Call Us
Goosnargh:
01772 861300
Lytham Road:
01772 718774
Kirkham:
01772 681992

Author: paige_soap

Equine Influenza – what’s the current situation?

There have been separate cases of Equine Influenza confirmed in the UK. Horses in Essex, Cheshire and Derbyshire have been affected this month with further reports of outbreaks in Belgium, France and Germany. With all three outbreaks it has been unvaccinated horses that have tested positive.

Currently the number of outbreaks is small but they have occurred within a short duration; to put things into perspective a similar number of cases were reported during the whole of 2018.

It is currently unknown which strain of the virus has caused these outbreaks, but research is being conducted to find out. While there are several signs of flu in horses, those affected may only show one or two of them.

What are the signs of infection?

Unvaccinated horses

  • In unvaccinated horses the virus targets the upper respiratory tract, this leads to a very dry, harsh or hacking cough.
  • They usually have a raised temperature which can last around 7-10 days. The fever often makes them dull, off their food and lethargic
  • A clear or white nasal discharge is often seen with enlargement of the submandibular lymph nodes (under their chin/throat area).

Vaccinated horses

  • Horses that have been regularly vaccinated often show no clinical signs, but they may still shed enough virus to infect other horses. This is how the outbreak in Australia in 2007 started.
  • Horses that have been vaccinated but only have partial protection, e.g. because they haven’t been vaccinated frequently enough or because the vaccine type used was not updated, may show varied signs of mild non specific respiratory disease. This can include mild lethargy, nasal discharge and possibly a cough.

What to do if you think there is a possible infected horse?

Owners should seek veterinary advice if they suspect there is flu on the yard and carry out the following precautions:

  • Isolate the possibly infected horses. Infected horses will spread the virus in respiratory droplets, through coughing, and can spread the virus for up to 10 days. They must be isolated until the vet advises they are no longer infected.
  • All horse movements on and off the yard should be stopped.
  • Monitor all horses on the yard for clinical signs and record their rectal temperature daily, it should be less than 38.0˚C. A rise in temperature can be an early sign of an infection.
  • Booster vaccinating all in-contact horses, even if they are not yet due their annual booster, has been shown to provide horses with even more protection against flu.

How to prevent it

Horse Flu is endemic in the UK, which means that most horses will come into regular contact with the virus during their lifetime. The control of horse flu in the UK is based on limiting the signs of infection in horses that have been exposed to the virus, rather than trying to prevent exposure itself. This is primarily achieved through regular vaccination which is given either once or twice a year.

If you have any questions about your horse’s vaccinations, please call our Equine Team on 01772 861300

Free* ACTH tests are back for 2019

Testing for PPID in your horse or pony

A few years ago PPID or Equine Cushing’s Disease was considered a rare hormonal disease in horses. Now it is thought to affect over 20% of horses over the age of 15 and is a condition recognised almost daily in equine veterinary practice.

Past ‘Talk about Laminitis’ test results show that you should look out for any of these clinical signs in your horse:

  • Laminitis
  • Abnormal or delayed moulting
  • Muscle wastage
  • Periorbital fat (fat round the eyes)
  • Increased drinking and urinating

In 2017, thousands of laminitic patients benefitted from PPID being ruled in or out of their condition during the Talk About Laminitis campaign, as a result, the Talk About Laminitis campaign will continue offering FREE* ACTH lab testing during 2019

You can claim your complimentary testing voucher code by visiting www.careaboutcushings.co.uk

If your horse is already on Prascend, you may be eligible for a free monitoring test (lab fees only). You can generate your voucher code for this by visiting the link above.

Terms & Conditions:

  • This free ACTH test voucher code is for the laboratory fees for a blood ACTH test only.
  • Each voucher is only redeemable against an ACTH blood test where the patient has not been previously diagnosed with PPID
  • Full T&Cs can be found below at www.careaboutcushings.co.uk
  • Oakhill blood sampling fee, visit fee and postage still apply.

The kitten & the dinosaur

At Oakhill Veterinary Centre our vets see many species of animal but don’t expect to come across dinosaurs!

Kodi, a 10 month old kitten presented with intermittent vomiting that had been going on for one week.  During his examination at our Watling Street Road branch, Oakhill Vet Ciara Callan could feel something abnormally firm and knobbly in his abdomen. Concerned that he may have eaten something that had become stuck Ciarra decided to sedate Kodi and take some X-rays.

The xrays didn’t show a bony foreign body but while Kodi was sedated the vet could have a really good feel of his abdomen and could feel there was something very strange going on in there so decided to take Kodi to surgery.

During surgery Ciara found that Kodi’s guts were inflamed and in his small intestine she found the culprit….. a dinosaur! Well the torso of what looks to be a toy T-Rex. 

The dinosaur was made of a soft rubber which is why it didn’t show up on the xray. If the dinosaur had been left Kodi wouldn’t have been able to eat and the results would have been catastrophic.

Kodi is doing very well after surgery, although he doesn’t like resting and wants to go back to playing with his brother.

Thank you to Kodi’s human mum for letting us share this story as warning to other cat parents to be careful with what their furbabies play with (although we have no idea where he found the dinosaur!).

What lurks beneath – equine lice

As our horses grow a thicker and longer coat over winter to keep themselves insulated it becomes an ideal breeding ground for lice, especially when we then cover this in a warm rug.

The life cycle of the louse is complete within 4 weeks and eggs hatch 10 days after being laid. Eggs or nits are small (1mm), yellowy-white in colour and glued tightly to the base of hairs.

Damalinia

Haematopinus Lice

Haematopinus

All horses can become infected with lice and those kept in large groups indoors, the elderly and young and those with immunosupressive conditions such as malnourishment and PPID (Cushings) are at an increased risk.

There are two types of lice affecting horses, a biting louse called Damalinia equi and a sucking louse called Haematopinus Asini.

Biting lice feed on skin scales and are found where the coat is finer (neck & body) whereas sucking lice feed on blood and are found where the hairs are longer in the mane and tail.

The feeding nature of the lice causes skin irritation with horses becoming extremely itchy. This can lead to patchy hair loss and a scurfy coat. In severe infestations the horse or pony can become anaemic.

Diagnosis is based on evidence and appearance of lice or their eggs.

Removal of the winter coat will help ensure treatment reaches the skin and has the best effect. Lice powders are available over the counter however anecdotally they don’t seem to work. Treatment needs to involve a permethrin or cypermethrin product applied every two weeks for a few treatments to ensure all life stages of the lice are killed. In addition if there is an underlying cause this needs to be identified and treated to prevent reoccurrence.

The lice affecting horses can’t affect humans however sharing rugs/ numnahs/ grooming kits can spread it horse to horse.

If you have any questions regarding lice on your horse, please contact us.

Think twice before breeding

We currently have a horse crisis, whereby the number of horses far outweighs the number of good homes available.

 

Whilst we would all love to rescue every horse or pony that needs a home it simply isn’t possible with the numbers out there. Unfortunately for every horse that is born it means one that is currently alive is pushed out of a potential home.

But why do we have this crisis? The blame can’t be pointed at any one group.

 

In fact, collectively, twice as many foals are produced by people who will only breed 1 to 5 foals than by people who will breed over 100 each.

 

This shows that, everybody reading this, whether you be a dealer, breeder, or pleasure horse owner, has a role in stopping this crisis from worsening. 

 

Why horse owners breed from their mares:

[checklist icon=”fa-arrow-circle-right” iconcolor=”#39aa87″ circle=”yes”]

  • Injury: If she is having to be rested for a prolonged period it seems a good idea to get a ‘use’ out of her. In fact, her recovery could be jeopardised due to the excess weight of the foal, energy being diverted from healing to producing the foal and her body being stressed.
  • Preserve desirable traits: If this is your aim then you need to ensure the stallion is just as good. Even then you aren’t guaranteed the foal won’t have problems.
  • Prevent laminitis: this is no longer thought to help and is most probably detrimental.
  • You can make money: Producing a foal to the age of 4 is now more expensive than buying a 4-year-old. Consider the cost if the mare doesn’t conceive first time, vaccinations, microchip, passport, worming, livery and extra food. Worse even more if the mare or foal become ill or are accident prone.

[/checklist]

Whilst I can appreciate breeding your mare, raising the foal and then riding it is a lovely experience it also can attract a great deal of stress. So, if you have deeply considered the above and still want to breed from your mare then keep a look out for another instalment to try help you prepare her for breeding.

 

Extended liver fluke season and climate change

Fascioliasis

An important stage of the Liver fluke life cycle takes place in mud snails and requires wet and warm conditions (above 7 – 10°C) during the summer months. Over the last couple of years unseasonal weather has seen these conditions well into autumn and winter. This means that sheep and cattle are still being infected later in the season and more frequent testing and treatment may be required.

Fascioliasis can have a serious financial impact on a sheep farm with immediate losses up to 10 per cent caused by acute/subacute disease. Chronic disease could half profits by reducing lamb crop and increasing ewe mortality. Lack of treatment in cattle will lead to reduced growth and yields and discarded milk if treatment is no targeted.

We recommend testing your sheep and cattle for the presence of Liver fluke. Treatment needs to be targeted at your flock/herd and will vary from farm to farm. Please discuss your individual requirements with your vet to develop a treatment plan for the coming months.

liver fluke life cycle

Border Disease

Border disease or hairy shaker disease is a virus which causes birth defects, barren ewes and abortion. It is from the same family of viruses as BVD in cattle.

If a ewe is infected during pregnancy the virus passes through the placenta to the lamb, in some cases this causes embryonic loss or abortion. Some lambs survive and are born Persistently infected (PI). PIs shed the virus continuously and can infect other sheep and lambs. This can be a major problem in naïve flocks unknowingly buying in PIs which can then cause around half of lambs born to be affected by the disease.

 

[checklist icon=”fa-arrow-circle-right” iconcolor=”#39aa87″ circle=”yes”]

  • Infection in non-pregnant adult sheep is generally short lived and mild, often no clinical signs are seen.
  • Hairy shakers are lambs infected with the virus whilst developing in-utero effecting their nervous system which leads to trembling and incoordination. They also have long curly wool.
  • Some lambs are born completely normal but maintain the infection, these are called Persistently Infected animals (PI).

[/checklist]

Hairy shakers are usually a good way to diagnose the presence of the disease. These lambs can also be blood tested to confirm presence of the virus.

Blood testing a group of ewes can identify if the flock has been exposed to the disease and is likely to be present.

To discuss with our Farm Team further, please contact us

 

Ovine Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma – OPA

Ovine Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma is caused by a virus leading to a progressive and fatal infectious lung cancer of sheep.

The virus is spread from infected sheep by aerosol and nasal discharge. It is often seen in older thin sheep. There is no treatment.

The signs are very similar to chronic pneumonia:

[checklist icon=”fa-arrow-circle-right” iconcolor=”#39aa87″ circle=”yes”]

  • Difficulty breathing
  • Weight loss
  • Excessive watery fluid from the nose
  • Sudden death
  • Secondary infections such as Pasteurella are common.

[/checklist]

 

Once signs are evident the disease is fatal.

The definitive diagnosis is made by post mortem examination of the lungs.

If there is suspected OPA ultrasound examination of the lungs can be considered.

If you wish to discuss further, please call our Farm Team on 01772 861300

Brexit: Travelling with pets after UK leaves the EU

Pet owners will still be able to travel to Europe with their pet after the UK leaves the EU, whatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. However, in the event of no deal, they may need to take some additional steps to be able to travel with their pet to the EU.

If pet owners are planning to travel after 29 March 2019 the Government will recommend they contact their vet at least four months in advance to check what they need to do.

Those wishing to travel to the EU on 30 March 2019, for example, should discuss requirements with their vet as soon as possible and by 28 November 2018 at the latest.

The requirements for travel would include making sure that pets are effectively vaccinated against rabies before they travel. This involves having an up-to-date rabies vaccination and a blood test to demonstrate sufficient levels of rabies antibody.

The blood test would need to be carried out a minimum of 30 days after any initial rabies vaccination and a minimum of three months before their travel date. This means that pet owners will need to talk to their vet about health requirements in good time to make sure they are able to travel with their pet.

The Government has published further guidance for pet owners on its website.

If you wish to discuss further, please contact us.