Animal Care

Nata Kotliar/Shutterstock

MIND GAMES

Mark Newton-Clarke MAVetMB PhD MRCVS, Newton Clarke Veterinary Surgeons

March is a funny old month, often behaving in a very unpredictable manner. Some years it plays the late winter card and in others, it’s early summer. Whatever we get, one thing is true, it really is the start of spring and with that, there’s a change in mindset and mood for all life in the northern hemisphere. As the sun rises higher in the sky, so do our spirits – feelings often mirrored by our animals.

Many pet, horse and farm animal owners can relate to the idea that their own state of mind has an effect on their animals. Perhaps horses are more sensitive in this regard (certainly my own experience) but maybe it’s just their size and power that magnifies the effect. I spent years pushing stomach tubes down horses’ throats and arms up their backsides and I can tell you now, there needs to be a significant degree of understanding between vet and horse for this to be possible! I almost never had to use a twitch but instead took the time to make, what I felt, was a connection between us. Hocus pocus? Perhaps. But for you vets out there reading this, I did a large animal medicine residency at Cornell in the early 1990s. For the last 20 years, I have spent my time dealing with much smaller creatures although the vet/cat/dog connection is just as important, as is the relationship with the patients’ owners, which is essentially one of trust.

As vets, our job is so much easier if the patient (and the owner) is on our side, which effectively means ‘compliance’ – a state of mind achievable in a fair proportion of patients. Having said that, things are very different in the clinic compared with the home environment, where trying to give tablets to cats has moved into the realm of folk-lore. It’s not always plain sailing in the consultation room either, where our small animal patients fall somewhere along a spectrum of being ‘nice’ to ‘very difficult’. Nice patients let us do just about anything (providing

it’s not too painful) and difficult patients just won’t let us do anything at all! One interesting observation that we all made during the last couple of years, when owners could not accompany their pets into the clinic, was how much easier ‘difficult’ patients were when on their own. We often employ the same tactic now, taking a fractious pet away from its owner (with their permission) to a different room.

The truth is, however, that consultations with unpredictable animals are harrowing for everyone and trying to get anything of diagnostic value is a struggle. The result is a diagnosis and treatment plan which is based on very little information, making the vet feel uncertain and nervous that an important clinical sign has been overlooked. So how can we make our patients less stressed? After all, it’s the stress of the environment that triggers the unpredictable and sometimes aggressive behaviour. Unfortunately, I fall into the scary category for nervous dogs, being quite tall, male and bearded (well, masked in recent months...at least it hides the grey hairs!). Towering over dogs, making direct eye contact and reaching out towards them are all no-no’s as these are confrontational signals. That’s why I try to greet dogs sitting down and keep a distance, throwing treats towards them until an element of trust has been established. Many of you will know that I spend a good deal of time lying on the floor when a dog is scared, trying to make myself as submissive as possible. Although it puts me in a vulnerable position, I have never yet been bitten when I’m smaller than the dog, although I am selective.

Owners can really help us with tricky cases by identifying stress triggers and helping us avoid them. For example, many dogs hate getting on the scales (for a different reason than for most humans), so this should be left until last. Also, time spent in the waiting room can be really stressful, especially for cats, so this should be minimised. Maybe this was why car park consultations and then straight into the consult room worked so well, even though none of us miss standing in the rain, trying to maintain confidentiality despite shouting over the traffic noise.

The other side of the coin is the over-friendly dog that jumps onto my lap and wants to lick me. Very endearing but another reason to wear a mask as the canine tongue has usually been places! Not that I mind but if these dogs are over-stimulated, the clinical examination can be as difficult as for aggressive or very nervous dogs. So I try to moderate my greetings for these patients for no other reason than it can be counter-productive, at least until the examination is over.

So whatever happens in March, one thing’s for sure, the weather and the patients will continue to keep us guessing. For some, ‘unpredictable’ goes hand-in-hand with ‘interesting’ and ‘exciting’, so even after 37 years in this job, I am never bored.

newtonclarkevet.com

Sherborne Surgery Swan House Lower Acreman Street 01935 816228 Yeovil Surgery 142 Preston Road 01935 474415

SEASONAL PASTURE MYOPATHY

Dr Antonia Leech BVMSci (Hons), fCMgr, ACMI MRCVS, The Kingston Veterinary Group

Seasonal Pasture Myopathy (SPM) is a disease associated with horses eating sycamore seeds or seedlings, typically affecting horses in autumn when seeds are dropped or in spring when the seedlings are growing. As a disease that has only relatively recently been discovered to affect horses, the sycamore seeds and seedlings have been found to contain a substance called Hypoglycin-A (HGA) which, when eaten, converts into a toxin within the horse’s body. The toxin can rapidly slow or even stop energy production in the horse’s muscle fibres, and particularly affects the heart or muscles which enable the horse to stand and breathe. With only a 30-40% survival rate, even with rapid diagnosis and treatment, it is vital to prevent horses’ access to the sycamore seeds and seedlings.

Risk factors SPM can affect individual horses or several horses in the same group. Some horses appear to be more susceptible to the toxin than others which may be down to genetic differences or differing grazing habits. Cases often follow a sudden adverse change in weather conditions, such as a frost or heavy rain. Horses and ponies of any age, breed, sex and height can develop SPM. There is some evidence to suggest that young horses might be more severely affected, possibly due to spending more time outside and grazing and therefore have an increased likelihood of eating the sycamore seeds or seedlings.

Signs of SPM The onset of SPM is rapid and horses can quickly deteriorate within 6-12 hours, therefore it is important to know the signs to ensure fast discovery and prompt treatment. These signs include: muscle stiffness, muscle tremors, sweating, high heart rate, depressed with their head hung low, brown or dark red urine, weakness, struggling or reluctance to walk and/or difficulty standing, and breathing difficulties.

Diagnosis Call your vet out immediately if you spot any of these signs. To ensure a swift diagnosis the vets will confirm SPM depending on a clinical examination, grazing history and a variety of laboratory tests. As a confirmation of diagnosis may take several days, if SPM is suspected then treatment is often started before confirmation has been received.

Treatment Unfortunately, there is no anti-toxin but some medication can be used to help stop absorption of the toxin from the intestinal tract and severely affected horses often need to be admitted to a specialist hospital for intensive care including intravenous fluid therapy and anti-inflammatory medication. If horses survive the first few days of treatment, they usually recover completely although this may take several months. When a case is suspected or diagnosis confirmed, it is important to remove any field companions from the pasture and have blood samples taken for muscle enzyme analysis.

Prevention There are practical measures you can take to minimise the risk of SPM to your horse. These include: •Regularly checking pasture for sycamore plants and seeds. Some ‘helicopter’ seeds can travel up to 200m! •Avoid letting horses graze pastures with overhanging sycamore trees in the autumn •If horses have to remain in pasture where there are sycamore trees, fence-off areas where seeds and leaves fall or limit grazing time to less than six hours a day •Clear fallen sycamore leaves/seeds from grazing areas •In the spring, it’s recommended that seedlings are mowed and cuttings collected and removed •Provide clean, easily accessible water •Provide access to adequate grass and feed supplementary forage during the autumn •Reduce stock density so that there is enough good grazing for every horse •Reduce the spreading of manure and harrowing pastures as these have been found to disperse the toxic material throughout the pasture •The Royal Veterinary College offer a test to analyse seeds and seedlings for HGA so that you can test for the presence of HGA in your own pasture

As we approach spring, it is important to be vigilant with your own pasture in order to prevent the risk of this highly fatal disease.

kingstonvets.co.uk