Disease treatment in horses encompasses a range of medical interventions and management strategies aimed at addressing various health conditions affecting equine species. These treatments can include pharmacological approaches, such as the administration of antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, and antiparasitic medications, as well as non-pharmacological methods like physical therapy, dietary adjustments, and surgical procedures. The selection of appropriate treatments depends on the specific disease, its severity, and the individual needs of the horse. This topic brings together peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the efficacy, safety, and advancements in therapeutic options for equine diseases, providing insights into best practices and emerging trends in equine veterinary medicine.
Heath SE, Bell RJ, Clark EG, Haines DM.Clinical signs of generalized granulomatous disease in a horse included depression, generalized lymphadenopathy, scaly skin, and dependent edema. Diagnosis was confirmed histopathologically by diffuse granulomas in more than one organ system (lymph nodes and skin), and by ruling out etiologic agents. Response to treatment with corticosteroids was favorable. The clinical features and response to treatment in this horse were different from classic textbook descriptions of equine generalized granulomatous disease. Equine granulomatous disease appears to be comparable to human sarcoidosis. To avoi...
Collatos C, Clark ES, Reef VB, Morris DD.A foal with vegetative bacterial endocarditis affecting the wall of the left atrium was treated successfully with cefotaxime, erythromycin, and rifampin. Bacterial isolates included Escherichia coli from blood and Rhodococcus equi from a P-type osteomyelitic lesion of the left third metatarsal bone and from synovial fluid from the left metatarsophalangeal joint. Cardiac complications included cardiomegaly and atrial fibrillation, which responded to treatment with digoxin and quinidine sulfate. Cardiac function was considered normal 18 months after treatment. Bacteriologic cure of osteoarthriti...
Loftin MK, Levine JF, McGinn T, Coggins L.State veterinarians in 11 southeastern states completed a questionnaire designed to determine the proportion of equids in the region that were seropositive for equine infectious anemia (EIA). Cases of EIA were diagnosed in each of the states surveyed. Distinct geographic clusters of cases were apparent in Tennessee and Kentucky adjacent to the Mississippi River, in the Piedmont of North Carolina at the Virginia border, in north central Georgia, and throughout the Florida peninsula. It is suggested that the national EIA program could be improved by standardization and wider application of unifo...
Valverde A, Boyd CJ, Dyson DH, Pascoe PJ.Dantrolene, a drug used in the prevention and treatment of malignant hyperthermia, was believed responsible for prolonged postanesthetic recumbency in a horse. Prophylactically, dantrolene was given orally before induction of anesthesia. Dantrolene has been recommended for use in horses at risk of developing postanesthetic myopathy. Side effects, including ataxia, may result from dantrolene administration.
Cornick JL, Seahorn TL.During a 3 1/2-year period, cardiac arrhythmias were identified in 6 of 67 horses diagnosed with duodenitis/proximal jejunitis (DPJ). Arrhythmias were detected by auscultation of irregular cardiac rhythm and subsequently were characterized by electrocardiographic evaluation. Arrhythmias included frequent second-degree atrioventricular block, ventricular ectopic depolarizations, and atrioventricular conduction disturbance. In 4 horses, arrhythmias resolved with recovery from the primary problem. One horse died suddenly 66 hours after admission, and another was euthanatized at 72 hours after adm...
Spier SJ, Carlson GP, Holliday TA, Cardinet GH, Pickar JG.Eleven horses (3 mares, 7 stallions, 1 gelding) with clinical and biochemical evidence of hyperkalemic periodic paralysis were studied. Each horse had history of episodic weakness, muscular tremors, or collapse, which lasted for periods of a few minutes to hours. Diagnosis was based on hyperkalemia in association with a spontaneous episode of paralysis or by precipitation of an episode by oral administration of potassium chloride. Clinical and biochemical events were documented during spontaneous and induced episodes of muscular weakness. During episodes, electrocardiographic findings were con...
Sweeney RW, Hansen TO.Six horses with dysphagia (attributable to botulism, glossitis, or guttural pouch mycosis) were given a commercially available liquid diet as the sole source of nutrition. Seven horses with hypophagia caused by severe bacterial pleuropneumonia or peritonitis were given the liquid diet to supplement food consumed voluntarily. The liquid diet was administered through a nasogastric tube 2 or 3 times daily. Body weight did not change significantly, and pertinent laboratory values remained at satisfactory concentrations throughout the feeding period. Serious complications were not encountered. Thre...
Eysker M, Vercruysse J.The epidemiology, chemotherapy and control of strongylus infections in the horse are discussed. The annual cycle of various species are stated. In addition the anthelmintics available for treatment and control and the occurrence of anthelmintic resistance are referred to. Finally the options for control under various management conditions (little if any grazing; extensive grazing; intensive grazing) are discussed.
Staudacher G.The new photometrical kit fructosamine is tested for its use with canine, feline and equine blood. Normal values of fructosamine in nondiabetic animals as well as adequately and inadequately stabilized patients are given. The measurement of fructosamine is an excellent new tool for diagnosis and treatment of diabetes mellitus and should become an essential part of the control of the course of diabetes mellitus in animals.
Ohta C, Hoshi A, Goto H, Tsunoda N, Tagami M, Akita H.Epizootiological and virological studies were conducted on foal diarrhea occurring in 3 foal-raising locations in a light horse farm from March to July, 1987. At the first location, although 27 (75%) of 36 foals had developed diarrhea, the isolation rate of rotavirus (RV) was low (5/14 feces, 36%). Many of the foals had the disease as early as 23 days after birth. At the second and third locations, 21 (27%) of 78 foals and 41 (76%) of 54 foals were affected with diarrhea. Isolation rates of RV were 90% (20/22 feces) and 100% (26/26 feces), respectively. The diseased cases were observed through...
Sinn D, Wintzer HJ.The pharmacokinetics of racemic phenprocoumon were studied in 8 adult horses after the single intravenous and oral administration of 0.75 mg/kg. After i.v. administration the plasma concentration of phenprocoumon showed a biphasic decline in time. The pharmacokinetics were calculated on the two-compartment open model. The average plasma half-life (beta-phase) was 22 hours, the apparent volume of distribution was 0.61 l/kg, Cltot was 25.2 ml/kg/h (13.9-40.9 ml/kg/h). The systemic bioavailability of oral phenprocoumon was 97.6%, Tmax was found to be 4-12 hours. The effect of phenprocoumon on the...
Dubey JP, Porterfield ML.Tachyzoites of Neospora caninum were found in sections of lung of an equine fetus aborted 2 mo before term. Individual tachyzoites were approximately 3-5 x 2-3 microns, divided by endodyogeny, and stained positively with anti-N. caninum serum but not with anti-Toxoplasma gondii serum. Toxoplasma gondii antibody was not found in the mare's serum. This is the first report of N. caninum in a horse and indicates that N. caninum can be transmitted transplacentally in equids.
Stewart RH, Robertson JT.A grade-4 rectal tear in a mare was successfully repaired per rectum, using a surgical stapling device. The mare had only minor postoperative complications. This technique has some advantages over previously described procedures, but should be reserved for use in selected cases.
Honnas CM, Liskey CC, Meagher DM, Brown D, Luck EE.A 24-year-old horse had a malignant melanoma of the right forefoot. Because surgical excision of the melanoma was incomplete, as determined by histologic examination of the excised tissue margins, the tumor margins were injected with a matrix therapeutic implant containing cis-diamminedichloroplatinum, epinephrine, and purified bovine collagen matrix. The foot healed and the horse remained clinically free of disease for 26 months before recurrence of malignant melanoma. Surgical exploration of the digit revealed extensive involvement of the foot, and the horse was euthanatized.
Bolton JR, Lees MJ, Robinson WF, Thomas JB, Klein KT.HAENIANGIOMAS and haemangiosarcomas are neoplasms of probable vascular origin that occur rarely in the equine eye in a survey there were 21 cases of vascular neoplasia in the skin of horses, and the prevalence of these two tumours was estimated to be 0.25 and 0.02 percent respectively (Hargis and McElwain 1984). Their incidence is likely to be less in the eye than in the skin and in two surveys of equine ocular tumours there is only brief mention of two hacnumgiasarcomas. one involving the lid (Morgan 1969), the other the orbit and lower eyelid (Lavach and Severin 1977). Only two cases of hacm...
Simon F, Laczay P, Móra Z, Lehel J.The target animal safety of a dexamethasone-prednisolone combination was studied on 12 horses divided into two groups of six each. One group of horses received the therapeutic dose of the combination (25 mg/animal dexamethasone pivalate and 75 mg/animal prednisolone) and the second group was given the threefold dose of it. The preparation was administered intravenously for 2 consecutive days. For assessment of safety a wide range of clinical, haematological, biochemical and urine variables were tested as laid down in the guidelines of the FDA. All horses treated by the therapeutic or the three...
Belknap JK, Derksen FJ, Nickels FA, Stick JA, Robinson NE.Upper airway flow mechanics and arterial blood gas measurements were used to assess the efficacy of subtotal arytenoidectomy for treatment of induced left laryngeal hemiplegia in horses. Measurements were collected with the horses at rest, and trotting or pacing on a treadmill (6.38 degrees incline) at speeds of 4.2 and 7.0 m/s. Experimental protocols were performed after right common carotid artery exteriorization (baseline), after left recurrent laryngeal neurectomy (LRLN), and after left subtotal arytenoidectomy. At baseline, increasing treadmill speed progressively increased peak inspirato...
Baird AN, Scruggs DW, Watkins JP, Taylor TS.Sixteen horses were allotted to 4 groups of 4 horses each to evaluate the effect of tendon sheath lavage with 4 solutions (balanced electrolyte solution, 0.1% povidone-iodine, 0.5% povidone-iodine, and 0.5% chlorhexidine). The synovitis caused by 0.1% povidone-iodine lavage was not appreciably worse than that caused by balanced electrolyte solution lavage, but the 0.5% povidone-iodine and chlorhexidine lavages caused severe synovitis, and, therefore, should not be used for tendon sheath lavage.
Bertone JJ.Antimicrobial treatment is an important component of infectious respiratory disease management. However, across all systems in horses there is substantial deficit in definitive information concerning the efficacy of antimicrobials. This disassociation between laboratory data and antimicrobial efficacy and the obstacles to effective antimicrobial treatment should be understood.
Matthews AG, Hackett IJ, Lawton WA.The effect of the mucolytic drug Sputolosin on the clinical signs of respiratory disease among 28 matched pairs of horses was examined. Compared with the untreated group, the treated group showed a significant decrease in the frequency of coughing and a decreased time to resolution of both cough and nasal discharge. The results indicate that the drug is potentially useful in the management of respiratory disease characterised by an abnormal or increased production of mucus.
Ettlinger JJ, Ford T, Palmer JE.Proximal enteritis was diagnosed on the basis of clinical signs of disease in 2 Standard-bred yearlings from the same farm. Large volumes of fluid were repeatedly obtained during gastric decompression. The horses did not respond to treatment with IV administered fluids, antimicrobial agents, cimetidine, and metoclopramide. Postmortem findings confirmed severe focal chronic active duodenitis with stricture formation. An etiologic agent was not identified.
Noschka E, Moore JN, Peroni JF, Lewis SJ, Morrow JD, Robertson TP.Inflammation and vascular dysfunction occur concurrently during the prodromal stages of equine laminitis. The aim of this study was to provide insights into the role that thromboxane and isoprostanes may play in the development of black walnut heartwood extract (BWHE)-induced laminitis. Horses were divided into two groups, either control or BWHE-administered horses. Plasma concentrations of thromboxane increased transiently after administration of BWHE and coincided with the nadir in white blood cell counts, whereas plasma concentrations of iso-prostaglandin PGF(2alpha) (iso-PGF(2alpha)) did n...
McClure SR, Schumacher J, Snyder JR.Three horses were found to have an extensive nasopharyngeal cicatrix that was responsible for respiratory impairment. The cicatrization was diagnosed by use of endoscopy during evaluations of the horses for inspiratory stridor. All 3 horses were treated by endoscope-guided transnasal incision of the cicatrix and were able to resume their previous activities.