Saying Goodbye

As a veterinarian I get asked all the time how I handle putting animals to sleep. "Isn't it hard?" they ask, or, "I could never do that because I love animals too much".  I don't think you will find a body of professionals that loves animals more than veterinarians. We have dedicated countless hours to the study of them and spend our every waking hour covered in some excretion from them.  You don't become a veterinarian because you are cold hearted and able to end animals lives without a second thought.  Thankfully it is most often a great kindness we offer; the chance for an animal to miss out on the pain and suffering of a terminal disease or miss the hardships of frigid temperatures on a tired old body.

In our practice as rural large animal vets in North Idaho humane euthanasia definitely has a "season". So many of my clients want to give their horse that one last summer or glorious fall and choose to say goodbye as the temperature starts to drop in late fall. While I support and in fact encourage this practice it does cast a shadow on our fall work as we send so many of our old friends on their journey across that rainbow bridge.

Although we specialize in large animals we also offer at home euthanasia for dogs and these are usually the hardest for both myself and my husband.  Our clients appreciate being able to quietly say goodbye to their dog in comforts of their home and quite often it's a nicer way for the dog to go too surrounded by family on his own bed in front of the fire.

Recently we were called to provide this service for a retired police dog.  He had had a very long and active life but had recently suffered from failure of his hind legs.  To see these elegant and prideful dogs reduced to scooting around is tough all by itself.  I don't know what it is about police dogs, but they seem somehow more human.  I have tremendous respect for these animals and the work that they do as well as the bond that forms between dog and handler.  I had the privilege, while in Veterinary School, to see a couple of these dogs during my small animal rotation and was struck with their grace and intelligence then as well.

This old boy was a beautiful dog.  I could see that in his prime he would have been a specimen of canine supreme athleticism.  Though he had been retired for several years, he and his handler still had a close working relationship and as I sat down next to him on his blanket he looked to his handler for support and instruction.  This is probably the hardest part about working with police dogs.  It's very important for most of these dogs to have the handler remain calm and quiet throughout the procedure.  If the dog picks up on the distress of the handler they can get upset themselves.  Watching their strong handlers fight for emotional control as they quietly send their old partners on their way is absolutely heart wrenching.

I'm generally able to maintain a semblance of professional demeanor until I walk back to my truck.  This time I barely made it.  Watching the end of a human animal partnership like that just tears at your heart and I was openly sobbing by the time I reached my tail gate.  Throughout the rest of the day I would remember the officer stroking that big head as he slipped away and tear up all over again.

So, yes, now that you mention it, it is hard on us vets to have to put animals to sleep.  But what an amazing gift we are able to offer our patients.  To quietly leave this life and cross over into the next surrounded by family and friends and the feel of a well loved hand stroking your ears.  I hope I will be so lucky myself.

De-worming your horse.

The recommendation for de-worming protocols has changed quite drastically in the past 5 years.  While new research continues to point out the risks associated with over doing it with your de-worming the word has been hard to get out to horse owners, which is hampered largely by the anthelmintic companies continuing to tout the rotational every other month de-worming schedule.

Typical parasite programs have been based on schedules that have nothing to do with parasite transmission.  For years the recommendation was to de-worm every time your farrier came to reset your horse's shoes.  The goal of this recommendation was to make it easy for horse owners to remember.  You are standing there holding your horse, great time to get this little chore done.  Or if you are lucky your farrier might even give you hand.

The problem is that this method of medicine delivery did not take into account what was actually going on in your horse's body.  Repeated use of common anthelmintics given at inappropriate doses has led to vast resistance in our parasite populations. This not only complicates our ability to deal with significant parasite loads but also leads owners to believe that they are de-worming their horse when they may be doing nothing more than giving ineffective drugs.  While the thought of any parasite lurking undetected in the bowels of your favorite mount can give any horse owner the heebie jeebies, recent evidence suggests that horses may actually be healthier with a small well managed parasite load.

What?!  How can this be possible?

Make no mistake, after all the progress we have made in equine health in the field of parasite control since the development of ivermectin I am not advocating that parasites are good and should be encouraged.  But, there is evidence that maintaining a completely parasite free digestive tract may predispose a horse to digestive insufficiency as well as allergies.

Horses evolved right along with the parasite and their digestive tract has carried and supplied the parasite with a viable home for eons.  In the wild as horses are constantly on the move, overt overburdening with parasites is rare, though parasitism is not.  It is our artificial containment of horses restricting their natural grazing patterns and concentrating the parasite load they are exposed to that has caused problems in our domestic horses with parasite loads.

There are very good reasons to control parasites in our horses. Overloading a horse with parasites can have disastrous effects.  Arterial aneurysms, larval migration damage, worm impactions, ileo-cecal colic, poor health, poor weight gain, and overall damage to the intestinal tract all are consequences of an overabundance of parasites.  However, a few helpful parasites in the intestinal tract of a healthy adult horse help may (there is conflicting research in this area) help to stimulate the horse's immune response in a positive way, as well as increase overall gut motility and in some cases aid in digestion in the large colon.

In our area we are blessed with incredibly cold parasite unfriendly winter temperatures as well as a period of very dry hot weather in the summer.  During both of those times there is very little transmission of parasites happening because the larva do not survive to be transmitted.  The exception to that would be horses that are kept indoors in the winter or on irrigated pastures on the summer.  High stocking densities and poor manure management also increase the ease of parasite transmission and may lead to a larger worm burden in your particular herd.

In most cases we recommend twice annually de-worming.  I like to use a product in the fall that will take care of both tape worms and bots (both of which are common in our area in the summer months).  These products include Equimax, Quest Plus and Ivermectin Gold.  Equimax is my preferred choice.  I have had a few horses react badly to Ivermectin Gold I do not recommend that one in pregnant mares.  In the spring I recommend one of the drugs that targets roundworms and strongyles such as Strongid, Panacur, or Safeguard.  Typically we are de-worming towards the end of October to coincide with freezing temperatures and therefore less chance of larval transmission and then again in the spring when there is warmer temps and thawing generally March or April.

In the between months I recommend fecal exams on your horses to be sure that this program is working for your particular herd.  Sometimes a horse may be extra likely to be carrying or shedding high numbers of parasites despite de-worming.  Those horses will often need more frequent de-worming in order to prevent shedding or a build up of parasites.  Foals need to be de-wormed more frequently during their first year of life as well as they are extra sensitive to an over abundance of parasites.  I recommend that foals be de-wormed at one month of age, again at weaning or 3-4 months of age, and then again at 6 months of age.

There are several options out there for folks wishing to go more natural and not use the commercially available products.  In some herds with very strict manure management these can be effective but I do recommend periodic fecal exams to be sure that worm loads aren't building up creating trouble.  Diatomaceous earth, garlic, and tobacco have all been used by horse owners attempting to manage their horses more organically.  Of these options diatomaceous earth would be my first choice.  Garlic can cause anemia when administered at levels high enough to discourage parasites.  Tobacco also comes with other side effects and is not generally recomended for horse or human!

Vaccinations for the North Idaho Horse

Vaccination is one of the topics that can be terribly confusing to the horse owner.  I can remember in our Sr. year of veterinary school (ironically the first time we had covered vaccination protocols in our education) hearing the vaccine lecture on each of my rotations through Equine Medicine.  It was probably my third rotation through that I finally began to feel like I had a grip on developing a vaccination program.  So, if you have had horses for years and you are still confused, don’t feel bad!  Let’s go over it one more time, shall we?

Core Vaccines

There are several disease that are listed on the core vaccination list.  These vaccines are recommended by the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) for all horses in all ages and stages at least annually.  The core disease are Easter Encephalomyelitis, Western Encephalomyelitis, Tetanus, West Nile and Rabies. 

Every single one of those disease has a high mortality associated with it.  That means that if your horse gets any of the disease listed on that core vaccine list he is likely to die.  Luckily the vaccines for all of these disease have been shown to be very effective and very safe.  This makes the risk associated with these vaccines far less than the risk associated with the disease. 

The other thing of note with the diseases listed on the core vaccination list is that they all come to your horse.  Both of the Encephalomyelitis strains as well as West Nile are carried by biting insects.  So, your horse doesn’t have to go anywhere to be at risk for those diseases.  Tetanus is of course found in the soil in every horse pasture.  Rabies, though not as common in our area as it is in other parts of the country, is found in our population of bats.  Of the core vaccines, this is the one that is least commonly administered in our area.  My current recommendation is to do rabies every other year for horses that live in areas where bats frequent. 

Because we are vaccinating our horses for diseases carried by insects it makes the most sense to vaccinate them in the spring months in North Idaho.  We recommend vaccination with the core vaccines between March and May. 

Risk Associated Vaccines

We are blessed to live in the pristine Northwest where our list of risk associated vaccines is relatively short when compared with other parts of the country.  The vaccines we include on this list are Influenza, Rhinopneumonitis, and Strangles. All of these disease are associated with co-mingling with other horses where they can pass the diseases back and forth.  These diseases tend to be more serious in young horses, though flu and strangles can be very tough on an older horse as well.

How do you decide if your horse needs these vaccines?  First of all any horse under 4 should have an annual vaccination for flu/rhino to help establish adult immunity. Rhino is a disease of the respiratory tract causing cough, runny nose and fever.  Rhino is caused by a herpes virus that almost all horses will have been exposed to by the time they are adults.  We vaccinate the young horses to keep them from having active disease when exposure happens.  Because it is a herpes virus, once they have been exposed they will carry the virus for the rest of their lives.  As adults the virus may recrudesce or become active again, typically during times of stress, causing a transient fever and rarely more serious disease.  Influenza is rarely seen as a cause of disease in horses under a year of age.  It causes fever and upper respiratory signs similar to Rhino but may last longer and prolonged periods of fever can cause dehydration which is the most serious complication.  Both of these virus can lead to secondary invasion by bacteria causing deeper respiratory issues needing prolonged antibiotics. 

Strangles is a bacterial disease that is highly contagious and causes swelling of the lymph nodes at the angle of the jaw often resulting a grossly distended throatlatch, hence the common name.  This is again typically a disease of younger horses and tends to be found where lots of horses congregate such as show grounds, training barns and sale yards.  Younger horses going into training should receive a strangles vaccine.  Because Strangles is a bacterial infection the vaccine is a “dirty” vaccine.  This means that it has an increased risk for causing infection.  It should be administered carefully and not in conjunction with other vaccines when possible. 

In my practice I recommend these vaccines for young and adult horses that are actively competing, boarding, or spending time where other horses congregate.  If you are generally a trail rider that maybe rides with 3 or 4 other horses on the weekends your horse is unlikely to need these vaccines.

While the core vaccines are recommended just annually the risk based vaccines are recommended to be administered biannually or at the commencement of show season. If you choose to administer your own vaccines you may find that your options at the feed store are limited to either a tetanus, a 2-way (flu/rhino), or a 5-way (EEE/WEE/Tetanus/,flu,rhino).  Giving your backyard horse a 5-way that they may or may not need is okay but you are probably over vaccinating.  The more things that are contained in a vaccine, the higher the risk of an adverse vaccine reaction.  Generally we will recommend splitting those products up and often will give the flu and rhino intranasally which is associated with fewer reactions and has been shown to have improved length of effectiveness. 

Severe vaccine reactions are rare and in almost all cases the risk of the disease outweighs the risk of the disease itself.  A typical vaccine reaction includes soreness or swelling at the sight of the injection and transient fever.  Rarer are injections site reactions, allergic reactions ranging from diarrhea and colic signs to hives.  If your horse experiences a reaction to a vaccine we may temper his vaccine protocol in order to mitigate those reactions and sometimes will eliminate some of the diseases that are at a low risk for your particular horse. 

We are so lucky to live in a time where we have safe and effective vaccinations against these deadly diseases.  We can safely protect our horses from diseases that we have no means of treating.  While the expense of vaccine may seem like an additional burden on an already stretched budget it is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of treating any of these disease. 

To Blanket or Not to Blanket: Common Sense Approach

To Blanket or Not to Blanket: Common Sense Approach.

There are many, many, different voices weighing in on this debate in horse husbandry; many with very passionate arguments on both sides. While I hesitate to add my voice and muddy the waters further, I feel that I owe my clients a view on the blanketing issue so that they can make a decision based on facts and common sense rather than internet fodder rife with judgmental and often unsupported non-facts.

Horse husbandry has changed dramatically over the past 30 years that I have been a horse owner.  I remember as a young horse owner in North Idaho that most horses didn’t have barns.  Many felt that the cover of a good stand of trees was sufficient protection from the elements for all forms of North Idaho winter weather.  Barns were for show horses.  Blankets for horses were largely unheard of for back yard horses.  Most horse owners would have one or two moth eaten canvas topped felt lined horse rugs for emergencies.  Show horses, were of course blanketed more frequently but even those were rarely blanketed all year.  While our winters seem to be getting a little longer and a little colder these past 10 years, I don’t think the climate change has changed as much as the way we take care of our horses.

It’s not uncommon to see horses in my practice now that are rarely without some type of clothing.  From one or two winter blankets, fly sheets, stable sheets or coolers.  Some horses have more wardrobe options than a Reba McIntire concert.  How do you decide if your horse “needs” or could benefit from a blanket?  Are you doing harm to your horse by keeping that blanket on all year?  Are they better off being “all natural” and hairy?  Let’s talk about the pros and cons of blanketing in general and then you can decide if and when blanketing fits into your personal horse husbandry.

From a completely medical standpoint, there are a few reasons why a horse might “need” or benefit from a blanket.  Any horse that is under ideal Body Condition Score (BCS) of 5/9 cannot adequately maintain his body temperature in colder temperatures.  In our area I’ll define that as below 20 degrees F.  But there are other factors to consider.  Horses can deal far better with cold and dry weather than they can with cold wet weather.  Those fluffy winter coats insulate best when dry and long periods of rain and near freezing temps can significantly lower your horse’s ability to keep warm.  That’s where that extra layer of insulation of body fat kicks in and protects the horse from chill.  Even a well fleshed horse can become chilled in those late fall/early winter cold wet rains.  Be sure your horse has some ability to get a break from the constant wet so that the undercoat has a chance to dry.  Without some type of shelter from the rain, a waterproof blanket can provide a wonderful layer of protection. 

Here is one of the areas where you need to be conscientious, though.  A horse that is blanketed while wet can develop bacterial or fungal infections in the skin if they allowed to stay wet under that blanket.  Some of the new breathable blankets do a great job of both insulating and allowing a horse to dry while protecting them from continuing rain.  If you blanket your horse while he is wet, be sure to check under that blanket to be sure he is drying out thoroughly.  Some of the ways to aid in this is to have a cooler under the blanket to absorb the moisture (here come the wardrobe changes), replace the wet blanket with a dry one once the horse’s coat has dried a bit, or place terry cloth towel between your horse and the blanket to absorb the moisture.   As long as you are making sure that you aren’t creating a warm wet environment under that blanket you will be okay.  Don’t choose not to blanket a wet chilled horse just because you have heard you should never blanket a wet horse.  That piece of colloquial wisdom should be changed to “you should never blanket a wet horse and then forget about it for the next few days”.

Older horses, even in good flesh can have a very hard time regulating their internal temperatures during frigid weather.  I do recommend blanketing these older guys when the winter weather gets frigid to help them to not spend so many precious calories on keeping themselves warm.  Be diligent about removing that blanket at least once every few days to evaluate body condition and be sure you aren’t creating pressure points on these often bony seniors.  I’ve seen many oldsters that were blanketed through the cold months have their blanket pulled on the first warm spring day only to find an open wound or that they have lost 75 pounds undetected under that blanket. 

Weanlings are the other group that can often have trouble adjusting to our cold temps in the fall;  especially late in the year youngsters that were maybe weaned in late September or October.  Depending on your feeding program you may find that your weanling is all belly and little bulk.  They have a distinct ability to grow copious amounts of baby fuzz often disguising a lack of muscle covering.  Especially if you have one of the non-quarter horse breeds that doesn’t build blocky muscles at an early age, your youngster may be lacking in enough meat on his bones to keep him adequately warm.  Watch these youngsters carefully for signs of being chilled.   Be sure you have a blanket that fits your baby well as these little guys can get themselves pretty tangled in blankets that are too big for them. 

The other group of horses that are often blanketed through the winter are those horses that are being ridden.  Trying to work a horse with a full coat of winter hair can be difficult.  If you get any sort of sweat it can take hours to dry them off and they are at increased risk for being chilled until they do dry.  Not to mention the incredibly annoying prospect of saddling the wet muddy horse with 2 inches of winter hair.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with blanketing a horse that you are planning to ride through the winter just to help mitigate these issues.  I actually much prefer blanketing to body clipping if I had to choose one for myself and my horses.  But, often for horses in extremely athletic work a combination of the two might be necessary.  All of the internet rumors that blanketing ruins a horse’s ability to grow a winter coat or that it robs them of necessary vitamin D or that it creates horses who forget how to regulate their own temperatures is largely poppy cock.  The one downfall to keeping your riding horse blanketed through the winter months is that you will need at least two blankets, maybe a cooler and possibly an additional heavy insulated blanket if it gets really, really cold.  It takes more monitoring and diligence to keep your blanketed horse’s adequately protected from the unpredictable North Idaho weather.  I don’t recommend it for horses that are only being ridden lightly or are turned out in a typical treed and brushy North Idaho pasture and only being seen during daylight hours on Saturday.  Too many issues can arise with blanketing for those kinds of situations. 

So those are just a few of the situations in which you might consider a blanket for your horse.  Before you go shopping let’s go over some guidelines and pitfalls that may occur with winter blanketing.

1.  Wetness:  We’ve already touched on this topic with the blanketing when wet issue.  It’s important to note that waterproof blankets don’t always stay waterproof.  If your horse gets damp or remains damp under that blanket they can get chilled, or develop nasty skin conditions. 
2.   Sores or rub marks:  Some horses can be harder than others to fit to a blanket.  Be sure that your blanket fits your horse well with no pressure points.  Some common areas of pressure are the top of the withers and the points of the shoulder.  Even with a well fitting blanket, repeated wear can cause hair breakage just from rubbing.  Evaluate your horse while moving and with his head down eating to be sure your horse’s blanket fits well.
3.  Tangles:  Any horse can get himself in a bind while rolling in a well fitted blanket.  Obviously blankets with missing belly or leg straps or that don’t fit well are a bigger risk.  We once had a horse in a nice new well fitting blanket completely shred the blanket in a matter of 2 hours.  We didn’t see it all happen.  Just found a naked horse and a destroyed blanket 2 hours after turn out.
4.  Chilled horses:  This seems counterintuitive but for horses that have been wearing a big heavy winter blanket since November, that February sub zero cold snap can feel REALLY cold.  This is when you may need either a second blanket or a heavier blanket to help them stay warm when those temps hit. 
5.  Overheated horses:  Because our temps are unpredictable and often we see temperature swings of over 40 degrees in a 24 hour period it can be hard to find the perfect combination of insulation and breathability to keep your horse from sweating under that heavy blanket.  One of the ways to best deal with this is to keep the lightest blanket possible on your horse.  I prefer to let my horses develop a bit of a winter coat (even if I’ll be riding in the winter) before I start blanketing.  Then I use a mid-weight breathable blanket that mostly protects from wetness without completely compromising hair coat.  Then I can remove the blanket on the warmer days without my horse becoming chilled or developing a sweat under the blanket. 

So, I think it is obvious after reading this that most of the pitfalls with blanketing can be avoided by diligent husbandry practices.  A healthy application of common sense and responsibly checking your horse’s blanket fit and being sure there is no moisture or sores developing can help you avoid almost all of the common problems associated with blanketing.

We can’t complete a blanketing discussion without talking about shivering.  Shivering is the body’s way of creating heat through muscle contraction.  When the core body temperature drops low enough shivering will ensue in an attempt to warm that temperature back up.  Horses primarily heat themselves through the winter by fermentation of fibers in the hind gut.  Often times feeding a shivering horse a helping of forage will stop the shivering within a few minutes.  If that is the case then your horse is probably going to be okay without a blanket.  But if they are shivering so hard they won’t eat or if the shivering persists even in the face of a big hay breakfast then you need to take steps to warm them up.  GRAIN DOESN'T KEEP HORSES WARM in the winter, hay does and it’s one of the reasons that I recommend grass hay as your forage of choice when it’s cold.  Keep your horses munching throughout the day on those really cold days and they will stay nice and warm. 

In summary, blanketing your horse is often a personal choice though there are times when we may recommend a blanket for medical reasons (age or body condition mostly).  If you do make the choice to blanket your horse please understand that it requires diligent monitoring throughout the winter and that MOST healthy horses if provided adequate protection from wind and rain can survive our North Idaho winters just fine.