 |
|
Fall Newsletter 2006
Article Posted on:
10/26/06
*Horse Owner’s Day*
November 18, 2006
Come join us on Saturday, November 18, 2006 for a Horse Owner’s
Event. Dr. Shane will discuss some of the most important issues
to every horse owner. He will give demonstrations on lameness and
pre-purchase examinations, power dentistry and how to wrap a leg.
This would be a great time to invite all your 4-H Club members and
their parents as well.
This will be fun and informative with light refreshments starting at
10:00 a.m. Please RSVP no later than 11/13/06 to let Vivienne
know if you will be attending. Be sure to look for directions on
how to find us later on in this newsletter.
**The Fall Season Means it’s Time for Vaccinations **
Reminder cards have been sent to your horse to ‘nudge’ you to make an
appointment for fall vaccines and dental exams. If you didn’t get
the ‘hint’ (or the card), call Vivienne today to make an
appointment. Remember, most of the diseases we see are carried on
the wings of insects that are still flying around your horse.
West Nile’s cousin is Eastern Equine Encephalitis. He is much
more deadly to both humans and horses. The good news is he is
powerless to a vaccinated horse.
**CareCredit**
What is CareCredit? When an emergency occurs with a horse the
cost of treatment can be very high. Sometimes, the best treatment
option is too expensive and an owner is left making a very hard
decision for their beloved horse based on money. Now there is a
way to provide the best care without “breaking the bank”.
CareCredit is a convenient monthly payment program that allows owners
to pay for their horse care expenses. CareCredit can be
used with NO Interest. It can be used for emergencies or
for routine veterinary care. You can choose how long you
want to take to pay it off.
Applying is simple and fast and in most cases you will get a response
the same day. Call Vivienne to ask about applying for
CareCredit. If you would like to get more specific
information you can always go to www.carecredit.com.
* * *Dealing With Pain* * *
What is pain? Do animals feel pain? While these may be interesting
philosophical questions, on the practical level they are obvious to
horse owners. Pain is what I get after a really long trail ride. My
horse is obviously in pain when he is limping around on three legs.
Pain is the indicator built into an animal’s body to identify a
problem, whether sickness or injury. Pain is triggered by some nerve
impulse that is strong enough to then trigger higher nerves in the
brain and cause a reaction. This can be demonstrated by gently striking
your thumb with a hammer. Then hit it a little harder. Pain is also
chemical. When injury has occurred at the tissue level where cells are
being damaged, chemicals are released that trigger a lower threshold
for nerve firing. This is like the opposite of Novocain at the dentist.
The tissues get more sensitive instead of less. These chemicals also
trigger increased blood flow to the area so that it appears red and
warm and the tissue becomes leaky to the outflow of fluid thereby
causing swelling. Swelling, redness, pain and heat are all signs of
inflammation. Hit your thumb very hard and then wait until the next
day. That is inflammation! Inflammation is caused by the chemicals that
are released in response to injury (even injury caused by a virus or
bacteria as they destroy tissue).
The chemicals that are responsible for inflammation and pain are called
catecholamine, one of which is called prostaglandin. Prostaglandins are
used in normal healthy places in the body like the lining of the
stomach and the kidney to maintain normal blood flow. They also lower
the pain threshold of nerves. So, when there is injury of any kind to a
cell in a tissue, the pain is caused by the release of prostaglandins
to let the rest of the body know there is a problem. “Hello, immune
system, white blood cells and all you guys! Come fix this!” The problem
is that most of the time the response of the body is too good, too big
and the response can hurt and slow down healing. The way to treat the
pain and inflammation has been to develop drugs that block the pathway
to release prostaglandins. This involves the enzyme cyclooxygenase
(COX), which has different pathways to produce various prostaglandins.
One pathway (COX 1) produces prostaglandins that are important in blood
flow to the gut and kidneys. Another pathway (COX 2) produces
prostaglandins that are responsible for pain. Most drugs that have been
developed for pain (aspirin, phenylbutazone, Banamine, Tylenol) inhibit
all the pathways of the COX enzyme. This is why you get a
decrease in pain but can have an upset stomach or worse with too much
of these drugs. Newer drugs have been developed that target only the
COX 2 pathway, but in humans they have been linked to heart disease. We
have not seen these problems in animals, but to date, no COX 2
inhibitors have been approved for horses. Other drugs that decrease
pain and inflammation are steroids. They are powerful
anti-inflammatories that can have a long term affect on tissue that is
under chronic stress of inflammation. These are used mostly to treat
arthritis and immune system problems. Steroids are usually injected at
the target tissue, like the joint capsule. This method bypasses the
body’s other organs. Another way to bypass the body’s organs is to
apply the drug topically. Recently, a cream called Surpass has become
available that absorbs into the target joint through the skin. The use
of this type of medication may decrease the amount of systemic
medications used and help protect the body’s sensitive organs.
|
|