Avondale Veterinary Group equine team is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year providing veterinary care for horses, ponies and donkeys. The practice reinvests the money you spend on veterinary care into equipment and training therefore providing the best possible care for your horse, pony or donkey.
The equine service covers a large area from Glasgow in the North to Moffat in the South, Galston in the West to East Calder in the East.
Services include:
- Lameness investigations and treatment
- Weight loss and poor performance investigations
- Radiography
- Medical colic management
- Wound management
- Advanced dentistry
- Ultrasound scanning of tendons, ligaments, joints etc
- Reproduction work including A.I.
- Endoscopy of larynx, trachea, guttural pouches, sinuses etc
- Sedation for farriery, clipping and transportation.
- Stem Cell Therapy
Dental Services
All the equine vets are qualified in equine dentistry and carry a full array of dental rasps, mirrors etc providing a first class dental service whether on the yard or in our equine facility. We will provide you with a dental chart as a record of your horse’s examination, diagnosis and treatment.
It is recommended that your horse receives an annual dental examination, although some individuals may require more frequent examinations. Only veterinary surgeons performing dentistry are in a position to provide your horse with painkillers, sedatives or local anaesthetics where necessary to make any dental procedure safe and pain free. We have the latest motorised dental equipment for dealing with displaced teeth, overgrown teeth, fractured teeth, diastemata etc.
Vaccinations
Clients are reminded that horse’s vaccination history and accurate records are very important. A horse receives its first vaccination from about 4 months of age then 21-92 days later a second vaccination is administered followed 150-215 days later by a third vaccination. The annual vaccination must be on or before the 365th day. A day late means the horse must restart the vaccination course again according to the rules.
Farriery
A large percentage of cases at Avondale involve lameness. Treatment or part treatment of these cases often involves foot balance and/or remedial shoeing.
Cases under our care and assessed at our equine facility will be shod by Mr Sandy Beveridge FWCF (Fellow of The Worshipful Company of Farriers) who has over 30 years experience and been a Farriery examiner for 20 years. He has lectured and demonstrated farriery in UK, America, Canada and the United Arab Emirates. A discharge sheet detailing work done and future shoeing requirements will be given to each client for their own farrier. The client’s farrier is more than welcome to attend the surgery to contribute to the case on the farriery day. A combined approach and input from vet, Avondale farrier and client’s farrier will be the most productive for a successful outcome. Please note that Avondale Veterinary Group will invoice farriery work directly to the client under normal terms.
Pre-Purchase Examinations
At Avondale we are experienced in carrying out pre-purchase examinations. Please contact one of our equine team for details for this service or just for advice to understand potential insurance and resale problems.
The normal pre-purchase examination or “5 stage vetting” includes the following;
Stage 1 a full clinical examination, including assessment of age.
Stage 2 the trot up, an examination of the horse’s gait, carried out by looking at horse at walk and in trot. Flexion tests are carried out.
Stage 3 the strenuous exercise stage. This is preferably carried out ridden although young unbroken horses can be examined on the lunge.
Stage 4 the period of rest, including monitoring the horse’s recovery rate.
Stage 5 the second trot up, flexion tests and final assessment.
A limited prior to purchase examination or ‘2 stage vetting’ involves stage 1 and 2 outlined as above, therefore carries some limitations of the full examination.
Insurance companies can request radiographs as part of the pre purchase examination for higher value horses. The examining vet may also recommend radiography of joints, endoscopy of larynx, and ultrasound of tendons. A blood sample is taken for storage for all vettings carried out by Avondale Veterinary Group; this is included in the price.
Stem Cell Therapy
Avondale Veterinary Group offers Stem cell therapy for the treatment of tendon or ligament injuries. As long ago as 1961, in lab tests, it was shown that mesenchymal stem cells (MSC’s) could develop into tendon cells and by the end of the 1990s the regeneration of new tendon-like tissue had been shown in the lab. In 2005 it was demonstrated that the implantation of the MSCs induced better and stronger tendon repair. VetCell® have shown that quality stem cell therapy improved quality and function of equine tendon post injury. Please contact surgery for further details and costs.