Veterinary Parasite

Bloody hell this blogging lark is harder than it’s cracked up to be!  I came into it thinking I’d whip out a post once a day no problems, but then something comes along to eat every second of your time!  In this case, the time eater was the indubitable pleasure of equine out of hours week.  After starting with a 44 hour out of 48 weekend, work then continued at a mere 16 or so hours a day, so quite relaxing really.  Strangely, this meant that I spent every hour away from the hospital asleep, rather than blogging!

An unexpected nice side effect was getting to see lots of sunrises over the hospital, as well as some truly stunning night skies.  Being an idiot, I obviously didn’t have a camera with me, but I managed to snap one nice sunrise, complete with vapour trails, on my phone, so I present it here for your delectation!

Sunrise Over The Equine Hospital

This week I start with my farm rotations, commencing with herd health planning.  Today was a nice day out in the sunshine, blighted only by the task of getting a condition, lameness and cleanliness score, along with size, yield and rumen fill for over 100 cows!  Still, that’s the data collection phase over, time to see what magic I can work using the power of statistics!

Throughout my undergraduate career, I’ve bought a fair few textbooks, and referred to probably hundreds more. I’ve found that while most are generally good, there are some absolute crackers, and a few that are absolute rubbish. This is the start of several posts looking at books I’ve enjoyed using, starting with anatomy and physiology books.

Anatomy & Physiology

• Veterinary Anatomy - Dyce, Sack & Wensing
  • This is my bible of veterinary anatomy - it contains all you will ever need to know on the main species. It’s reasonably well laid out, although it divides things into a general overview, then species specific sections which I find unnecessary, and a touch confusing. It also goes into massive detail, so picking out clinically relevant details can be tricky, but in conjunction with lectures it’s ideal.
  • Definitely one to buy, you will use it all the way from first to final year.
• Guide to the Dissection of the Dog - Evans & de Lahunta
  • A great book for canine anatomy, with really descriptive advice on actual dissection technique. Anatomy-wise, it covers no more than Dyce, Sack & Wensing, but it has the added bonus of the dissection guide. I found it extremely useful during dissections, but have never really referred to it since.
  • Probably one to borrow from the library, or buy as a cheaper alternative to Veterinary Anatomy. Just try not to get it covered in blood!
• Principles of Anatomy & Physiology - Tortora & Grabowski
  • A human book, but really nicely laid out, with great pictures and excellent narrative. Some sections of it do become a little redundant in the veterinary world, and some of the clinical advice doesn’t hold true, but it is worth having as a physiology text.
  • I used this a lot in first and second year, and still occasionally look back to it. It’s relatively inexpensive, and well worth having on your shelf in my opinion
• Veterinary Reproduction - Noakes, Parkinson & England
  • I’ve included this here because it does have great sections on the normal physiology of reproduction, as well as being good for the clinical side of things. It was irreplaceable during reproduction lectures and tutorials, covering all the major species in good depth.
  • I used it a lot in second year, and it’s coming into its own again now. Expensive, but if you can afford it then definitely buy it.
• Horse Anatomy - A Pictorial Approach To Equine Structure
  • I’ve got a horse anatomy book on the way, just to work through as a bit of a refresher, and see things from another point of view. I’ll update this to a full review when it arrives and I’ve read it.

Many more sections to come as soon as I find the time to write them up! Also coming soon, some equine cutaneous neoplasms - fun fun fun!

Work on my TPRMyHorse project continues (slowly - I have an equine practice rotation to fit in somewhere as well!), and I have come up with a logo. I’m posting it here for comments, criticism, and general public lambasting! Let me know what you think:

This week’s rotation. equine practice, is really good fun. Getting to do plenty of things, see lots, and spend a nice amount of time sat on my backside in the car! It’s also reasonably convinced me that this is where I’d like to work when (I’m being confident!) I qualify. As a side project, we also have to prepare a presentation on equine dermatological conditions. I’m taking on the neoplastic section, so expect a post on the evils of equine sarcoid soon.

Edit: Here’s a revised version with new feet

Over the last few weeks, I’ve taken a lot of horse’s temperatures, lots of times. Most of these occasions were, if not enjoyable, then at least safe and uneventful! Unfortunately, a certain few horses seem to have a real problem with it, to the point of kicking out, or posturing like they were going to. This is a real problem when you’re trying to monitor a horse with an infection, as the temperature is one of they key parameters when judging if it is under control. Thanks to judicious use of twitches, and a lot of shouting, I remained unkicked, but life would have been much more pleasant had the horse not been so resentful of what is a painless, if slightly uncomfortable, procedure.

This leads me to my point, which is that if you are a horse owner, you should endeavour to take your animal’s temperature on a daily basis, from a young age. Digital thermometers are cheap and accurate, and provided you are sensible, can be used with little risk to you or the horse. A quick eBay search and they’re available including delivery for £3.48.

Regular monitoring of your horse’s temperature has some real benefits. Firstly, it means that should your horse ever have to be hospitalised, or regularly have it’s temperature taken for any other reason, he/she will be accustomed to it, and will cause no problem to the temperature taker. Believe me the vets/nurse/students will thank you for this! It also benefits the horse, as, for example, in an infected wound, the last thing we want is a horse jumping around or moving suddenly, as it might cause a wound to break down.

Secondly, regular monitoring of your horse has real preventative health benefits, even when your horse is healthy and well. If you can pick up that your horse’s temperature is increased one day, then you can ring your vet and get them to check it out - before the problem becomes any more serious. This is especially important after your horse has been in high risk situations, such as travelling, meeting new horses, etc. The stress of the situations can lead to decreased immunity, and the number of horses from different stables all in one place provides a perfect environment for the exchange of infections. This isn’t intended to put you off showing, but just to make you aware that there are some risks, but these are risks that can be minimised by careful, and easy, monitoring.

Other parameters that can be easily measured are pulse rate, and respiratory rate, and these can also be useful, although they can be a little more difficult to interpret. An increased pulse and resp rate can be associated with pain, or a variety of other conditions, but could also just be due to excitement, or recent exercise. Due to the ease with which they can be taken, I would still recommend taking them daily, and keeping records along with temperature. Here’s a quick guide on how to take them:

In the photo, the young lady’s hand is feeling for the facial artery, which runs on the medial aspect of the mandible bone. If you run your fingers over the area, then you should feel a small tube like structure. Lightly rest your fingers on the artery and you should feel the pulse. Make sure not to use your thumb, or you may inadvertently count your own pulse, not the horses! My preferred site for taking a pulse is actually the transverse facial artery, which runs across the face, below the eye, as indicated by the black line in the photo. In some horses you may be able to see the artery, but if not then run your fingers vertically down over the area, and you should feel the vessel. Both sites can be tricky to use if the horse is eating, as contractions of the muscle will confuse things, so try to take them at a time when the horse is not.

Alternatively, you could buy and inexpensive stethoscope (it doesn’t need to be a good one), and listen to your horse’s heart directly. The drum of the stethoscope should be placed on the chest wall, approximately level with the horse’s elbow, and pushed forward under the leg. The loudest point can be quite variable, so just move the stethoscope around a bit. Initially the heart beat can be tricky to hear - it is a deep sound, and your ears need to “tune in” to it. When you’re counting, a “lub-dub” counts as a single beat.

You can count pulses over a full minute, but generally counting over 15 seconds, then multiplying by 4 is adequate. Perhaps if you were concerned about a higher heart rate, then count over a longer period to make sure the increase is real.

The other parameter you can easily take is a respiration rate. This can be seen in several ways. I find the easiest method is watching the ventral (bottom) part of the abdomen - it will move slightly up and down as the horse breathes in an out. You can also watch for expansion of the rib cage, or movements of the nostrils. On a cold day, the easiest method is often to actually watch for streams of warm air coming out of the nostrils, and count those! For respiration rate, I prefer to count over at least 30 seconds. 15 seconds is not really adequate, as the respiration rate is much lower than the pulse rate.

Some normal values:

Temperature: 36.7 - 38.3 C

Pulse: 36-40

Respiration: 8-16

These are not absolute values, however. For example, if your horse’s temperature is normally in the range 36.8-37.4, which you know because you take it every day, then a temperature of 38.1 could represent a fever, even though it lies within the normal range as a whole. This is yet another advantage of doing daily TPRs on your horse - you can establish a normal range for your individual horse. Pulse rate can actually be as low as 28 in very fit horses without being abnormal.

With all this in mind, I plan over the next couple of weeks to add a new section to the site - TPRMyHorse. This will be a place to record daily TPR values for individual horses, as well as any daily comments. The system will then plot them as graphs, so that any trends or changes can be identified. It will also provide suggested normal ranges for your animal. This saves having hundreds of scraps of paper with numbers on (I’ve been there!), which mean nothing! I’ll keep you posted when it’s ready to be unleashed!

Disclaimer: The information in this article is for guidance only. If you have any concerns about your horse, be it because of the TPR values, or any other reason, you should not hesitate to contact your vet. While we hope that the information here will help you to look after your animal, it is in no way a substitute for proper veterinary advice from your own vet, and should not be taken as such.