New Resource for Pet Emergency Preparedness.

As anyone with a pet will attest to, emergencies involving a pet usually occur at the most inopportune times; usually during hours that the majority of vet hospitals are closed. Knowing how to respond to an emergency can not only save money, but potentially the life of a pet. Unfortunately, many pet owners only think of how to deal with an emergency after it has occurred or wish that they would had a pet first aid kit while in the process of handling an emergency.
As a veterinarian, I can personally testify that many pet owners are not prepared to deal with an emergency involving their pet. Some of this is due to the panic factor that occurs upon the discovery that a four legged member of the family is potentially sick or injured. The other part is the simple fact that most animals live many years without being sick or injured, effectively placing the thought of an emergency out of the consciousness of a pet owner. In my opinion, it is always better to be proactive than reactive in any given situation. To help educate pet owners on emergency preparedness, I have created the website, www.pawzfirstaid.com . On the site, I have included a library of videos discussing common emergency situations as well as an online store offering first aid kits and associated supplies created with pets in mind.
In addition to learning how to handle various emergencies, you should also know who to call when something happens. The short answer is to call your regular veterinarian; however, many practices do not handle after hours emergencies. Hopefully if you see a vet that does not see after hours emergencies, they will leave the number of a hospital that will. I would encourage everyone to discuss this subject with your vet and determine what their policy is, as this will help avoid confusion at 3 o’clock in the morning! It is also a good idea to program the number to an emergency clinic into your cell phone. For those of you without a regular vet- there is a useful search engine on my other site- www.askdoctorpawz.com that will locate a pet hospital based on where you live.
I hope that everyone will find this resource helpful! Go on the site, look around, and pass it around to your friends. If there are products or subjects that you would like to discuss, let me know.

Thanks!
Dr. Zadina (AKA Dr. Pawz!)

The Low Price of Horses; Fact or Fiction?

Being a person with an independant mind, I am constantly pondering and reconsidering my opinions, which means my ideas are always evolving! I believe in constantly re-evaluating my stances in life- heck, I used to be a republican and now I am a liberal! At one point in my life, I would have never thought this possible! My views on the horse slaughter issue have experienced a similar transformation. I used to think that horse slaughter was the answer to our horse overpopulation problem and the general low value of horses. My thought process was that if there was a base price as set by slaughter houses, then horses would be worth at least 5-600 dollars which would make it easier to get rid of unwanted horses and thus prevent alot of the starvation and abuse cases that we see today.

As I have pondered my stance on the issue, my thoughts began to consider the fact that horses are still being slaughtered and consumed by the same market that existed before slaughter plants in the U.S. were shuttered. As with any business, industry will adjust to meet demand which means the existing plants in Canada and Mexico would ramp up their efforts and kill more horses in response demand.

The link to the article by the AVMA confirms my suspicions. The same number of horses are being slaughtered in Canada and Mexico as were slaughtered before the U.S. plants were closed down! This seems like the perfect scenario for the horse meat industry. Pay nothing for the animals to be processed and sell the final product at the same or probably higher price to consumers! Imagine what their profit margin must be!! I think that all of us as horse owners have been duped into believing that the average horse is practically worthless!! Here is the link to the article. http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/aug11/110815a.asp

More on the horse slaughter topic later. Please visit my website www.askdoctorpawz.com and feel free to add any articles that might be helpful!

EHV-1; What is it and what does it mean for my horse?

Equine Herpes Virus 1 has been the main topic of discussion among horse owners over the last couple of weeks. The original outbreak was traced back to a National Cutting Horse Association Event in Ogden, Utah that was held a few weeks ago. Two horses that attended the event were diagnosed in Colorado as having the neurological form of EHV-1, otherwise known as EHM, and were subsequently euthanized. Since that event, there have been numerous horses diagnosed with EHV-1, but no other horses connected to the event have shown neurological signs (EHM.)

First, what is EHV-1? EHV-1 stands for Equine Herpes Virus 1. In addition to Equine Herpes Virus 1, EHV-3 and EHV-4 are also common in the horse population. The other acronym commonly associated with the current outbreak is EHM, or Equine Herpes Myeloencephalopathy - the neurologic form of EHV-1.

The Equine Herpes virus is endemic in the equine population, meaning that all horses are infected at some point from birth to one year of age through contact with other horses carrying the disease. Once infected, horses are lifelong carriers and usually show signs of the disease during times of stress; such as when traveling to a horse show. The virus typically manifests itself as an upper respiratory infection, but horses can shed the virus without showing clinical signs. Other clinical signs of EHV-1 are late term abortions in mares, early neonatal foal death, and less commonly, severe neurological dysfunction. Horses that are vaccinated with the rhinopneumonitis vaccine, or “Rhino”, are protected from all forms except EHM.

The form that causes equine herpes myeloencephalopathy (EHM) is a mutation of the EHV-1 normally found in the horse population, meaning current vaccines do not provide protection against EHM. The mutated version of the virus attacks the blood supply of the Central Nervous System which results in severe damage to the brain and spinal cord. Because the virus must mutate to cause neurologic signs EHM is rare in the horse population but, in theory, can be shed by any horse at any time. Research is ongoing to determine the factors that cause EHV-1 to mutate from a usually mild disease to an often fatal one.

Diagnosis of the disease is based on a combination of laboratory findings and clinical signs. If a horse has been exposed to another horse diagnosed with EHM, the current recommendation is to monitor the horse’s temperature twice a day. The normal temperature for a horse is 99-101 degrees Fahrenheit, but can vary depending on activity level and other factors, so it is important to determine normal body temperatures for individual horses. It is not recommended to swab clinically normal horses in an attempt to see if they have EHV-1 since healthy horses can shed the disease. If a suspect horse develops a fever, however, then a veterinarian should be called out to collect blood samples and nasal swabs, which should then be sent to UC Davis for further work-up.

There have been a lot of questions in recent days regarding what horse owners should do from this point on when considering summer equine activities. The advice for the past few weeks has been to “lay low” and let the dust settle. This has allowed time for any new cases of EHM to surface; no new cases linked to the original outbreak have been detected. While it was important in the short term to limit attending horse events, I would not find it necessary to cancel all plans this summer.

Knowing that the equine herpes virus emerges during stressful situations, it is important to minimize a horse’s stress level when traveling to events. In addition, if you are at an event and your animal goes off feed or spikes a fever, be responsible - separate your animal from all others and minimize contact between your suspect horse and other horses. With a little knowledge about the disease, we can all take steps to make sure that we minimize risk for all horses.

News Channel 5- Cheyenne Newscast about EHV-1 Featuring Dr. Zadina!!

Channel 5 Newscast about EHV-1

My absence

Sorry to everyone that has been reading my blog, but I have been busy working on my website!! Please check it out at www.askdoctorpawz.com

Article on Stem Cells

http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2011/04/05/news/01top_04-05-11.txt

Pets and Grieving

http://www.jesusjazzbuddhism.org/dogs-and-divinity.html