Veterinary

Figure 1. Important factors to consider when assessing the dust exposure to a horse's breathing zone within a stable environment.

Equine asthma syndrome: managing the environment

As stated previously, environmental organic dust exposure, predominantly from the stable environment and from sources of feed, is a major inciting cause of the immunological response associated with...

Figure 2. Quiescent uveitis in the right eye of a donkey, showing iris rests and early cataract formation

Recognising and treating uveitis in donkeys

The eye is recognised as an immune privileged organ, with numerous adaptive mechanisms and barriers, such as the so-called anterior chamber-associated immune deviation, the blood-aqueous barrier and...

Advances in the understanding of laminitis and the role of nutrition in its management

Laminitis was previously broadly classified according to the differing pathways presumed to trigger its onset. At present, three main clinical forms of laminitis have been defined (Patterson-Kane et...

Figure 2. Passive motion can be encouraged with gentle joint flexion and extension.

Nursing care of arthritic geriatric donkeys

Degenerative joint disease is a common form of arthritis found in donkeys, and is not an unusual finding in donkeys with a normal lifespan of 30–40 years old (Barrio et al, 2019). In non-working...

Autumn de-worming

Treatment for larval cyathostomins should no longer be considered the default position, and should only be performed after consideration of the risk of parasite-associated disease. The level of risk...

Figure 1. Basic principles and progression of a suitable weight loss plan. Adapted from Shepherd et al (2021).

The role of nutrition and feeding in equine weight management

The prevalence of both obese and overweight horses is high (Giles et al, 2014; Potter et al, 2016). However, how this is categorised and reported could be clearer, as defining whether a horse is...

Figure 3. a. Fibroblastic and coalescing nodular sarcoid lesions on the face of a young horse. b. The same lesions, 24 hours after intra-lesional injection with tigilanol tiglate, showing the rapid development of haemorrhagic necrosis associated with the treatment

An update on the treatment of cutaneous tumours

Benign neglect is most commonly employed with small occult or verrucose lesions. However, benign neglect may be a misnomer, as withholding treatment is not always a benign procedure. In a series of 42...

Figure 1. Arthrography of the standing equine fetlock joint

Advanced equine diagnostics – developments in computed tomography

CT imaging is built up of three main components; the patient couch, x-ray tube and the detectors, which rotate inside the gantry around the patient, acquiring and collecting attenuation data. The...

Equine obesity and the role of the veterinary nurse

In order to understand how to prevent equine obesity, it is first important to recognise what the term obesity actually refers to. Obesity is a qualitative term (Wyse et al, 2008), defined as an...

Optimised environments for horse health and wellbeing: the use of alternative grazing

Track systems involve placing a track around the outside of a field or several fields, and keeping the horses on this tracked area rather than in a central paddock. Items such as water, shelter, hay...

Figure 1. Ventral oedema.

Chronic kidney disease in adult horses: causes, diagnosis and management

Mammalian kidneys have considerable reserve capacity. Loss of concentrating ability does not typically occur until two thirds of nephron function has been lost, and nitrogenous waste accumulation does...

Figure 1. A horse with ventral oedema of the abdomen.

Equine lymphoma: a review

Lymphoma displays no explicit age bias and cases have been reported in fetuses (Haley and Spraker, 1983) through to geriatrics. However, specific forms of the disease have been anecdotally reported to...