methods in equine medicine is growing. Scintigraphy can provide unique information about the physiologic status of an animal that cannot be discerned by other imaging modalities.
Computed radiography. CR is a useful tool for the equine veterinarian and has many advantages. Its only major disadvantage is the initial cost, in dollars and time, for setup in one's practice. CR is already in use at several universities and private practices in the United States and around the world. In the future, as is the case with any computer-based technology, this modality should become more affordable and readily available to smaller practices. The potential of CR in veterinary medicine combined with saturation of the human market is driving the development of specialized software and algorithms for veteri...
Abdominal and thoracic radiography in the neonate. Plain and contrast radiographic techniques are used infrequently in the diagnostic evaluation of abdominal or thoracic disease in the adult horse because of the animal's large body size and the limited availability and expense of suitable equipment. The importance of radiography as a critical tool has also been lessened through the accessibility of ultrasound, although this technique is limited by depth and offers only a superficial window. Traditional radiographic techniques can be readily used in young foals because of their small body size, and radiography frequently provides critical infor...
Physical principles and technical considerations for equine computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. This article discusses how cross-sectional imaging methods such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging can provide unique and diagnostically important information in situations where radiography or diagnostic ultrasound have been unrewarding.
Superficial digital flexor tendon healing: ultrasonographic evaluation of therapies. Until recently, it was difficult to critically evaluate tendon healing in vivo. Superficial digital flexor tendon injuries were considered healed when the injured tendon was cold, non-painful, adequate time had passed for tendon healing to occur, and no recurrence of the injury was detected when the horse returned to athletic work. This article discusses how ultrasonography has revolutionized the diagnosis, treatment, and management of tendon injuries.
Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis. Recent advances in the understanding of the parasite life cycle, epidemiology, clinical signs, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of EPM are reviewed. The NAHMS Equine '98 study and a controlled retrospective study from The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine identified a number of risk factors associated with development of the disease. The national annual incidence of EPM was 1% or less depending on the primary use of the animals. Increased disease risk was associated with age (1-5 and > 13 years of age), season (lowest in winter months and increasing with ambient tempe...
Factors influencing the international spread of equine diseases. In an era of increasing globalization, the risk of spread of infectious diseases in humans and animals, including equids, has never been greater. International movement of equids and trade in semen are the most important factors responsible for the dissemination of various equine pathogens. Other factors that can or do have the potential to influence the global distribution of equine infectious diseases include: multinational trade agreements, emergent diseases, mutation of pathogens, climate related phenomena, migration of amplifying/reservoir hosts or vectors, availability of new vectors, va...
