EQUINE NEWS September 2016

From the Equine Disease Communication Center

Rabies Notice

A confirmed case of rabies in a horse was diagnosed in Caddo County in August.

Discuss with your veterinarian the vaccination of your horses and the dogs and cats

on your farm. Skunks are the most common reservoir for rabies in Oklahoma.

A four year old Quarter horse gelding from Anadarko, Oklahoma (Caddo County)

presented to a referral hospital August 5, 2016 with a temperature of 103.50 F, ataxia

(incoordination) and depression. The horse was not current on vaccinations and

died. Brain samples submitted to the Oklahoma State Department of Health were

positive for Rabies Virus by direct fluorescent antibody testing on August, 11, 2016.

From the Equine Disease Communication Center

http://www.equinediseasecc.org/outbreaks.aspx

Back to Basics

Topical Wound Care

Rabies Notice

The OSU Veterinary Medical Hospital has been serving horse owners since 1948. We

offer routine appointments Monday-Friday and 24 hour emergency service including

holidays. The equine medicine and surgery service is staffed by board certified

specialists, post-graduate veterinary residents, and senior veterinary students. The

service is supported by board certified specialists in other areas of the hospital

including anesthesiology, ophthalmology, radiology, cardiology and pathology.

Licensed animal health technicians specifically trained in equine internal medicine

and surgery assist our veterinarians and provide patient care during the day and after

hours.

All members of our team utilize state of the art diagnostic and therapeutic modalities

with the common goal of delivering the highest possible standard of compassionate

veterinary care to ill or injured horses, while training the equine practitioners and

veterinary specialists of the future.

Members of our faculty have special interests in

internal medicine

equine surgery

sports medicine

rehabilitation

radiology

neonatology

reproduction

neurology

ophthalmology

cardiology

anesthesiology and pain management

alternative medicine

dentistry

geriatric care

We can perform endoscopy exams on horses at work on the treadmill. We can

perform CT of the head and limbs and nuclear scintigraphy. Our imaging techniques

also include digital fluoroscopy and ultrasound of limbs and chest and abdomen.

We utilize complementary medicine such as acupuncture along with other

therapeutic modalities to manage pain and help athletes perform to their potential.

Veterinarians Committed to Excellence in Horse Health Care – CVHS Equine Specialists Internal Medicine: Lyndi Gilliam, DVM, PhD, DACVIM; Todd Holbrook, DVM, DACVIM, DACVSMR Surgery: Michael Schoonover, DVM, MS, DACVS, DACVSMR, Daniel J. Burba, DVM, DACVS Reproduction: Reed Holyoak, DVM, PhD, DACT; Candace Lyman, DVM, DACT; Betsy Coffman, DVM, DACT Anesthesiology: Marjorie Gross, DVM, MS, DACVA Ophthalmology: Margi Gilmour, DVM, DACVO Cardiology: Ryan Baumwart, DVM, DACVIM (Cardiology) Radiology: Corey Wall, DVM, DACVR

In This ISSUE!

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Topical Wound Care Click HERE to read this on the web!

Horses get injured. They run into things, they tangle with each other in paddocks

and pastures and they seem to get hurt on their own even when they live in what

looks like a perfectly safe environment.

Wounds can include:

an abrasion or scrape that does not penetrate the entire skin thickness

punctures that enter through the skin and penetrate the underlying muscle,

tendons/ligaments, or organs

full thickness lacerations of the skin

Horses are quite sensitive to the disease tetanus. Be sure to check the tetanus

vaccination status of any horse with an injury. While puncture wounds are the

ideal environment for the growth of the tetanus organism, it is best to play it safe

and follow your veterinarian’s advice on tetanus protection.

Lacerations should be examined by your veterinarian to determine if suturing is

beneficial. Call your veterinarian immediately if the wound invades:

the eye

any joint

tendon or ligament

chest or abdominal cavity

The horse has its own marvelous mechanism for healing wounds. Both owners

and veterinarians want to enhance the horse’s ability to heal the injury. Many

horse owners have a cabinet full of various treatments and dressings for their

horse.

These recommendations are drawn from an article presented by at the American

Association of Equine Practitioners conference in December 2015, by Colorado

State University’s Dean Hendrickson, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS. What You Should and

Should Not Put In or On a Wound

If you chose to manage the wound on your own, consider the following regarding

cleansing and topical wound therapies.

Cleaning the wound

Wounds in the horse are often contaminated with bedding, hay and other foreign

materials. Removing this debris, dead tissue and reducing the number of bacteria

that may have contaminated the wound generally result in better healing.

Aggressive use of pressure by scrubbing the wound or forcing wound cleaners into

an injury under force (think hose or Waterpik®) should be avoided. The healthy

tissue, which will support the repair, may be damaged by such techniques.

Remember that the act of cleaning a wound can cause some degree of tissue

damage, regardless of the cleaning agent and the method of cleaning.

Isotonic Saline available at your local drug store has been shown to be a very

effective cleaning agent. You can often find it labeled as a wound wash.

Research has failed to prove that utilizing tamed iodine, Betadine ® or

chlorhexidine, Nolvasan ® in cleansing injuries results in significantly less

bacteria in a wound than using saline alone.

Topical Wound treatments

Gone are the days of strong iodine and bag balm as wound treatments. Research

projects are looking into the effectiveness of vinegar and honey but no need to

raid the pantry; we have effective treatments on the shelf in our local drug store.

If you have an injury that you would like to manage on your own:

Nitrofurazone, (the yellow stuff) should not be used in open wounds. It slows

the healing rate. It may be useful on abrasions that do not penetrate the skin.

Topical Silver—SSD--Silver Sulfadiazine cream has been shown to be an

effective wound treatment on open wounds.

Triple antibiotic—polymixin B, bacitracin and neomycin work together to

reduce bacteria within a wound. Readily available as a cream or ointment,

keep this in your first aid kit.

Gently cleaning the wound, keeping the area clean and applying a suitable wound

treatment can facilitate healing and get your horse quickly back to normal.

Elisabeth J. Giedt, DVM, MBA

Center for Veterinary Health Sciences

Oklahoma State University

Horse Flies

Shoo Fly!

Horse Flies Click HERE to read this on the web!

One of the least welcome sights around the barn are those giant horse flies in

determined pursuit of your horse. Their bites can be quite painful and often leave

a trail of blood behind on your horse. Many horses will react quite violently if

bitten and even run and buck to escape their bite. This can result in

unmanageable behavior which can be quite dangerous for the human.

Additionally, these flies can result in weight loss as horses try to evade them, and

can transmit disease as well. So is there anything that can be done to control these

pests?

Horse flies and deer flies actually belong to a family of insects called Tabenids.

They range in size and color from the smaller “deer fly” marked by the dark

pattern on their wings, to green headed horse flies to the giant black flies which

can be over an inch long. It is the females which bite livestock, as they use the

blood to support egg development. They do not lay eggs in horse manure, but

instead in or near water. As a result, feed through control used for stable flies

does not work and sanitation around the barn has no effect. Horses are often

pastured near ponds, which is quite common in Oklahoma, and thus the flies have

easy access to breeding grounds and a blood meal. In most areas, the adult form

is only active for about a month, but different species may be pursuing your horse

at different times of the year.

Repellants also have little effect on these flies. The short biting time these flies

need to complete their meal renders repellants less effective. Use of pyrethroid

repellants may decrease overall feeding time, but does not eliminate the pests.

Rather, try to provide horses with shelter (tabenids are reluctant to fly into dark or

shadowed areas), or have large pastures with non-wooded areas where the

predators can be avoided. Many tabenids are ambush predators, and will swarm

horses after entering wooded areas. Clearing woods and vegetation can help

reduce tabenid burdens. Traps can be used which attract the flies and then

capture them. There are a number of different types of traps. These include flight

interception traps, chemically baited canopy traps, optically baited canopy traps

and “sticky” traps. All of them use a shiny black surface which attracts the female

fly looking for a victim. When using these traps, they should be outside of the

enclosure or protected by a fence as they are easily destroyed by horses. For

design ideas see: http://nfrec.ifas.ufl.edu/ufinsects/tabanids/

Finally, tabenids do have some natural predators. The female horse guard wasp

preys upon tabenids in order to feed her larvae. Unfortunately, their preferred

habitats are fairly specific, needing sandy soil to dig their burrows, and have a

relatively short active harvesting period. Nonetheless, they can make a significant

reduction in tabenid numbers if present in the area. This wasps would be noted by

their hovering presence near the horses, and their large yellow and black bodies.

So if you see these wasps around your livestock, leave them alone!

Kris Hiney, PhD

Equine Extension Specialist

Oklahoma State University

Scale comparison of one of the larger tabenids. Their bites

can be quite painful, for horses and humans alike!

This trap is in an L configuration with shiny black adhesive

which attracts the flies.

Tabenid traps can be purchased commercially or created

yourself with a little ingenuity.