High Desert Veterinary Service
Chrysann Collatos VMD,PhD,DipACVIMLA
775-969-3495 (Office) 742-2823 (Cell)
hidvet@gmail.com HighDesertEquine.com
Building Healthy Partners
Summer’s
end greetings to everyone,
Our animals step up for us every day,
sometimes in little ways, sometimes as champions. They never expect anything in return. Our
responsibility is to give back what they offer, to keep them safe and healthy.
Your Fall Clinic appointment is an important part of
your horses’s preventive health care program.
See you soon!
Dr. Chrysann
Fall Clinic Schedule
Routine Fall exam
includes flu/rhino vaccination, deworming or fecal examination, annual
dentistry consult, and sheath cleaning.
Also consider Microchipping!
To reserve an
appointment, call 775 969 3495 with:
- Your Name, Phone # and Clinic Date
- Number of Animals, and Services wanted
Your call won’t be returned until three days before your clinic when we will give an estimated time of arrival at your address. Please be sure horses are caught and haltered
30 minutes beforehand!
Location Date
Rancho Haven/Sierra Ranchos1
Fri Sept 7 Rancho Haven/Sierra Ranchos2 Sat
Sept 15
Red Rock North/Silver Knolls 1 Fri Sept 7
Red Rock North/Silver Knolls 2 Sat Sept 15
Span Springs/Palomino Valley 1 Fri Sept 14
Span Springs/Palomino Valley 2 Sat Sept 22
Antelope/Golden/Lemmon
Valley 1 Sat Sept 8
Antelope/Golden/Lemmon
Valley 2 Fri Sept 21
South & West Reno 1 Fri Sept 21
South & West Reno Sat
Sept 29
Discounted
prices ONLY AVAILABLE Clinic Day
Farm Call (per location) $11.00
Wellness Exam (mandatory) $15.00
West Nile $33.00
FluRhino $30.00
Strangles
Intranasal $34.00
Rabies $23.00
Tetanus/
Encephalitis $19.00
Ivermectin
Deworm $16.00
Coggins
Test $29.00
Sheath
Clean w/sedation $45.00
Fecal
parasite exam $19.00
Pre-registered
microchip $39.00
COLIC –
What YOU Can Do
We all
dread seeing a horse with colic. Despite my 30 years of veterinary experience,
I can’t guarantee that your horse will recover uneventfully. But YOU can make a
difference.
I
looked back at the first 25 horses I treated for colic last year. Of the 25, 6
(24%) experienced complications that required repeated visits or
hospitalization and 4 (16%) did not survive. The average cost for a single
visit with uncomplicated recovery was $300.
Early, specific veterinary intervention
is the key to successful treatment of colic.
Your ability to get temperature, pulse,
respiration, and evaluate gut sounds and gum color at the onset of a colic
episode can provide information critical
to your veterinarian’s treatment
decision process. All you need is an inexpensive stethoscope and a thermometer.
Here is a link to a good article in TheHorse.com https://thehorse.com/14385/the-basic-physical-examination/. Ask me to review your physical exam skills at
your fall clinic appointment. I am happy to help!
Signs of colic (in order of severity):
Ø Poor appetite
Ø Reduced manure production
Ø Lying down more than normal
Ø Stretching out as if trying to urinate
Ø Pawing, looking at flank
Ø Getting up and down, rolling
Understanding Equine Metabolic Syndrome & Laminitis
Equine
Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) has become a household word for many horse owners.
As we discuss this complicated syndrome, keep this KEY POINT in mind: horses with EMS do not handle
sugar and carbohydrate normally.
Therefore, strict dietary management is essential for successful
treatment.
Horses with EMS tend to be overweight, with an abnormal distribution of body fat. A cresty neck, soft fatty lumps at the tail base, and an enlarged sheath or mammary gland are hallmark signs. All horses with EMS are at high risk of laminitis, and often are first presented to a veterinarian with the complaint of sore feet.
Our bodies use sugar (glucose), carbohydrate, and fat as fuel. The hormone insulin directs the flow of these various fuels depending on the body's demands and the composition of the diet. Carbohydrates are long chains of sugar molecules, present both in hay and grain. When your horse eats, his blood sugar rises, triggering the production of insulin. Insulin drives glucose from the blood into the tissues where it provides energy to meet metabolic demands.
Horses with EMS are insulin resistant. The receptors on cells which normally are activated by insulin to take up glucose do not respond. Horses with EMS keep making insulin until they have enough to overcome the low sensitivity of cell receptors. The result is a horse with normal blood sugar, but high insulin
Horses with EMS tend to be overweight, with an abnormal distribution of body fat. A cresty neck, soft fatty lumps at the tail base, and an enlarged sheath or mammary gland are hallmark signs. All horses with EMS are at high risk of laminitis, and often are first presented to a veterinarian with the complaint of sore feet.
Our bodies use sugar (glucose), carbohydrate, and fat as fuel. The hormone insulin directs the flow of these various fuels depending on the body's demands and the composition of the diet. Carbohydrates are long chains of sugar molecules, present both in hay and grain. When your horse eats, his blood sugar rises, triggering the production of insulin. Insulin drives glucose from the blood into the tissues where it provides energy to meet metabolic demands.
Horses with EMS are insulin resistant. The receptors on cells which normally are activated by insulin to take up glucose do not respond. Horses with EMS keep making insulin until they have enough to overcome the low sensitivity of cell receptors. The result is a horse with normal blood sugar, but high insulin
So why is high blood insulin a problem? Because insulin does a lot more than just control blood sugar. Insulin also plays important roles in regulating blood vessel constriction and cellular inflammation. When EMS horses eat carbohydrate rich foods, they experience surges in insulin which can cause severe inflammatory responses in other tissues in the body. Specifically, high insulin can cause devestating changes in blood flow and cellular activity within the hoof. Laminitis is a painful condition that can result in permanent damage to the mechanical structure of the hoof. In severe laminitis cases, unmanageable pain and mechanical tissue destruction can be fatal.
Let’s try to understand the connection between EMS and laminitis more completely. Laminitis, commonly called founder, is an inflammatory condition. The horse’s outer hoof wall is connected to the deeper, sensitive tissues of the foot like a tongue and groove floor, where each layer interlocks in a repeating pattern. However, unlike a floor, the horse's foot is alive and in motion. The hoof utilizes glucose at an exceptionally fast rate compared to other tissues in the horse’s body, constantly remodelling in response to the tremendous dynamic forces of the horse’s weight, and the effects of the environment .
For the foot to remain healthy, glucose must be
able to reach the tissues bonding the hoof layers together. But remember, the
EMS horse is insulin resistant. This creates a double-whammy for the
hoof:
First, glucose
transport is compromised by a poor response to insulin, impairing the energy supply
to the living tissues of the hoof, and
Second, insulin, which
constricts blood vessels and triggers inflammation, becomes abnormally high in
an effort to improve energy supply, triggering damaging mechanical effects
within the tissues of the hoof which already are starved for critical energy.
Careful dietary management is the
key to successful treatment of horses with EMS. Our goal is to feed a diet composed
of high quality energy sources with low glycemic index, reducing insulin surges
while meeting metabolic demands.
Call today to schedule your
Fall Clinic appointment!
HighDesertEquine.com
Building Healthy Partners.
