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- Decide if
your horse is healthy or ill.
-
Physical Exam - A thorough physical exam should be done
including:
- Heart--any
murmurs or irregular rhythm?
- Lungs--any
signs of disease?
- Eyes--can
the horse see?
- Mucous
membranes--are they a healthy looking pink?
-
Gastrointestinal Tract--are there normal intestinal sounds?
- Nutrition
- Is your horse receiving adequate nutrition both in quantity and
quality? Older horses have problems absorbing calories.
- Water
- Does your horse have
access 24 hours a day to clean water?
- Parasites
- Older and thin horses are less resistant to parasites. Intestinal
parasites cause many problems from colic to impeding absorption of
calories. We recommend having a fecal exam done.
- Teeth
- Horses teeth continue to descend into their mouths their entire
life. The wear on the teeth may not be even and one tooth may be
much longer than the others. If a horse can't grind its food
properly, the calories cannot be absorbed. We recommend having a
dental exam done.
- Blood work
- There are several tests we run routinely:
- Complete
blood count (CBC) - this tells us about a horse’s immune system
and whether it is anemic or fighting an infection.
- Chemistry
profile - this tells us how the organs are working.
- Fibrinogen
- this is elevated with chronic or long term inflammation.
- Pain
- If the horse hurts, this may be causing weight loss. We recommend
a lameness work-up to help isolate the problem and then treat the
underlying cause of pain.
- Manure
-- Chronic diarrhea can cause weight loss
This information is provided as an
educational tool and is not intended to replace veterinary care. Please
call our office if you have any questions!
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