Veterinary care in horses encompasses the medical and preventive measures taken to maintain and improve the health and well-being of equine patients. It includes a wide range of practices such as routine health examinations, vaccinations, dental care, parasite control, and management of injuries and diseases. Veterinary care also involves diagnostic procedures, surgical interventions, and therapeutic treatments tailored to the specific needs of horses. This page gathers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore various aspects of equine veterinary care, including advancements in diagnostic techniques, treatment protocols, and health management strategies to support the well-being and performance of horses.
Berthoud D, Schwarzwald CC.Echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular (LV) size and function using area-based indices and volumetric estimates is not well established in horses. Objective: To report reference intervals and measurement variability for uni-, 2-, and 3-dimensional echocardiographic indices of LV size and systolic function in Warmblood horses and to provide proof of concept for allometric scaling of variables to body weight. Unidimensional indices were to be compared to area-based indices and LV volume estimates to establish their clinical use. Methods: Thirty healthy Warmblood horses and 70 Warmblood...
Yuen KY, Gibson JS, Hinrichsen S, Medina-Torres CE, Bertin FR, Stewart AJ.Prudent use of antimicrobials is paramount to slow the development of resistance and for successful treatment. The use of cumulative antibiograms will allow evidence-based antimicrobial selection with consideration of local resistance patterns. We generated a "first-isolate-per-patient" cumulative antibiogram for a regional equine referral hospital. Bacterial organisms cultured from horses between 2011 and 2018, sample origin, antimicrobial susceptibilities, and multidrug-resistant (MDR) status were tabulated. Of 1,176 samples, 50% were culture positive. Overall, 93 of 374 (25%) were MDR. Of t...
Wood W, Alm K, Benjamin J, Thomas L, Anderson D, Pohl L, Kane M. To recommend (1) the adoption of optimal terminology for referring to services in the United States that incorporate horses and other equines to benefit people, and (2) the discontinuation of especially problematic terminology. A diverse multidisciplinary consortium of individuals, including representatives of relevant national organizations, participated in an inclusive, systematic, and comprehensive 2-year consensus-building process. Twelve specific types of services were identified that relate to one of three broad areas of professional work: therapy, learning, or horsemanship. Related t...
Rodriguez J, Maserati M, Robilotta T, Augusto G, Alonso MA, Redoan M, Tibary A, Fleury P.Field collection of oocytes in mares using transvaginal follicular aspiration (TVA) for embryo production has the potential to revolutionate the equine industry. Protocols for TVA in specialized laboratory settings have been described in the scientific literature since the early 1980s. The objective of this study was to determine the success rate of TVA oocytes recovery under ambulatory conditions. A secondary goal of this study was to determine if TVA is associated with any health complications when performed by recently trained practitioners in the field. Follicles (n = 296) from 66 adult c...
Cerullo M, Driessen B, Douglas H, Hopster K. In anesthetized adult horses, changes in recumbency can influence the cardiovascular system but how arterial blood pressures and oxygen tension change in isoflurane anesthetized animals as a direct result of hoisting has not been investigated. To evaluate effects of hoisting on hemodynamic function and pulmonary gas exchange in isoflurane-anesthetized horses. Prospective, experimental study. Six adult horses were anesthetized three times using isoflurane in pure oxygen (inspired fraction 0.9-1.0), and allowed breathing spontaneously in lateral recumbency. After 45 min horses were hoisted u...
Câmara RJF, Bueno BL, Resende CF, Balasuriya UBR, Sakamoto SM, Reis JKPD.Donkeys () and mules represent approximately 50% of the entire domestic equine herd in the world and play an essential role in the lives of thousands of people, primarily in developing countries. Despite their importance, donkeys are currently a neglected and threatened species due to abandonment, indiscriminate slaughter, and a lack of proper sanitary management. Specific knowledge about infectious viral diseases that affect this group of is still limited. In many cases, donkeys and mules are treated like horses, with the physiological differences between these species usually not taken into...
Haussler KK.The clinical assessment of pain is subjective; therefore, variations exist between practitioners in their ability to identify and localize pain. Due to differing interpretations of the signs or severity of pain equine practitioners may assign varying levels of clinical significance and treatment options. There is a critical need to develop better tools to qualify and quantify pain in horses. Palpation is the most common method to detect local tenderness or sensitivity. To quantify this applied pressure, pressure algometry has been used to gradually apply pressure over specified landmarks until...
Haussler KK.The clinical assessment of pain is subjective; therefore, variations exist between practitioners in their ability to identify and localize pain. Due to differing interpretations of the signs or severity of pain equine practitioners may assign varying levels of clinical significance and treatment options. There is a critical need to develop better tools to qualify and quantify pain in horses. Palpation is the most common method to detect local tenderness or sensitivity. To quantify this applied pressure, pressure algometry has been used to gradually apply pressure over specified landmarks until...
Pfau T, Reilly P.Low-cost sensor devices are often limited in terms of sample rate. Based on signal periodicity, the Nyquist theorem allows determining the minimum theoretical sample rate required to adequately capture cyclical events, such as pelvic movement in trotting horses. Objective: To quantify the magnitude of errors arising with reduced sample rates when capturing biological signals using the example of pelvic time-displacement series and derived minima and maxima used to quantify movement asymmetry in lame horses. Methods: Data comparison. Methods: Root mean square (RMS) errors between the 'reference...
Nielsen MK, Gee EK, Hansen A, Waghorn T, Bell J, Leathwick DM.Strongylid and ascarid parasites are omnipresent in equine stud farms, and ever-increasing levels of anthelmintic resistance are challenging the industry with finding more sustainable and yet effective parasite control programs. Objective: To evaluate egg count levels, bodyweight and equine health under defined parasite control protocols in foals and mares at two Standardbred and two Thoroughbred stud farms. Methods: Longitudinal randomised field trial. Methods: A total of 93 foals were enrolled and split into two treatment groups, and 99 mares were enrolled and assigned to three treatment gro...
Poissant J, Gavriliuc S, Bellaw J, Redman EM, Avramenko RW, Robinson D, Workentine ML, Shury TK, Jenkins EJ, McLoughlin PD, Nielsen MK, Gilleard JS.Horses are ubiquitously infected by a diversity of gastro-intestinal parasitic helminths. Of particular importance are nematodes of the family Strongylidae, which can significantly impact horse health and performance. However, knowledge about equine strongyles remains limited due to our inability to identify most species non-invasively using traditional morphological techniques. We developed a new internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) DNA metabarcoding 'nemabiome' assay to characterise mixed strongyle infections in horses and assessed its performance by applying it to pools of infective larvae ...
Kamran K, Ali A, Villagra CA, Bazai ZA, Iqbal A, Sajid MS.Ivermectin and fipronil have been used regularly to control the hard tick Hyalomma anatolicum (Acari: Ixodidae) in domestic ruminants for more than a half-decade in Balochistan, Pakistan. Inappropriate and indiscriminate use of these acaricides has resulted in the development of resistances in tick species. In this work, acaricides (ivermectin and fipronil) resistance was evaluated in H. anatolicum through in vitro and in vivo bioassays in a horse farm of Quetta, Balochistan province, Pakistan. A participatory epidemiological survey was conducted to assess potential risk factors associated wit...
Francis JM, Perry EB.Horse treat packaging may be composed of materials including plastic and paper which protect the product from the environment to improve shelf life. Objectives of this research were to 1) assess the impact of packaging on shelf life of horse treats and 2) evaluate the impact of packaging on horse preferences. Three packaging treatments (control, poly, and paper) were examined at five time points over a 12 month period. Treatments were analyzed for moisture, water activity, mold, yeast, pH, and volatile organic acids. Horse preference testing evaluated first treatment sniffed, consumed, and fin...
Journal of biomechanicsNovember 21, 2020
Volume 114 110146 doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2020.110146
Roepstorff C, Dittmann MT, Arpagaus S, Serra Bragança FM, Hardeman A, Persson-Sjödin E, Roepstorff L, Gmel AI, Weishaupt MA.Objectively assessing horse movement symmetry as an adjunctive to the routine lameness evaluation is on the rise with several commercially available systems on the market. Prerequisites for quantifying such symmetries include knowledge of the gait and gait events, such as hoof to ground contact patterns over consecutive strides. Extracting this information in a robust and reliable way is essential to accurately calculate many kinematic variables commonly used in the field. In this study, optical motion capture was used to measure 222 horses of various breeds, performing a total of 82 664 steps...
Merson C, Navas Gonzalez FJ, Orth E, Adams A, McLean A.The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged professors and students of all disciplines to adjust quickly to remote online teaching and education platforms. In this new era of remote teaching, a greater challenge has been presented in the field of equine science; how to effectively share knowledge that is most often demonstrated by providing students access to live, in-person animal examples. Historically, students and teachers believed skill sets, which are vital for future careers in the industry (e.g., veterinarian) must be learned through hands-on experience. However, in-person methods were not av...
Rodriguez JY, Finneburgh BM, Lewis BC, Flanagan J, Snowden KF.Heterobilharzia americana is a trematode parasite (family: Schistosomatidae) of mammalian wildlife that occasionally infects domestic dogs and horses in the southeastern United States. This report presents the first case of H. americana infection in a Grant's zebra (Equus burchelli boehmi). The parasite was diagnosed post mortem as an incidental finding by histopathologic identification of H. americana eggs in the liver parenchyma after the zebra succumbed in an accidental traumatic death. Molecular analysis of a portion of the parasite small subunit ribosomal RNA gene demonstrated 100% identi...
Meinders RI, Mendoza M, Dickey AN, Scholl EH, Hassan HM.We report the complete circular genome sequences of six strains and their plasmids, if any, from the fecal material of quarter horses at different ages.
Bolfa P, Cercone M, Dennis MM, Conan A, Grevemeyer B, Ducharme NG.Equine arytenoid chondritis causes airway obstruction and abnormal upper airway noise due to a space-occupying lesion(s) and decreased abduction. Our objective was to compare clinical scores and ultrasonographic findings with gross and microscopic lesions of naturally occurring arytenoid chondritis, in order to guide surgical treatment. Seventeen naturally affected horses with advanced/severe chronic arytenoid chondritis and 4 control arytenoid cartilages were evaluated after partial arytenoidectomy. Cartilages were sectioned caudal to the corniculate process and the body of each arytenoid was...
Lohse J, Pietrantoni P, Tummers C.Burn injuries are uncommon in large animals and there are no reports of these injuries in donkeys. Burns cause local and systemic effects. Extensive thermal injuries can be challenging to manage and the extent of the burn surface affected will directly impact the severity of the illness and the prognosis. Burns are classified according to the depth of injury into four categories, from first-degree burns, and the least affect to fourth-degree burns, which are the more severely affected patients. This case report describes the medical management of four donkeys that sustained various degrees of ...
Charles LN.A 3-year-old Quarter Horse mare presented with an approximate 1-month history of progressive weight loss, anorexia and lethargy that abruptly worsened 48Â h before death. Post-mortem examination revealed free flocculent fluid and a large mass within the ventral abdomen that dorsally displaced the caecum and large intestine. An ovarian teratocarcinoma with metastasis to regional lymph nodes was diagnosed histologically. Although benign teratomas are the second most common ovarian neoplasm in equids, reports of malignant teratomas in horses are rare. This report documents an unusual presentation...
Campoy L, Sedgwick SR.Procedural sedation has become popular for describing a semiconscious state that allows patients to be comfortable during certain surgical or diagnostic procedures. Sedation may be enhanced by locoregional anesthetic techniques to produce sufficient analgesia and muscle relaxation for surgery to occur. Sedation and local anesthesia for standing diagnostic and surgical procedures on the horse's head circumvents the potential complications of general anesthesia (particularly, complications related to recovery). However, the implementation of a locoregional anesthetic technique requires a thoroug...
Easley J.Equine dentistry has been practiced for almost 3000Â years, making it one of the oldest areas of equine health care. Progress has been slow and mirrored changes seen in human medical care. Many horsemen practiced equine dentistry during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Most of what was known then concentrated on sharp enamel points and abnormal dental occlusal wear. This changed slowly in the late twentieth century as research in equine dentistry increased. Today, veterinarians performing equine dentistry focus on detailed oral examination and base treatment for proper diagno...
Vilaregut L, Lores M, Wilsher S.This review details the current state of knowledge about the equine yolk sac and its remnant (YSR) in the pregnant mare, which, incidentally, is the only animal species known to exhibit large and/or ossified YSR. It also describes the clinical significance of the YSR and details a case of a strangulating YSR that caused fetal death and abortion.
Galloway SS, Earley ET.Oral extraction has become the most popular extraction technique owing to its high rate of success with minimal major complication. Repulsion continues to produce unacceptably high iatrogenic complication rates. To avoid tooth repulsion, veterinary dentists have introduced procedures to facilitate difficult intraoral extractions and surgical extraction techniques. Minimizing complications is best achieved preoperatively. A comprehensive preoperative evaluation and treatment plan allows the dentist to predict intraoperative complication and prepare for procedures to produce the best outcome. Wi...
Gieche JM.This article serves as a template for equine veterinarians to become proficient in basic intraoral premolar and molar extraction techniques of Equidae. Indications, equipment, and methodology are described. Numerous photos and videos are included to achieve a more immersive learning experience than can be accomplished with the written word alone. Clinicians performing these techniques will continue to improve their skillsets to achieve positive outcomes as case specifics become more challenging.
Earley ET, Galloway SS.Dental repulsion techniques reported in the past decades have a high incidence of complications. Although the practice of surgical extractions in horses is limited because of the training, instrumentation, and experience required to perform these techniques, veterinarians should be aware these procedures are available, general anesthesia is not required, and when performed by skilled veterinary dentists they have low complication rates. Surgical techniques are often used after failure of other extraction techniques to remove retained tooth root and fragments or to debride chronically contamina...
Zetterström S, Groover E, Lascola K, Cole R, Velloso A, Boone L.A five-year-old Thoroughbred mare was evaluated because of chronic, malodorous, unilateral nasal discharge, and suspected maxillary cheek tooth root abscess. Skull radiographs revealed bilateral sinusitis suspected secondary to tooth root abscessation of 109 and 210. Following oral extraction of 109, bilateral conchofrontal sinus trephination and lavage; fever, tachycardia, and cervical stiffness developed. A lumbosacral cerebrospinal fluid tap was performed, and a presumptive diagnosis of bacterial meningitis was made. Targeted therapy consisted of antibiotic treatment with penicillin, enrofl...
Cohen ND, Peloso JG.To identify risk factors for recurrent colic and chronic, intermittent colic in horses. Methods: Case control study. Methods: The population included 768 horses examined by veterinarians for emergencies other than colic (control group). Methods: Horses with colic that had history of colic (n = 232) were compared with those without such history (n = 536), using logistic regression analysis to identify risk factors for history of previous colic and to determine odds ratios (OR) for these associations. Among the 232 horses in the history of colic group, 58 horses that had chronic, intermittent co...
Miyamoto M, Ueno HM, Watanabe M, Tatsuma Y, Seto Y, Miyamoto T, Nakajima H.Airag is a traditional fermented milk of Mongolia that is usually made from raw mare's milk. Lactobacillus helveticus is one of the lactic acid bacteria most frequently isolated from airag. In this study, we investigated the genetic and physiological characteristics of L. helveticus strains isolated from airag and clarified their significance in airag by comparing them with strains from different sources. Six strains of L. helveticus were isolated from five home-made airag samples collected from different regions of Mongolia. The optimal temperature for acidification in skim milk was 30 to 35Â...
Holl HM, Pflug KM, Yates KM, Hoefs-Martin K, Shepard C, Cook DG, Lafayette C, Brooks SA.Variations in the SLC45A2 gene are responsible for the dilution phenotypes cream and pearl in domestic horses. Cream dilution is inherited in an incomplete dominant manner, diluting only red in the heterozygous state but both red and black pigments when two alleles are present. The pearl dilution is recessive and dilutes only the red and black pigment in the homozygous state or when paired with a cream allele. Horses that inherit one copy of pearl (C ) and one copy of the dominant cream allele (C ) display a dilution phenotype similar to that of homozygous cream, suggesting that pearl is the ...
Morita H, Shiratori C, Murakami M, Takami H, Kato Y, Endo A, Nakajima F, Takagi M, Akita H, Okada S, Masaoka T.Two strains, KBL13(T) and GBL13, were isolated as one of intestinal lactobacilli from the faecal specimens from different thoroughbreds of the same farm where they were born in Hokkaido, Japan. They were Gram-positive, facultatively anaerobic, catalase-negative, non-spore-forming and non-motile rods. KBL13(T) and GBL13 homofermentatively metabolize glucose, and produce lactate as the sole final product from glucose. The 16S rRNA gene sequence, DNA-DNA hybridization, DNA G+C content and biochemical characterization indicated that these two strains, KBL13(T) and GBL13, belong to the same species...
Thiemann AK, Poore LA.This article provides a review of hoof anatomy and care in donkeys and mules. Hoof disease is a major cause of poor welfare and mortality globally. Problems associated with hoof disease are discussed in the context of behavior, diet, treatment, and prevention. The most common conditions encountered are discussed, including laminitis, the overgrown unbalanced hoof, white line disease, flexural deformities, and other significant issues. Differences between donkey and horse hoof anatomy are described.
Ellis JM, Hollands T.Six hundred horses of different ages, heights and breeds were weighed on a weighbridge and had their weights estimated by two weigh tapes, 1 and 2, by a formula, and by a visual estimate. For the population as a whole, the most accurate method was the formula (mean [sd] 98.6 [10.6] per cent) closely followed by weigh tape 2 (98.1 [8.1] per cent). Tape 1 and the visual estimate were the least accurate (112.0 [9.3] and 88.3 [20.1] per cent respectively). When the population was divided into two height groups, the formula and weigh tape 2 were the most accurate for horses or = 15 hh weigh tape 1...
de Laat MA, Sillence MN, Reiche DB.Equine endocrinopathic laminitis is common and can be associated with an underlying endocrinopathy, such as equine metabolic syndrome (EMS), pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), pasture consumption, or any combination of these factors. Objective: The aim of the study was to improve the risk assessment capabilities of clinicians, and to inform management strategies, for acute endocrinopathic laminitis by prospectively examining the phenotypic, hormonal, and clinical characteristics of the disease in a large cohort. Methods: Privately owned horses and ponies (n = 301) of any age, se...
Egito AS, Miclo L, López C, Adam A, Girardet JM, Gaillard JL.The equine alpha(s1)- and beta-caseins (CN) were purified by chromatography on DEAE-cellulose and by reversed-phase HPLC. The alpha(s1)-, beta-, and kappa-CN were characterized either by monodimensional urea-PAGE or sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS)-PAGE or by bidimensional electrophoresis. Kappa-casein was characterized after electrophoresis by glycoprotein-specific staining. To identify alpha(s1)-CN without ambiguity, internal sequences were determined after trypsin or chymosin digestion of purified alpha(s1)-CN. These sequences, that could be estimated to correspond to 62% of the full protein, pr...
Tirosh-Levy S, Gottlieb Y, Arieli O, Mazuz ML, King R, Horowitz I, Steinman A.Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is an important tick-borne disease of equids, caused by Theileria equi and Babesia caballi. It is endemic in most parts of the world, including Israel, and has clinical and economic consequences. This study was set to evaluate the presence of EP parasites in domestic donkeys and in wild equids in Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). To assess subclinical EP infection in 98 domestic donkeys (Equus africanus asinus), 9 Asiatic wild donkeys (Equus hemionus), 8 zebras (Equus quagga), 7 African wild donkeys (Equus africanus) and 5 mules, were tested using PCR and qPC...
Watt GM, Finch CF.The medical and sports literature databases were searched for equestrian sports-related injury published in English since 1980, together with conference abstracts and discussions with equestrian sporting bodies. This literature was critically reviewed, with emphasis on measures to prevent or control injury i.e. countermeasures. While there is considerable literature available on the epidemiology of injury incurred in most equestrian sports, there is little on the prevention of these injuries. Case-control or other studies evaluating the effectiveness of the countermeasures suggested by authors...
Johnson ACB, Biddle AS.Cyathostomins are a multispecies parasite ubiquitous in Equids. Cyathostomins have developed resistance to all but one class of anthelmintics, but species-level sensitivity to anthelmintics has not been shown. This study measured reinfection rates of cyathostomin species following the administration of three commercial dewormers. Nine treated horses were compared with 90 untreated controls during June-September 2017-2019. Ivermectin (IVM) (n = 6), Moxidectin (MOX) (n = 8) or Pyrantel (PYR) (n = 8) were orally administered. Fecal samples were collected every 14 d for 98 d. Fecal egg count reduc...
Rogers CW, Firth EC.To identify the magnitude and sources of error involved in simply quantifying the workload of a group of Thoroughbred racehorses in training. Methods: Data were obtained from seven 2-year-old fillies trained for 13 weeks on sand and grass tracks at various cantering velocities, and at the gallop in the last 4 weeks. Four fillies completed training and comprised a 'high exercise intensity' subgroup; three fillies did not complete all gallops due to lameness or injury and comprised a 'medium exercise intensity' subgroup. The trainer recorded the distance, time, track used, and subjective gait (S...
Graham-Thiers PM, Kronfeld DS.The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of supplementary AA on the ability to support muscle mass in aging horses. Sixteen horses of light horse type were used in a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments with two age groups [ or = 20 yr (average = 22.4 +/- 0.87 yr)] and two diet groups [no supplementation (N) or supplementary lysine and threonine (S; 20.0 and 15 g/d, respectively)]. Horses were fed the diets for 14 wk and received regular light exercise throughout the study. Body weight, BCS, and venous blood samples were taken every 2 wk. Plasma was analyzed for total protein...
Westermann CM, de Sain-van der Velden MG, van der Kolk JH, Berger R, Wijnberg ID, Koeman JP, Wanders RJ, Lenstra JA, Testerink N, Vaandrager AB....Two horses (a 7-year-old Groninger warmblood gelding and a six-month-old Trakehner mare) with pathologically confirmed rhabdomyolysis were diagnosed as suffering from multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MADD). This disorder has not been recognised in animals before. Clinical signs of both horses were a stiff, insecure gait, myoglobinuria, and finally recumbency. Urine, plasma, and muscle tissues were investigated. Analysis of plasma showed hyperglycemia, lactic acidemia, increased activity of muscle enzymes (ASAT, LDH, CK), and impaired kidney function (increased urea and creatinine). ...
Carnevale EM.Assisted reproductive techniques that are based on oocyte manipulations have gained acceptance in the equine industry. Methods to collect and handle immature or maturing oocytes have been developed, and systems to ship oocytes now allow for collection in one location and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in another. Subsequently, ICSI-produced embryos can be transferred onsite, shipped to another location, or cryopreserved. Methods for the collection, identification, culture, maturation, and shipment of equine oocytes are reviewed, with an emphasis on procedures from laboratories providi...
Pyörälä S, Taponen J, Katila T.Use of antimicrobials for veterinary indications related to reproduction in cattle and horses is reviewed. Antimicrobial compounds are widely used to treat and prevent infections of reproductive organs. Total amounts of antimicrobials for such purposes, estimated by weight, are low compared with major uses in food animals. The most common reproduction-related indication in cattle is mastitis. The number of intramammary products available for treatment of mastitis in the European Union is high. Metritis and endometritis also require antimicrobial treatment of cattle and specific products for in...
Williamson RM, Beveridge I, Gasser RB.To compare the sensitivities of three coprological techniques for the diagnosis of Anoplocephala perfoliata infection in horses and to assess the value of the methods for diagnosis of horses at risk of clinical cestodiasis. Methods: Faecal samples were collected from necropsied horses with or without A perfoliata infection and examined using one sedimentation and two different flotation methods. The coprological results were compared with worm counts performed at necropsy of the horses and the degree of mucosal damage. In addition, the efficiency of recovery of A perfoliata eggs from faeces wa...
Zielińska P, Soroko M, Howell K, Godlewska M, Hildebrand W, Dudek K.The aim of the study was to assess differences in the influence of high-intensity laser therapy (HILT) on the skin surface temperature and vein diameter of the lateral fetlock joint region in a group of racehorses with pigmented and non-pigmented skin in the treatment area. Twenty Thoroughbreds were divided into two equal groups: pigmented and non-pigmented skin groups. Each horse received the same HILT treatment. Just before and immediately after HILT, thermographic examination was performed to measure the skin surface temperature and ultrasonographic examination assessed the lateral digital ...
Stratton-Phelps M, Wilson WD, Gardner IA.To determine whether foals with pneumonia that were treated with erythromycin, alone or in combination with rifampin or gentamicin, had a higher risk of developing adverse effects, compared with foals treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMS), penicillin G procaine (PGP), or a combination of TMS and PGP (control foals). Methods: Retrospective study. Methods: 143 foals < 240 days old. Methods: Information on age, sex, breed, primary drug treatment, total days of treatment with the primary drug, and whether the foal developed diarrhea, hyperthermia, or respiratory distress was obtained...
Jin S, Issel CJ, Montelaro RC.We recently reported a highly protective attenuated live virus vaccine for equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) based on a proviral construct (EIAVUKDeltaS2) with a genetically engineered mutation in the viral S2 gene that eliminates expression of this accessory protein. While the EIAVUKDeltaS2 vaccine provides protection from detectable infection by experimental challenge with highly virulent virus, the potential for commercial application of this vaccine is complicated by the fact that horses inoculated with the EIAVUKDeltaS2 vaccine strain become seropositive in various reference diagnosti...
Monzon CM, Mancebo OA, Russo AM.An ELISA test was used to determine the persistence of antibody levels in horses following treatment for Trypanosoma evansi. In 17 horses with T. evansi from two farms treated and cured with quinapyramine sulphate, ELISA antibody levels fell progressively post-treatment, but remained with positive results for 22.6 months in one horse, 12.8 months in a second, 4.1 months in another four and 2.3 months in three, whilst the rest became negative at 2.3 months. In two horses that suffered a post-treatment infection relapse the decrease in ELISA levels was only temporary, and a new increase in antib...
Immonen IA, Karikoski N, Mykkänen A, Niemelä T, Junnila J, Tulamo RM.Surgical treatment of colic is expensive and complications may occur. Information on the prognosis and the use of the horse after surgery for colic is important for surgeons and owners. Current literature on return to athletic function after celiotomy is limited. The present study reviewed surgical cases of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Helsinki, Finland for 2006-2012. The aim was to follow the population of horses of different breeds for surgical findings, postsurgical complications, long-term recovery and prognosis. The findings and their influence on survival, return to previous or inte...
Dunkel B, Johns IC.To discuss controversies surrounding antimicrobial use in critically ill horses. Methods: PubMed searches from 1970-present for terms including, but not limited to: "horse," "foal," "antimicrobial," "prophylaxis," "infection," "surgery," "sepsis," and "antimicrobial resistance." Results: Increasing bacterial antimicrobial resistance has changed first-line antimicrobial choices and prompted shortening of the duration of prophylactic and therapeutic treatment. The need to decrease bacterial resistance development to critically important antimicrobials has been highlighted. Results: Veterinary me...
Waller AP, Huettner L, Kohler K, Lacombe VA.Although insulin resistance (IR) has been increasingly recognized in horses, a clear understanding of its pathophysiology is lacking. The purpose of the present study was to determine the early pathologic changes in IR horses by characterizing alterations in proteins that play key roles in innate immunological responses and inflammatory pathways, and by identifying potential links with glucose transport and insulin signaling. Visceral (VIS) and subcutaneous (SC) adipose tissue and skeletal muscle (SM) biopsies were collected from horses, which were classified as insulin-sensitive (IS) or IR ba...
Tozaki T, Ohnuma A, Iwai S, Kikuchi M, Ishige T, Kakoi H, Hirota K, Kusano K, Nagata S.Gene doping is banned in human sports, horseracing, and equestrian sports. One possible form of gene doping is to administer exogenous genes, called transgenes. Several transgene detection methods based on quantitative PCR have been developed. In this study, we investigated the robustness of digital PCR and real-time PCR in transgene detection using primers and probes that matched (P-true) or incompletely matched (P-false) the template DNA. Fluorescence intensity was significantly reduced when substituted probes were used compared to that using the matched probe in both digital and real-time P...
Barrio E, Rickards KJ, Thiemann AK.Clinical evaluation and preventative care in donkeys should follow similar guidelines as for horses. There are species-specific differences due to the desert-adapted physiology of the donkey. Donkeys are mainly used as pack animals, companions and for production of meat or milk - they may be kept well into old age. Diseases often present late or may go unrecognized leading to poor welfare and quality of life. Basic knowledge of nutrition, blood values, pharmacology and common disease recognition will help veterinarians improve the health and welfare of donkeys.
Kim H, Lee YK, Kang SC, Han BK, Choi KM.Various new technologies have been applied for developing vaccines against various animal diseases. Virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine technology was used for manufacturing the porcine circovirus type 2 and RNA particle vaccines based on an alphavirus vector for porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED). Although VLP is classified as a killed-virus vaccine, because its structure is similar to the original virus, it can induce long-term and cell-mediated immunity. The RNA particle vaccine used a Venezuela equine encephalitis (VEE) virus gene as a vector. The VEE virus partial gene can be substituted with ...
Priester WA, Glass AG, Waggoner NS.A mass survey of the distribution of congenital defects in various types of livestock was made possible by the processing by the Veterinary Medical Data Program (VMPD) of standard observations collected on 137, 717 patients seen at veterinary college clinics between Mar. 1964 and Jan. 1969. A total of 6455 animals with 1 or more congenital defects was found. The data were analysed according to species, institution and organ system. Pigs had the highest proportion of congenital defects, cats the lowest. Over all, the systems most frequently involved were the musculo-skeletal and urogenital. The...
Jose-Cunilleras E, Kohn CW, Hillier A, Saville WJ, Lorch G.To compare responses to a variety of intradermally injected allergens among healthy horses and horses with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), recurrent urticaria (RU), and atopic dermatitis-insect hypersensitivity (allergic dermatitis [AD]). Methods: Case-control study. Methods: 86 horses. Methods: Results of intradermal testing for horses with COPD, RU, or AD were compared with results for healthy horses. Results: Compared with healthy horses, horses with COPD, RU, and AD were significantly more likely to have positive (> or = 3+) reactions to intradermal allergens (molds, weeds, t...
