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SEVS News Dr.Jeske Noordergraaf
Welcome to the fall newsletter from Sunrise Equine Veterinary Services. Our barn is done and we are excited to show it off. Our staff has been busy setting up our open house; we hope you will join us. We will all be there along with representatives from feed and drug companies. Bring your questions or just come and say hello! We have seen many cases of laminitis this summer. The very hot dry weather stressed the grass and as we learned from the www.safergrass.org website, the sugar content in the few remaining grass blades is very high which is causing problems for horses who are overweight, have Cushing’s Disease or are insulin resistant. The sugar content of hay can also be very high. If your horse is having weight problems, test your hay. We are providing this service for $25.00 which includes having one of our vets look over the results with you and make recommendations. Thank you for your continued support and for recommending us to your horse friends. We look forward to seeing you this fall to help get your horses ready for winter. If there are additional services we can provide for you, please let us know and remember, you can always request your favorite veterinarian. I can also be reached to discuss any problems. If you have an emergency after regular business hours, don’t forget to call the office number to get the correct pager number of the Doctor on call. See you soon! Fall Tune Up Here are our recommendations to prepare your horse for winter, with the goal of having your horse be healthy, sound and in good body condition when spring comes.
Yeast– MOS We now carry a supplement called Yeast - MOS which can be given daily to promote a healthy gastrointestinal tract. Yeast works to eliminate GI irritation, optimize digestion and absorption by normalizing the hindgut microflora. Therefore, it is an effective aid in the treatment of chronic colic, diarrhea and weight loss. We have seen noticeable improvements in as little as 3 days. Samples will be available at our Open House!
Date to Remember Saturday October 21, st - 11 am “Winter Horse Care” by Kirsten Voigt, DVM Peterson’s North Branch Mill The professional’s first choice. The strongest holding power, strength where it matters and excellent conformability.
Special thanks to 3M Animal Care for sponsoring our newsletter! www.3M.com/animal care
Manure - How About Them Apples??
For most horse owners, manure is a constant chore. We clean it up, but it just keeps coming. It makes a smelly mess, and it’s not pretty to look at. However, despite its stinky reputation, manure can provide a wealth of information concerning your horse’s health. Most equine parasites use the intestinal tract for at least part of their life cycle. Manure can be tested regularly by us for parasite larvae and eggs. In some horses with heavy parasite loads, you can see the adult parasites with the naked eye! A common cause of colic in our area is sand colic. When eating off the ground or in sandy areas, horses can ingest fairly large quantities. How do we test for excess sand in our horses’ diets? By using manure! Horses with dental issues often show many different clinical signs. These include dropping feed, weight loss, and even choking on feed. Another sign is coarse fibers and undigested grain in, you guessed it, manure. Manure is also an important indicator of your horse’s hydration status. Normal manure is soft and very pliable when first passed, and when squeezed or stepped on, will usually exude liquid. If your horse is passing hard, dry fecal balls, it is very likely that he is mildly dehydrated. A very obvious change in manure that we all easily recognize is diarrhea. Infectious diseases, parasites, feeding changes, organ disease and cancer are all causes of diarrhea. Another obvious change is when your horse stops producing feces altogether. The average horse should produce 8-12 piles of manure daily, so any less should put you on alert. If you notice parasites or undigested food in your manure, if you see very dry feces or diarrhea, or a sudden drop in feces production, please call our office immediately. Manure can provide a great deal of information about the day-to-day health of your horse. By paying close attention to changes, you may be able to prevent serious illness and big vet bills in the future. So take a good look at your horse’s manure every day—it may just be trying to tell you something!!
Powerful Solutions! It is becoming well recognized that dentistry is extremely important to the overall health and behavior of our equine companions. The most common dental procedure is “floating”, which means filing the teeth. This is done to keep the mouth free of sharp enamel points which develop on the outer edges of the upper cheek teeth and the inner edges of the lower cheek teeth. Without floating, these sharp points cause cheek and tongue ulceration. Floating is also done to correct problems that have developed due to abnormalities of the mouth or lack of dental care in the past. The goals of floating are:
In the past the only way to float was using hand floats which are effective for removing sharp points. Power floating is a more recently employed method of floating that uses a specially designed power tool that can do the same job as the hand floats, in addition to correcting more severe abnormalities. It can be likened to using an electric drill instead of a screwdriver. Use of the power float requires that the horse be sedated and the mouth held open using a dental speculum. It also requires electricity. This allows for a thorough oral examination, both visual and by palpation, of the entire mouth including the very back teeth which are otherwise very difficult to assess. The ability to elevate the head from an overhead beam or stall door is very helpful and easily achieved with the use of the dental halter. The benefits of power floating are:
The time between floats varies from horse to horse, but on average should be done once or twice a year. Fall is a great time to schedule a dental check-up as it prepares horses for efficient winter calorie intake, and then in the spring they are prepared for being bridled and ridden. Power floating can be done on the farm if electricity is available, or horses can be hauled to our new treatment facility for the procedure.
We will be running a “Fall Special” with no office call charge for any horse brought to the clinic for power floating during the months of October & November. Come and see a demonstration in the new facility at our open house on October 14th, and then schedule your horse’s power float!!
Open House and Client Education Day Please come and share in our excitement as we present our
New Treatment Facility
Saturday, October 14 12pm - 4pm
Meet our staff, enjoy refreshments with us, and register for great door prizes to be given away throughout the day! (Must be present to win.)
Schedule of Events: 12pm: What is “Good “ Hay? Abby Duncanson & Ron Genrick from Assurance Feeds 1 pm : Grooming as part of Groundwork Tom Tweeten, PhD of ATH Science 2pm: Power Float Demonstration – Dr. Emily Steele 3pm: X-Ray Demonstration – Dr. Kirsten Voigt
Ongoing: Bring in a fecal sample (One fresh apple in a baggie will do) for a FREE parasite check provided by Intervet Poisonous Plants Display Meet Representatives from Fort Dodge, Assurance Feeds, Morton Buildings, Minnesota Horse Council, American Horse Council & More! Directions 7 miles East of North Branch on Hwy 95 then North on Poor Farm Rd (just East of County Road 9) 3rd place on the left
Suggested Deworming Schedule For Adult Horses April - Ivermectin/ Praziquantel (Equimax) June - Ivermectin (Equell) August - Strongid October - - Ivermectin/ Praziquantel (Equimax) December - Ivermectin (Equell) February - Strongid For deworming programs for foals, yearlings, and pregnant mares please call the office. There are some variations. We carry all these dewormers at our office along with Strongid C2X, the daily dewormer. |
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