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.
Lees P, Creed RF, Gerring EE, Gould PW, Humphreys DJ, Maitho TE, Michell AR, Taylor JB.Five matched pairs of horses were used to investigate the effects of phenylbutazone on a range of physiological, biochemical and haematological variables. The drug was given by mouth daily for 15 consecutive days at the manufacturer's recommended dose rates to one group of horses (Group A); the second group (Group B) received equivalent doses of a placebo. For some of the measured parameters, significant changes were recorded in both groups, indicating background instability. Significant decreases in serum total protein, albumin, plasma pH, viscosity and magnesium, and an increase in albumin: ...
Glade MJ, Krook L, Schryver HF, Hintz HF.Epiphyseal and articular cartilages were examined in pony foals treated with intramuscular injections of either 0.5 mg dexamethasone per 100 kg bodyweight daily for 3, 8 or 11 months, or 5.0 mg per 100 kg for 11 months, and in horse foals treated with 5.0 mg per 100 kg for 20 weeks. The proximal femoral growth plates exhibited increased spatial separation between chondrocyte columns, narrowed zones of disorganized columnar and hypertrophic cartilage, abnormal penetration of hypertrophic cartilage by metaphyseal capillaries, retained cartilage in the spongiosa, distal terminal plate formation, ...
Barber SM, Clark EG, Fretz PB.In 2 horses with rapidly growing, locally destructive tumors of the premaxilla, there was major disruption and displacement of some incisor teeth, with radiographic evidence of disruption of the premaxilla at the base of the tumors. In horse 1, most of the tumor was removed by incising it at its base, and the tumor bed was treated cryosurgically with 3 freeze-thaw cycles, using liquid nitrogen. The area healed by 2nd intention. The tumor was found to be a benign fibroblastic tumor, possibly a fibroma. After 4 years, there has been no recurrence. Horse 2 was euthanatized on the basis of a tenta...
Moore CP, Fales WH, Whittington P, Bauer L.Gram-negative bacteria were the most common microbial isolates from 38 eyes of 37 horses with ulcerative keratitis. Pseudomonas sp, Enterobacter group, and Acinetobacter sp were the most prevalent. Fungi were cultured from 15 eyes and included 7 genera, with Aspergillus sp being the most prevalent. Ten of the eyes with fungal keratitis had been treated with corticosteroids. Eleven of 38 eyes had mixed bacterial and fungal infections. Clinically, the most severe cases were those in which Aspergillus and gram-negative bacteria existed in a mixed infection. On the basis of susceptibility testing,...
Newsholme SJ.Gross, histological and ultrastructural findings are described in 6 natural cases and in 2 experimental cases of African horsesickness. From the gross lesions the cases were divisible into 2 groups which represented the previously described pulmonary and mixed forms of the disease. Histologically, abundance of fibrin and inflammatory cells in oedematous lung suggests that the pulmonary lesion is an exudative pneumonia. Lymphoid depletion and necrosis in germinal centres were consistently present. Electron microscopy failed to demonstrate virus particles or virus-associated structures in the ti...
Prescott JF, Hoover DJ, Dohoo IR.The pharmacokinetic parameters of erythromycin in foals were determined following intravenous administration of 5.0 mg/kg to animals aged 1, 3, 5 and 7 weeks. The distribution of the drug was described by a two-compartment open model, and no significant differences were observed between coefficients on which the parameters were based. Pharmacokinetic values were also determined for four mares given 5.0 mg/kg intravenously and for six 10-12-week-old foals given 20.0 mg/kg intravenously. The half-life of erythromycin for all groups of animals (foals less than 7 weeks, mares, foals 10-12 weeks) w...
Brimijoin S, Mintz KP, Prendergast FG.Interactions between dansylarginine N-(3-ethyl-1,5-pentanediyl)amide (DAPA) and the cholinesterases were examined by the techniques of enzyme kinetics and fluorescence spectroscopy. When tested with partially purified enzyme preparations, DAPA was a potent inhibitor of butyrylcholinesterase (IC50 = 2 x 10(-7) M) but not of acetylcholinesterase (IC50 = 4 x 10(-4) M). For a detailed study of the effects of DAPA on butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), the enzyme was purified to homogeneity from horse serum, with the aid of affinity chromatography on N-methyl acridinium. The kinetics of the inhibition o...
Hackett RP.Nonstrangulated colonic displacement was diagnosed by exploratory celiotomy in 32 horses with acute abdominal pain. Clinical signs progressed slowly and included evidence of mild to moderate abdominal pain, good cardiovascular status, reduced intestinal sounds, and normal peritoneal fluid, and resembled those of colonic impaction. In most horses, rectal palpation supported a diagnosis of colonic obstruction but not a diagnosis of colonic impaction.
Threlfall WR, Keefe TJ.Serum levels of ticarcillin disodium, a semi-synthetic penicillin (Beecham Laboratories, Bristol, Tennessee, 37620), were measured at various time intervals up to and including 24 h after intrauterine and intramuscular administration in adult female horses. Three separate studies were conducted in Part I: in the first and second studies, serum levels were measured after intrauterine administration of 1 and 3 g of ticarcillin, respectively, and in the third study, levels were measured after intramuscular administration of 6 g of ticarcillin. In Part II, serum levels of ticarcillin were measured...
Reef VB.A 10-year-old Quarter Horse mare was referred for evaluation and treatment of a large pectoral skin slough and hemoglobinuria. The skin slough was secondary to Clostridium perfringens cellulitis and associated gas gangrene. Cold hemagglutinin disease was diagnosed and was suspected to be secondary to C perfringens septicemia. The autoimmune hemolytic anemia, severe intravascular hemolysis, and hemoglobinuria were treated with dexamethasone and hydrocortisone. The infection was treated with 20 X 10(6) units of sodium penicillin, IV, 4 times daily, and the wound was debrided. When the mare relap...
Ludwig KG, Craig TM, Bowen JM, Ansari MM, Ley WB.Twenty-eight foals whose dams were treated IM with ivermectin (200 micrograms/kg of body weight) on the day of parturition were compared with 35 foals whose dams were administered only the vehicle. The effect of ivermectin on the vertical transmission of Strongyloides westeri and foal heat diarrhea was determined by a comparison of results obtained in the 2 groups. Foals from treated mares had significantly fewer S westeri eggs per gram of feces from 17 to 28 days postpartum. There were no differences observed in the frequencies of severity of foal heat diarrhea between the treated and control...
Richardson DW, Kohn CW.The case records of 22 foals with uroperitoneum were reviewed. The most common cause was a defect in the urinary bladder. A sex predilection for males was apparent. Clinical signs were tachycardia, tachypnea, and abdominal distention. The history pertaining to micturition was variable. Hyponatremia, hypochloremia, and hyperkalemia were marked. A reliable means of diagnosis was considered to be the demonstration of a wide disparity in serum and peritoneal fluid creatinine values. Surgical repair was successful in 11 of 18 cases, although surgical and anesthetic complications were common. Some o...
Fretz PB, McIlwraith CW.Five young horses with fetlock varus deformities of 8 degrees or greater were treated by means of wedge osteotomy of the distal end of the 3rd metacarpal or metatarsal bone. Three patients were admitted to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and 2 to Colorado State University. Their selection as surgical patients was based on the following criteria: (1) an angular limb deformity of 8 degrees or greater, (2) patient older than 120 days, (3) no evidence of lameness, and (4) no evidence of degenerative joint disease. The surgery was successful in all cases.
Townsend HG, Tabel H, Bristol FM.Parturition was induced in 11 mares, using a synthetic prostaglandin. Eight mares, not treated, were used as controls. There was no significant difference between the serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentrations of the treated and control mares. The concentration of IgG in the colostrum of treated mares compared favorably with that reported for naturally foaling mares. Four foals from treated mares died or were euthanatized because of weakness during the 1st 24 hours after birth. The mean IgG concentration in the surviving foals from treated mares at 24 to 36 hours of age was 1,561 mg/100 ml, w...
Guerrero J, Michael BF, Rohovsky MW, Campbell BP.Eighteen pony foals were experimentally infected with 500 third stage larvae of Strongylus vulgaris at 2 weeks, and at 2, 4, 6 and 8 months after birth. For the duration of the study, all foals were kept in the same pasture with their mothers to allow natural infection with other parasites by exposure to a contaminated environment. Twelve of the foals were utilized in groups of 3 and treated orally five times at two month intervals starting at one month of age with closantel at doses of 5, 10, 20 or 40 mg kg-1. Ten months after birth the foals were necropsied to determine the parasitic burdens...
Binev R, Valchev I, Nikolov J.Monitoring of changes in some blood laboratory parameters in 34 horses after ingesting freshly harvested maize that was to be used for ensiling, heavily contaminated with young Datura stramonium plants, is described. For a 7-day period the following parameters were monitored: haemoglobin content (HGB), red blood cell counts (RBC), white blood cell counts (WBC), haematocrit (HCT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), differential white cell counts (DWC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), protein fractions, aspa...
Orsini JA, Roby KA.A modified surgical procedure for creation of a carotid loop for repeated percutaneous sampling of arterial blood gas was performed on 8 Holstein heifers and 14 horses. This approach permitted sampling of blood gas via fine-needle aspiration (one to three times daily) and/or catheterization for extended periods. It offers several advantages over previously reported techniques, including greater accessibility, absence of postoperative complications such as hematoma formation, and absence of foreign materials supporting the loop.
Puchol JL, Herrán R, Durall I, López J, Díaz-Bertrana C.A 13-month-old female Andalusian was evaluated because of a congenital left deviation of the maxilla and nasal septum, which had resulted in a gross malocclusion of the maxillary incisor teeth. Surgical correction of a deviated nasal septum and premaxilla in a horse was first reported in 1978 and involved a pre-maxilla osteotomy and use of an autogenous rib graft, with a nasal septum osteotomy performed in a second surgery; to the authors' knowledge, no alternative surgical treatments have since been described. In this horse, a new surgical treatment by distraction osteogenesis without nasal s...
Yoxall AT.The principles of radiological protection are summarised and consideration is then given to problems, which may confront the equine practitioner, in the fulfillment of these principles during diagnostic radiography of the limbs, head, and spine of the horse. The place of anaesthesia in such procedures is discussed and the special problems associated with therapeutic radiography of the horse are considered.
Azizi S, Hashemi-Asl SM, Torabi E.Surgical treatment of traumatic abdominal hernias is usually delayed for 2-3 months following injury. The residual defects are then repaired by herniorrhaphy or mesh herniorrhaphy. Objective: To describe the outcome following herniorrhaphy (without a mesh) within 21 days of initial injury to repair external traumatic lateral abdominal hernias in horses and mules. Methods: Descriptive case series. Methods: Twenty-two cases were included. Surgical treatment involved exposure of the hernia sac and closing of the abdominal wall defect with interrupted Mayo mattress or cruciate sutures after redu...
Brumbaugh GW.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.
Kumbhani TR, Raval SH, Parmar RS, Patel JG, Bechara VJ, Sindhi PI, Modh SP.A 6-year-old Marwari mare presented with recurrent vulvar growth. The growth was surgically excised, fixed and processed routinely. Microscopically, neoplasm showed proliferation of epithelial and myoepithelial cells with tubulopapillary pattern. On immunohistochemistry, myoepithelial cells showed strong immunoreactivity with smooth muscle actin alpha and p63. On basis of histopathology and immunohistochemistry, tumour was diagnosed as complex apocrine carcinoma. This case report describes first confirm vulvar complex apocrine carcinoma in equines.