Residency Program

Dr. Nora Grenager

Steinbeck Equine is the only private practice equine hospital to offer a residency program sanctioned by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

Dr. Nora Grenager is well on her way to becoming board certified through this program under the direction of Dr. Eric Davis.

Game Ready Accelerated Recovery System

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SCEC now provides Game Ready to treat injured horses in the hospital and for preventative therapy on site at horse shows. Game Ready Equine is an Accelerated Recovery System for horses utilizing the same physical therapy used by professional human athletes. It includes ergonomic, flexible wraps that are secured around the areas to be treated and a microprocessor-regulated Control Unit that is filled with ice and water.

To reduce swelling, ice is only half of the solution. Active Compression Units force tissue debris out of the affected area and allow fresh blood flow into that part of the body—unlike static compression wraps. Dry cold therapy offers deeper, more consistent cooling without the danger of cracked heels or other damage caused by excessive moisture from wet cold therapies like ice boots. This dry cold and active compression therapy accelerates recovery of strained tendons, muscle tears, soft tissue swelling and other injuries that plague performance.

 

Contagious Disease Outbreaks
Is your horse at risk?
Wendy Vaala, DVM
Dinner & Lecture July 26, 2007

Vaccinations are just part of the equation in protecting your horse from contagious diseases; learn the risk factors, mode of transmission, incubation period, early clinical signs and recommendations for diagnosis, disinfection and quarantine associated with Influenza, Herpes, Strangles, Equine Viral Arteritis and Salmonella.

 

Acupuncture

Dr. Matern is now certified in veterinary acupuncture through Colorado State University. Acupuncture is the insertion of small needles into specific points on the body to cause a desired healing effect. This technique has been used in veterinary practice for at least 3000 years to treat many ailments. Acupuncture is also used as preventative treatment against various acute and chronic conditions in animals. The American Veterinary Medical Association considers veterinary acupuncture a valid modality within the practice of veterinary medicine and surgery. Used either by itself or in conjunction with Western medicine, veterinary acupuncture can assist the body to heal itself by affecting certain physiological changes.

 

IRAP Therapy

IRAP therapy is not a music group, it is a somewhat new treatment for arthritis in horses and in humans. A chemical that is largely responsible for the pain associated with arthritis is called Interleukin 1. IRAP decreases joint pain by interfering with the activity of Interleukin 1 and similar compounds.

For the procedure, you obtain a large syringe of blood. The syringe you pull the blood into has hundreds of glass balls that have been exposed to a certain gas that favors the “IRAP” and helps amplify it. Once the blood is obtained, it is incubated overnight and then spun in a centrifuge to separate the serum from the other components. This serum is rich in IRAP and once passed through a filter, is injected directly into the desired joint. Extra serum is frozen for subsequent treatments.

Typically, a series of 3 injections are performed 1 week apart to treat 1 affected joint. Coffin joints and stifles that don’t respond well to steroid injections seem to be the most popular condition to treat. Reactions are uncommon largely due to the fact that it is the patient’s own serum.

 

Tildren®

Tildren® is a drug that has been available in Europe for many years to treat navicular disease and has recently become available in the United States to veterinarians who go through special licensure. It is similar to drugs used to treat osteoporosis in people. The activity of the cells that cause the destructive changes we see on X-rays with navicular disease is suppressed. Apparently the activity of these cells is very painful and by reducing their activity, many horses become much more comfortable.

There are many different treatment protocols being utilized with Tildren but most involve placement of an iv catheter and administration of a large amount of the drug as an iv drip for about an hour. Generally in 2-4 weeks the benefits are beginning to be realized and the effect lasts for approximately six months. Horses may remain sound longer by giving monthly boosters.

In addition to navicular disease, many veterinarians use Tildren to treat horses with hock pain. Many lameness diagnosticians feel that Tildren has been the first major breakthrough in the treatment of navicular disease in horses.

 

Stem Cell Therapy

Stem cells have been injected into injured ligaments for many years now and are becoming increasingly popular as a treatment for joint disease as well. The idea is that by providing a large population of cells at the site of injury that are not yet committed to becoming any one tissue, you encourage them to become what is needed for repair.

There are different ways to obtain stem cells for use in horses. One is to take bone marrow from the horse and inject it directly into the damaged tissue straight or after some modification. Another is a commercially available product called “A-cell” in which the source of stem cells is fetal pig bladder. A-cell comes in an injectable form used for tendon injuries and as a sheet used for treatment of wounds (A-cell is currently off the market but reports say it will soon be back). We have been using a 3rd source for the past several years with very promising success, a company called Vet-Stem. The stem cells used are not of embryonic origin but come from the patient’s own adipose tissue. By using the patients own fat, rejection becomes almost a non-issue.

Apparently fat is a storage reservoir for stem cells which is handy because it is readily accessible. The fat is typically harvested through a surgical incision made above and to the side of the base of the tail. This fat is stored in a special container and sent overnight to a lab in southern California where the stem cells are separated out, suspended in saline, and sent back to the veterinarian again by overnight mail. Ultrasound guidance is then used to inject the stem cells directly into a torn ligament or tendon. Alternatively, the stem cells may be directly injected into a badly damaged joint.

Initial research with fat derived stem cells in horses has been encouraging. Clinically, the ultrasound scans of tendon or ligament injuries is amazingly improved 60 days after injection and we feel like more horses are going back to their previous level of work with less recurrences.

 

Anderson Sling

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SCEC has recently acquired a sling to suspend horses that are unable to stand on their own accord.  The “Andersen” sling was purchased with the generous donation of a client who lost his long time friend to a disease that progressed to total paralysis.  Through our mission to provide the highest quality horse care possible to our practice area we have installed a sling in our intensive care unit and trained our dedicated crew to its use. Diseases that may benefit from support in a sling include but are not limited to West Nile Virus, Equine Protozoal Myelitis, Head & Neck injuries, and fractures to name a few. The sling could also be used in a rescue type situation as well.

 

Mechanical Horse

We will be having the Riding Simulator coming to SCEC with USDF Gold medalist equestrian Barbro Ask-Upmark as instructor.  This mechanical horse is 15.1 hands, with three good gaits, and always responds correctly to aids. Riders of any level can improve their position and timing safely and in any weather. Visit alwaysagoodride.com or call 831-596-4999 for more information.

 

Rural Area Veterinary Services-RAVS

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The 2006 year is already underway, with RAVS teams working in Northern Guatemala and on Easter Island. Our Native nations and Appalachian season of providing free Veterinary care to remote Western reservation communities and mountain hollows. It seems like 2005, the year of the disaster, was eons ago instead of just a few months. It is easy to quote the extraordinary statistics and list the achievements: 1,160 RAVS volunteers treated 42,018 animals in 2005. The free services rendered are conservatively valued at $1,475,583.00. Teams including 873 veterinary students from 25 different schools in the USA, Europe and Latin America worked in communities from North Dakota to Easter Island, and from Sri Lanka to Maine. This does not even include RAVS Katrina and Wilma Hurricane relief efforts in which RAVS normally deployed 131 Veterinarians, 258 Veterinary Technicians, 28 students, and 40 other personnel. Hundreds of others, who wanted to work in Mississippi, Louisiana, or Mexico, were referred by RAVS to other organizations not included in these figures. RAVS personnel operated shelters, rescued animals, treated injuries, reunited owners and pets, and were recognized by everyone from government officials to thankful guardians for their effectiveness and dedication. Then there are all the people, like the dog owners in Sneedville, Tennessee, or the Mayan farmers in Uaxactun, Guatemala, or the children at Fort Apache, Arizona who listened, and heard the message of humane and responsible animal care. All the while our volunteers learned from our clients in the rural communities about their lives and the lives of their animals, and how they can help in the future.

For more information on the most up to date news, RAVS is always available at www.ruralareavet.org. The website also includes information on volunteering and the 2006 RAVS schedule.

 

House Calls to the Hoopa
On-the-job training for vet students
benefits the reservation and then some...

The traveling veterinary clinic opens at 8 a.m. on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation northeast of Eureka. By then customers have been in line since 6:30 on the cold banks of the Trinity River, and are eager to get inside with their dogs and cats.

The pets are not as eager. Many have never been indoors, and a fire station that has been converted to a surgical ward is not a gentle introduction to the sheltered life.

"It only takes one dog to start the riot," says Jennifer Scarlett of San Francisco, who is familiar with an 8 a.m. cacophony in her position as field veterinarian for Remote Area Veterinary Services (RAVS) a program of the Humane Society of the United States and the Fund for Animals.

For six years, RAVS has been taking veterinary students onto reservations across the country to put them through a MASH-style trial. For the annual Hoopa outing in March, 35 students, including 20 from UC Davis, met the 27-foot horse trailer that hauled supplies up from RAVS headquarters in Salinas. It takes a day to set up the station with exam and anesthesia stations, six surgical tables, each staffed by a licensed vet plus one or two students, all of whom could probably think of easier ways to spend spring break.

The free clinic runs six days of 12 to 14 hours each. The vets finish up at 9 or 10 p.m., walk down the street to camp at the teen center, then commute back to the clinic in the morning. They will treat any animal, from on the reservation and off, and will go into the field to treat horses and donkeys. In March, they treated 393 patients, the majority for spaying and neutering. The estimated value was $69,000.

"The RAVS animal clinic changes our world," says Robin Roberts, a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, who has lived on the reservation since 2001. "When I first moved here, there were roving packs of dogs and feral cats and lots of runover animals. Now people's consciousness level has been raised. They've actually learned correct pet care."

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Also visit: www.sfgate.com/slideshows

 

Horseman’s Day

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Approximately 200 people attended our 2006 Horseman’s Day. Topics included lectures on Strangles, West Nile Virus, and Epm by Dr. William Saville, Hoof Nutrition by Dr. Scott Gravlee, Stem Cell Use in Equine Injuries by Dr. Bobby Cowles. Dr. Matthew Durham did a presentation on Silicosis in Horses. Paula Wittler spoke about the Rotating Wormer Program.

The late Roy Forzani, renowned horse trainer, was commemorated with a touching speech by Dr. Tim Eastman and a beautiful placard made by Dr. Gary Deter.

We hope to educate our clients so they can help us catch problems as early as possible through careful observation of medical symptoms.

 

2005 Rabies Update

Ten animals tested positive for rabies in Monterey County within the year, 6 skunks and 4 bats. These are the more common species we tend to see positive for the disease in this County.

 

Purina Nutrition Counseling

Steinbeck Country Equine Clinic has teamed up with Purina to offer Nutrition Counseling to our clients. A Nutrition Specialist will meet with you and your horse(s) to go over the types of feeds, amounts, and exercise requirements of individual horses. Each horse is evaluated for body condition and photographed for records. After analyzing the results, the specialist(s) will make recommendations for optimal nutrition for your horse’s needs. This service is not available to individual clients yet, but it will be in the near future!