A University of Nottingham study has found that colic, wounds and lameness are the most common reasons for veterinarian to make emergency calls to visit horses after hours. The study was based on 2,602 emergency calls to two major vet practices between 2011 and 2013.
Drs. Adelle Bowden, Polina Boynova, Marnie Louise Brennan, Gary England, Sarah Freeman, John Burford, Tim Mair and Wendy Furness found that 35 percent (923) of the emergency calls were placed for colic issues; after-hours calls for wounds encompasses 511 calls (11 percent). Emergency calls for lameness accounted for 288 calls (11 percent). Most of the calls (58 percent) needed only a single treatment, but a quarter of the calls needed follow-up treatments.
According to the veterinarians, only 480 of the 2,602 cases were considered critical; 43 percent of those were related to colic. In total, 13 percent of the horse's emergency calls were made for were euthanized. It is unclear if this was related to acute disease or the deterioration of a pre-existing condition.
The study team noted that many of the emergency calls had critical outcomes and the majority were euthanized. They note that this is an important welfare concern that requires additional investigation.
Read more at HorseTalk.
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