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The Modern

Equine Vet www.modernequinevet.com

How to provide

Vol 4 Issue 8 2014

pain Relief for Laminitis Pay attention! What is the horse telling you?

Technician Update

Table of Contents

Cover story:

4 How to provide pain relief for laminitis Cover photo by Shutterstock/Anelina

behavior

Pay attention! What is the horse tell you?...................................................................... 3 Infectious diseases

Lyme disease multiplex Q&A................................................................................................8 hoof care

Farrier Service at New Bolton Center is pioneer in hoof..........................................11 The Feedbag

Diet shows promise in fending off joint pain..............................................................12 Technician Update

Considerations for the new horse owner: The technician's role.......................................................................15 News

Equine influenza viruses: Threat to human health? ..........17 advertisers Shanks Veterinary Equipment.............................. 3 Merck Animal Health............................................ 6

Horseside Vet Guide............................................ 10 AAEVT.................................................................. 14

The Modern

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Issue 8/2014 | ModernEquineVet.com

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Behavior

Horses are sensitive to the facial expressions and attention of other horses, including the direction of the eyes and ears, according to a new report in the Cell Press journal Current Biology.

The findings are a reminder for veterinarians to look beyond their own limitations and recognize that other species may communicate in ways that we cannot, the researchers said.

“Our study is the first to examine a potential cue to attention that humans do not have: the ears,” said Jennifer Wathan of the University of Sussex. “Previous work investigating communication of attention in animals has focused on cues that humans use: body orientation, head orientation, and eye gaze; no one else had gone beyond that. However, we found that in horses their ear position was also a crucial visual signal that other horses respond to. In fact, horses need to see the detailed facial features of both eyes and ears before they use another horse's head direction to guide them.”

The new study also challenged the notion that animals with eyes to the sides of their heads cannot glean information based on the direction of one another’s gaze.

Wathan and Karen McComb took photographs to document cues given by horses when they were paying attention to something. Then Wathan and McComb used those photographs as life-sized models for other horses to look at as they chose between two feeding buckets. In each case, the horse in the photo was paying attention to one of the buckets and not the other. In some instances, the researchers also manipulated the image to remove information from key facial areas, including the eyes and the ears.

The researchers’ observations show that horses rely on the head orientation of their peers to locate food. However, that ability to read each other's interest level is disrupted when parts of the face — the eyes and ears — are covered up with masks. The ability to correctly judge attention also varied depending on the identity of the horse pictured, suggesting that individual facial features may be important, the researchers report.

Wathan and McComb plan to continue to explore facial features related to the expression of emotion in their horses, noting that horses’ rich social lives and close relationship to humans make them particularly interesting as study subjects. Understanding horses’ social lives might also have implications for their welfare.

Photos courtesy of The University of Sussez

Pay attention! What is the horse telling you?

“Horses display some of the same complex and fluid social organization that we have as humans and that we also see in chimpanzees, elephants, and dolphins,” Wathan said. “The challenges that living in these societies create, such as maintaining valuable social relationships on the basis of unpredictable interactions, are thought to have promoted the evolution of advanced social and communicative skills. There is a general interest in studyMeV ing species with this social structure.”

Jennifer Wathan and one of her test subjects.

Lifting Large Animals Since 1957

For more information: Wathan J, McComb K. The eyes and ears are visual indicators of attention in domestic horses. Current Biology, 2014; 24 (15). Read the article free here: http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S09609822(14)00739-8.

www.shanksvet.com • info@shanksvet.com ModernEquineVet.com | Issue 8/2014

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cover story

pain relief for laminitis in the field Photos courtesy of Dr. Alonso Guedes

How to provide

A horse with laminitis suffers an inflammatory disease, and the pain is very complex with multiple components.

The pain that accompanies both acute and chronic laminitis is a complex syndrome that is often challenging to manage. Laminitis often requires more than simple monotherapy with NSAIDs for adequate pain relief. A multimodal approach offers the best chances for optimum control of laminitic pain, according to Alonso Guedes, DVM, MS, PhD, assistant B

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professor of clinical, surgical and radiological science at the University of California Davis, College of Veterinary Medicine.

Laminitis causes several types of pain. First, the disruption of the normal attachment of the laminae connecting the distal phalanx to the hoof wall causes a nociceptive pain, which is the pain associated with acute trauma to the tissue. In

response to the laminar injury, inflammatory cells infiltrate the area to help repair injured tissues, but they release inflammatory mediators, and activate nociceptors that result inflammatory pain.

The ischemia and inflammation in the early stages of laminitis injures the neurons and shifts from acute pain to a more chronic pain state with a prominent neuropath-

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ic component. If the pain is not managed properly, the horse will suffer wind-up pain, which occurs when pain is hypersensitive and allodynic. This hyperalgesia produces an exaggerated response to normally painful stimuli and the allodynia makes the horse sensitive to even non-painful stimuli.

This wind-up pain is typically very difficult to treat.

Standard laminitis management includes non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) to reduce pain and inflammation. Used alone, however, they do little to abate the pain, especially if allowed to windup, according to Guedes.

“Most likely, the single therapeutic modality for pain control in many cases is not enough,” Guedes added.

Promote healing

But if one can manage the painful response, it will promote healing, according to Guedes, and might even save the horse’s life because severe pain in a horse can sometimes be life-threatening (i.e., leads to euthanasia). Laminitis is one of the most common reasons for equine euthanasia, and Guedes believes that often owners just cannot bear to see the animal suffer.

“In some situations, we feel at least in our practice, if you can get the pain under control, you will allow time for therapy and for healing. A lot of times clients cannot stand to see the horse so painful and suffering so much, and they decide to end suffering with euthanasia. I think having good pain control is important for the treatment of these patients,” he said.

Therapeutic options for pain in horses in general are limited, Guedes admitted, however, he has had good success with tramadol

and sometimes ketamine and/or gabapentin.

Tramadol does not have an animal indication. Still it is used off-label for dogs, and Guedes is comfortable using it in horses, he said. Tramadol is an inhibitor of the reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine, neurotransmitters that are important in the pain pathways. It has also been shown to decrease the plasma concentration of TNF- alpha, which tends to irritate the nerve cells stimulating them to fire. This might contribute to a more painful response.

“This drug has a multimodal analgesic effect, which is good when you are treating multimodal types of pain,” he said.

In one study that Guedes and his colleagues did, they treated horses with chronic laminitis and measured the amount of times they shifted their weight. Normal horses shift their weight from one limb to the other approximately once every two minutes. When they experience laminitis in both limbs, and this is more typical in the front limbs, the weight shifting increases and there is shift of weight to nonaffected limbs.

They saw improvement in weight shifts in tramadol treated horses with bilateral front limb chronic laminitis. If the horses received ketamine in addition to the tramadol for the first three days of treatment, the shifts frequency and forelimb load improved dramatically.

Another drug that appears effective against neuropathic pain is gabapentin, which is a sodium and calcium channel blocker. For a horse, he suggested starting with a higher dose of gabapentin and then dropping it down as soon as the pain is managed. However, gabapentin has not been systematically

investigated in the laminitic horse, so the reports are anecdotal.

Horses don’t like the taste of tramadol. Guedes recommended crushing 5 mg/kg of tramadol and putting it into corn syrup or molasses, administered every 12 hours with a dose syringe. The ketamine is administered as a constant rate infusion at a dose of 0.6 mg/kg per hour diluted in 0.9% saline for six hours a day for three to five days or longer if needed. He uses a syringe pump but a gravity drip is also an option if done carefully. Since it might not be practical to give an infusion in the field, Guedes said it can also be administered as an intramuscular shot at 0.5 mg/kg every six hours. Gabapentin at doses of 2.5 to 20 mg/kg is given orally every 8, 12 or 24 hours as needed.

A few horses might suffer colic from these medications, especially tramadol since it has opioid-like effects, so keep an eye on potential GI effects.

Guedes found that using more than one product targets different pain pathways and provides a more sustained response.

He suggested that veterinarians think of the mechanisms and pathways of pain that the horse might be suffering, and then target them with therapy.

“The degree of pain you are trying to control should dictate the size of your gun so to speak,” he said. “Tramadol is something to consider in the management of laminitic horses, ketamine might be an option to be added in some cases or gabapentin when ketamine is not available.

“I think a multimodal analgesic approach is what you need to keep in mind. Laminitic pain is a very complex pain syndrome and chances are that one single therapy will not be enough.”

MeV ModernEquineVet.com | Issue 8/2014

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Q&A: Lyme disease

Lyme disease multiplex

Q&A

w i t h D r. B e t t i n a Wa g n e r Summer means tick season in many parts of the United States. Bettina Wagner, associate professor in the department of population medicine and diagnostic sciences and director of serology at the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell, explained the significance of the Animal Health Diagnostic Center's multiplex assay used for testing for Lyme disease.

No Lyme disease vaccine is indicated for horses, but due to concerns about this disease in horses, some veterinarians choose to give one of the canine vaccines off label.

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Issue 8/2014 | ModernEquineVet.com

Does Lyme disease treatment with antibiotics affect antibody levels?

Antibiotic treatment affects the pathogen (Borrelia burgdorferi). It does not directly influence antibody titers. However, if the treatment is successful and bacteria are removed from the host, the B cells are not triggered to produce new antibodies. As a consequence antibody levels decrease after treatment. Thus, antibody levels are indicators of treatment success (or failure).

bodies may not have completely disappeared at this time. However, they should have dropped by about 50% of the original positive value(s).

How long after treatment should the horse be re-tested?

Antibodies decrease slowly but gradually after the pathogen is cleared from the host’s circulation. Re-testing should not be performed too early. For horses with positive values for antibodies to OspF but negative values for antibodies to OspC (OspC-/OspF+), retesting should be done three months after the treatment was started. For horses with a positive OspC antibody value (OspC+/ OspF- or OspC+/OspF+) retesting can be done 6-8 weeks after the treatment started. At the time of retesting, a decrease of antibody levels can be expected in successfully treated animals. Serum anti-

If an animal were antibody positive for Lyme and treated, then re-tested with no changes in Ab levels, what is recommended?

Antibody titers can decline slowly in some animals. If the animal shows clinical signs consistent with Lyme disease retreatment should be considered. It cmight also indicate a switch to another antibiotic. If no clinical signs of Lyme disease are observed, different approaches can be tried: • A different antibiotic can be used, • treatment time can be extended, or • the animal is not treated again but its antibody status is monitored every 6-12 months

For non-vaccinated horses: If antibodies to OspA are positive, but antibodies to OspC and F are equivocal, what is recommended?

Retest in 2-3 weeks. The pattern may indicate an early infection. If the horse is truly infected, antibodies to OspC and/or OspF will rise during that time.

(depending on risk of new infection).

If no increase in antibody values option and the animal is free of clinical signs, no further treatment is recommended.

What is MFI? Median Fluorescent Intensity; The Lyme multiplex assay is based on fluorescent detection technology. The values are expressed as MFIs. The higher the antibody concentration to B. burgdorferi is in the sample, the more light is emitted. This is reflected by higher MFI values. Highly positive sera reach values of 20,000 MFI or higher.

Does Lyme Multiplex assay detect IgM or IgG? The Lyme Multiplex assay detects total antibody levels. The routine test does not distinguish between IgM and IgG. The pattern of antibodies to the different Osp antigens determines early or chronic infection.

Can a tick carry other infectious organisms besides B. burgdorferi cause a double infection?

Yes, it can. The most common other organism is Anaplasma.

Does treatment immediately after a tick bite negate signs of early infection?

Not every tick carries B. burgdorferi. The infection rate of ticks also varies with geographic region. Therefore, treatment should not be performed based on a tick bite alone. If the tick was found on the animal it can be sent in for B. burgdorferi PCR. PCR for Anaplasma can be performed simultaneously if requested. If the tick was infected, early treatment can be considered. However, a tick must feed for at least 24 hours on

an animal or human for B. burgdorferi transmission to occur.

Only a serological test will confirm whether transmission of B. burgdorferi occurred and the animal was infected. Antibodies can be detected in infected animals as early as 3-4 weeks after infection.

Lyme Multiplex testing is recommended after that time. Treatment can be initiated immediately afterward if antibody levels are positive. Treatment during this early infection phase is generally very effective.

How soon after infection can antibodies be detected with the Lyme Multiplex assay?

As early as 3-4 weeks after infection depending on the tick load, the amount of bacteria per tick and the animal’s immune response.

Can an animal get infected despite being vaccinated?

Yes. This has been observed that some animals can still get infected after Lyme vaccination.

This can be due to a low immune response of the respective animal and/or a very high exposure rate or Lyme prevalence in the area where the animal lives. A yearly check of the OspA titer is recommended for a vaccinated animal to ensure that the animal responded with high OspA antibodies to vaccination. Please indicate the name of the vaccine and when it has been last applied on the accession form.

Which antibodies does the vaccine from Merial induce?

It is a recombinant vaccine based on OspA. Vaccinated animals should develop high antibody levels to OspA and maintain negative antibody levels to the remaining two antigens. Infected/ non-infected animals can be iden-

tified based on OspC and OspF antibody values. Detection of the early Lyme infection stage is possible after using this vaccine.

Which antibodies does the vaccine from Merck induce?

This vaccine is based on recombinant OspA and OspC and is expected to induce antibodies to both of them. The use of this vaccine interferes with the detection of early Lyme infection in vaccinated animals. However, infected animals can still be identified based on OspF antibody values.

When do clinical signs of Lyme disease occur?

Only 5-10% of infected animals are expected to show clinical signs of Lyme disease. They typically occur at the chronic disease stage and as early as 2-5 months after infection. Clinical signs can also develop much later.

Do antibodies to B. burgdorferi determine active infection?

In untreated animals, antibodies to OspC and/or OspF are indicators of infection with B. burgdorferi. Many infected animals don’t show clinical signs and maintain constant antibody levels to the pathogen. It is believed that many animals can control the persistent infection. However, increasing antibody values indicate re-activation of or re-infection with the pathogen.

In treated animals, antibody levels decrease slowly and are usually still detectable for several months if treatment was successful.

Can we test fluids other than serum?

Yes, CSF samples can be submitted from horses with neurological signs. The CSF sample needs to ModernEquineVet.com | Issue 8/2014

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Q&A: Lyme disease

be submitted together with a serum sample from the same animal and taken at the same time. The relative increase of antibodies in CSF can indicate local production of antibodies in the CNS. Typically, one or two antibody values (out of the three Osp values in the multiplex assay) are increased more than two-fold if B. burgdorferi contributes to the neurologic condition.

For other samples, contact the lab first (phone 607.253.3900).

Can an animal on treatment get re-infected?

Yes, infected ticks can also feed on animals while they are treated.

In this case, the treatment will likely prevent establishment of persistent infection.

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Depending on circumstances, Lyme antibodies can be detected as early as 3-4 weeks.

For animals that have not been vaccinated, can OspA values be positive? How should this be interpreted?

Antibodies to OspA have previously been interpreted as markers for vaccination. Non-vaccinated animals usually have low values

for antibodies to OspA, while vaccinated animals develop these antibodies. OspA antibodies have been shown to protect from infection with B. burgdorferi.

However, there is accumulating evidence that antibodies to OspA can occur without vaccination. First, residual OspA is present on the bacterial surface at the time of transmission to an animal.

This causes a low and transient OspA antibody response early after infection. Second, antibodies to OspA have also been associated with treatment-resistant Lyme arthritis and with development of autoimmunity in human patients. Similarly, OspA antibodies in non-vaccinated horses can be considered as markers of chronicity and disease severity.

MeV

hoof care

Farrier Service at New Bolton Center is pioneer in hoof care

By Louisa Shepard Penn Vet’s Farrier Service at New Bolton Center has created pioneering techniques using glue-on shoes and synthetic polymers for hoof reconstruction, and continue to conduct groundbreaking research on hoof care.

Chief of Farrier Services Pat Reilly continues to explore new materials and techniques for the advancement of hoof care, with several important research studies underway: • Development of a protocol for in-shoe force measurement as a means of quantifying the effect of different shoes on the hoof.

• Computer analysis of the hoof that can lead to a better understanding of deformation of the equine hoof.

• Methods to treat and prevent laminitis, including development of orthotics to help horses distribute weight more evenly across their hooves. Laminitis — a life-threatening condition — occurs when structures that stabilize the foot become inflamed and painful, and can be caused by placing excess weight on one or more hooves.

Since the soundness of the hoof is so critical to the overall health of a horse, its farrier partners with veterinarians in the equine sports medicine service, as well as surgery and internal medicine to diagnose and treat horses. The program is one of the oldest in

View videos of the in-shoe force measuring system at work.

Chief of Farrier Services Pat Reilly Courtesy of The New Bolten Center

the country and one of the few working farrier programs that are part of a veterinary school.

Penn Vet is the only veterinary school with a laboratory to develop new technologies related to farrier science: the Applied Polymer Research Laboratory, born from the work of Reilly’s predecessor, Rob Sigafoos.

In the 1980s, Sigafoos fashioned a device that some consider the biggest breakthrough in the industry in the last several hundred years: a glue-on horseshoe.

Nailing a shoe into the hoof of a horse impairs the hoof ’s integrity, but a glue-on shoe, which uses fabric to bond the orthotic to the outer surface of the hoof, reinforces and strengthens the hoof. Penn Vet holds the patent for the shoe’s design.

MeV ModernEquineVet.com | Issue 8/2014

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The feedbag

Diet shows promise in

fending off joint pain Adding supplement to daily ration may help decrease inflammation in young horse

Shutterstock/ Lenkadan

A series of studies by re-

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searchers in the department of animal science at Texas A&M University suggest prevention is the best “cure” for arthritis in young Quarter horses.

Josie Coverdale, PhD, MS, associate professor in equine science, and Jessica Lucia, PhD, MS,

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a former graduate student under Coverdale and now assistant professor at Sam Houston State University, found use of anti-inflammatory aids mixed with daily rations can help decrease joint inflammation in young horses.

“Arthritis is one of the most common reasons we retire hors-

es, and this study shows that prevention of joint damage in early training may be possible through diet,” Coverdale said. “It’s pretty clear the damage comes during early training and that damage often leads to arthritis later in life.

A lot of pharmaceuticals are given to treat pain, but few actually help

repair the cartilage. We went with the premise that prevention is the best approach rather than trying to treat an existing condition.”

Coverdale said they used the horse production herd at Texas A&M to develop the model and test several diet additives. Lucia read through numerous journals and read a study that used LPS (lipopolysaccharide) injected into the joint for induction of localized inflammation in horses.

“We came across LPS, which has been used in older horses, but not younger horses,” she said.

“LPS is the inflammatory part of Escherichia coli, which can be injected using a sterile solution. The beauty of that method is you inject it in the knee and in 24 hours you get pretty quick swelling that is associated with cartilage turnover and related pain.”

This allowed researchers to study the inflammation and breakdown of cartilage over time and mimic the progression of inflammation and cartilage changes associated with intense exercise.

“This initial model study showed us the pattern of inflammation and isolated appropriate markers to measure cartilage breakdown using joint fluid removed from the knee at various times,” Coverdale said.

Once the LPS model was established to predictably cause joint inflammation, Coverdale said, different dietary strategies were tried to decrease the amount of inflammation, which included anti-inflammatory dietary supplements, such as glucosamine, commonly used by male and female runners to aid in building back damaged cartilage.

Coverdale said previous data with glucosamine supplementation was “hit or miss with adult

horses,” but they wanted to see for themselves and test the theory that prevention in young horses was easier than treating arthritis in the adult.

“We found that it tended to increase new cartilage production and decrease the breakdown of existing cartilage, which was good,” she said.

They gave 30 mg/kg of glucosamine to the study horses, Coverdale said.

“We certainly got a positive response, which was what we wanted,” she said.

response to inflammation, while older horses were more likely to experience cartilage degradation or damage.

“This further illustrates that dietary intervention provided to young horses in training to prevent joint damage may yield the best results,” she said. “With all four of these projects it confirmed that intervening during times of early growth and training with some of these dietary additives is worth it. Waiting on down the line as the horse ages is probably too late. Most people are waiting

"Horses receiving supplementatal CLA tended to exhibit greater repair of their cartilage when injected with LPS rather than break it down."

—Dr. Josie Coverdale Another component of Coverdale’s research has been studying conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, which “is fairly similar to glucosamine in that there are documented anti-inflammatory effects, which may be used to remediate and repair cartilage in joints.”

“Horses receiving supplemental CLA tended to exhibit greater repair of their cartilage when injected with LPS rather than break it down,” she said. “Two percent of the diet was given in the CLA and that can be economically feasible for horse owners.”

The research group has also evaluated horses at varying ages to determine the response to LPS based on age. They concluded that young horses were more likely to synthesize new cartilage in

until they see symptoms in these adult horses and by then it is too late.

“It’s more cost effective and beneficial to do this early. Using it as a prevention method is much better.”

The projects helped Lucia win graduate student competitions at two different Equine Science Society meetings.

“The initial project to develop the LPS model was funded by the H. Patricia Link Quasi-Endowment funds in the department of animal science,” Cloverdale said. “This funding was pivotal in furthering the research efforts and helped generate interest from other funding sources such as Cargill Animal Nutrition and the American Quarter Horse Association.

MeV ModernEquineVet.com | Issue 8/2014

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AAEVT

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Friday, September 26th | 2014

technician update

Considerations for the new horse owner: The technician's role Owning a horse is a luxury and a privilege, as well as a responsibility. Responsible horse ownership begins with education. As veterinary technicians, it is part of our job to help our clients and to educate them before, during and after owning a horse.

The first consideration would be if the client can financially afford to own a horse. As my father always said, it's not buying the horse; it's the upkeep of the horse that's expensive. The estimated cost of providing basic care for a horse ranges from $3,000-$5,000 annually (about $250-$425/month). This does not account for emergencies or unforeseen costs. The basic costs must be budgeted for as they are above and beyond what most can afford. Ideally, this should be considered before the horse is purchased to avoid the possibility of the horse not getting the food and care that is necessary to live a healthy life.

Maintaining a healthy horse requires observation.

Knowledge of the horse's body and how it works are important aspects in the observation of the horse's health.

Costs can be minimized by keeping the horse healthy.

Daily grooming helps to discover any problems or abnormalities. Here is the perfect opportunity to advise your clients how to scan over the horse and make note of any changes in the lumps/bumps that were or were not there the day before or maybe even the year before.

Making note of these abnormalities from the horse’s current condition is critical when observing the horse daily. These can be acute injuries that happened the night before or some chronic condition that has been progressing and is now an issue in that horse's health.

You can also show owners how to assess a body condition score, which can be used to determine the level of which the horse is healthy.

The veterinary technician can educate the horse owner on the measurements used as baselines/guidelines for a healthy horse. CRT (Capillary Refill Time) and BAR (Bright/Alert/Responsive) as well as the attitude of the horse are quick and easy observations that can be made by the horse owner. Knowing “normal” behavior and the horse’s TPR are useful to have as baselines. Give a diagram to your clients showing where and

how to take a TPR. Fecal Counts should be done twice a year. Deworming should be done in accordance to results of the fecal count and rotate de-wormer types in accordance to the schedule to decrease resistance. Vaccines given to horses pertain to region of country and the diseases that are prevalent to area. EWVT, West Nile virus, Rhino/Flu, and rabies are the most common diseases vaccinated against.

Botulism, Escherichia coli, anthrax, EHV, sleeping sickness, strangles, Potomac horse fever are other diseases that are more risked-based.

Owning a horse is a luxury and a privilege, as well as a responsibility. AAEVT's President-Elect Jeannie Williams talks about a technician's role in educating owners. Here's what to tell them.

Equine dentistry is important for horse's health and ability to digest food which the horse owner must understand. An equine dental technician or veterinarian should perform an exam and perform any treatment that is deemed necessary for the horse to chew and assimilate feed/hay/grass for maintaining proper health and weight.

Hoof care is important enough to be its own category even though is it part of the horse's health. As the majority of a horse's weight is carried on its front end, the new owner will need to be educated on the importance of the hoof to the horse. Recommendations of a qualified farrier should be discussed.

Shutterstock/cynoclub

Jeannie Willems, LVT, RVT, BS AAEVT President-Elect

ModernEquineVet.com | Issue 8/2014

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technician update Determining the horse's nutritional requirements is an essential part of proper horse care. Horses are herbivores and have a simple-stomach digestive tract, as well as hind gut fermentation in the cecum. As such, horses need forage in their diets. This can either be pasture and/ or hay. There is a science to feeding horses and it begins with understanding the way horses use food. Once the level of energy required is established, the mathematical equation for the exact amount of quality hay or pasture can be calculated. Horses can consume between 2-2.5% of their body weight in dry feed daily. This is a perfect opportunity for the veterinary technician to use his or her knowledge to help the novice horse owner determine the proper nutrition that is required for that horse.

Horses that are in a domesticated environment need daily care.

Taken out of his natural habitat we place our perception of “comfort foods” on our equine friends. Grain/ pellets or concentrates are not a natural part of the horses' diet, but with domestication of the equine for human use, increased energy in his diet has become necessary.

Grain/pellets have their place in equine nutrition as long as they are given in relation to the horse's requirement for that amount of energy exerted or a certain condition that warrants it. This includes racing, showing or competing, daily use as a work horse as well as horses with specific nutritional restrictions or supplementation, as those found with certain diseases such as IR, bad teeth, founder or laminitis, or heaves to name a few. Also, the previous season’s hay supply may necessitate the addition of concentrates to the horse's diet to meet the basic requirements of that horse.

Supplements may be necessary if the horse is not receiving proper nutrition from the pasture/hay or grain.

This is another teaching opportunity for the veterinary technician to guide the horse owner to the proper supplements if necessary.

Water is probably the most important nutrient a horse can receive. They should have unlimited access to fresh, clean water as they consume, on average, 0.5 to 1 gallon (2 to 4 liters) of water per 2 lbs. of dry matter intake. This does not account for hot, humid conditions in some climates, as well as after exercise and even in winter where warmer water is important to ensure the horse is taking in sufficient water.

Horses are a species that requires the addition of salt to their regular daily diet. Salt blocks offered as free choice to the horse are an easy and excellent way to ensure the horse is getting adequate salt. Controversy between trace mineral and white salt blocks continues, 16

Issue 8/2014 | ModernEquineVet.com

but as long as it is available to the horse at all times, it is a personal choice as to which to feed.

Horses in the wild spend 60 to 80% of their time grazing so they are constantly on the move.

They are designed to cover miles to search for food and water. In domestication, horses still need that daily stimulation to keep their physical and mental health.

This can be done as turn out, lunging or being ridden.

The amount of exercise depends on what the owner is planning for the horse to be doing.

Horses that are in a domesticated environment need daily care.

Another consideration for the novice horse owner is to determine where the horse will live. Will it live at the owner’s home or at a boarding facility? There are pros and cons to each of these. Again, the veterinary technician can help the new horse owner make a list of these choices to contrast and compare. The owner's knowledge base is a good place to start. Is it more feasible to board the horse at a facility where the horse will be taken of by someone with more knowledge than the new owner? The veterinary technician can make recommendations about local facilities that have good reputations from having them as clients at the practice or personal experience. The average board for one horse can range from $300-$700/month depending on the type of board.

When the unexpected happens, what will the new horse owner do? The veterinary technician once again plays an important role here. The owner can be armed with the information from earlier. They should be able to report the “normals” from the “abnormals” when calling the veterinarian. Another tool the veterinary technician can use to help educate the novice horse owner is a newsletter with information on what to do in an emergency.

The veterinary technician can now help the owner to be educated as to where a horse that fits what the owner is looking for can be found. A list of questions that include the points from the other considerations can be developed and given to the prospective horse owner.

Finally, when the quality of life is no longer there for the horse, the veterinary technician’s support in helping the horse owner recognize the reality of the situation and to make a tough decision is extremely important and comforting to the client.

MeV

About the Author

Jeannie Willems, LVT, RVT, BS, is veterinary product technical and training specialist, product developmentNutramax Laboratories Veterinary Sciences, Inc. and AAEVT President-Elect.

946 Quality Drive Lancaster, SC 29720

news notes

Equine influenza viruses: threat to human health?

Equine influenza viruses from the early 2000s can easily infect the respiratory tracts of dogs, while those from the 1960s are only barely able to, according to research published in the Journal of Virology.

The research suggests that canine and human influenza viruses can mix, and generate new influenza viruses.

Canine influenza is a relatively new disease with its first appearance believed to be in 2003, as a result of direct transfer of a single equine influenza virus to dogs in a large greyhound training facility. It was subsequently carried to many states by the infected greyhound, the researchers said. Similar transfers have occurred among foxhounds in the United Kingdom, and in dogs kept near infected horses during a 2007 outbreak in Australia, they reported.

In the study, U.S. and U.K. investigators infected dog tracheal explant cultures — essentially pieces of trachea cultured in the laboratory to mimic the cellular complexity and the physiology of the host — with canine, equine and human influenza viruses, then compared the growth of the viruses and the damage they did.

Infection of equine influenza virus from 2003 caused an infection much like that from canine influenza virus in terms of the rate of replication and the extensive tissue damage it caused. In contrast, viruses from 1963 replicated poorly, and caused relatively minor lesions in comparison with the 2003 virus.

Compatibility test

The investigators also transfected cells with DNA containing the genes of both canine and human influenza viruses, to determine whether the genes from the two viruses were compatible with each other.

“We showed that the genes are indeed compatible, and we also showed that chimeric viruses carrying human and canine influenza genes can infect the dog tracheas,” said Pablo Murcia of the University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, UK. That means that such viruses might occur naturally, and would likely be able to infect dogs.

These findings have significant implications because they show that dogs might act as “mixing vessels” in which novel viruses with pandemic potential could emerge.

In another study that looked at the transmission of equine influenza to other species, University of Florida researchers have found evidence that an influenza A virus can jump from horses to camels.

Again, the concern is a leap to humans.

The One Image courtesy of the CDC Health Center of Excellence for Research and Training in UF's Emerging Pathogens Institute with U.S. and Mongolian institutions, has identified the first known case of an equine influenza virus in camels. Their findings will be published Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Immunohistochemical staining for equine influenza A virus (brown stain) in sections of respiratory tissue from English foxhounds involved in 2002 respiratory disease outbreak, United Kingdom.

Cross-species jumps

“Over the last 10 years, we've been amazed at all the cross-species jumps of influenza. Now we're finding yet another,” said Gregory C. Gray, center director and environmental and global health professor in UF’s College of Public Health and Health Professions. Although there is no immediate risk, the intermammalian transmission of the virus is a major concern for public health researchers trying to prevent a pandemic influenza, he said.

Camels recently have been implicated in the transfer of the deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome virus to man. This new discovery further demonstrates the potential role of camels in the ecology of zoonotic diseases.

“Similar influenza viruses can move from horses to humans,” Gray said. “If a camel has it, why couldn’t it share it with people?”

The study took place in 2012 in multiple places in Mongolia, where free-range camels and horses intermingle. Hundreds of camel and horse nasal samples were collected, and one camel specimen was confirmed to have influenza A. Tests found it matched viruses in Mongolian horses.

MeV ModernEquineVet.com | Issue 8/2014

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