Page 1098 - The Veterinary Care of the Horse
P. 1098
the last horse to enter the facility has completed the isolation period.
• Only authorized people should enter the unit.
VetBooks.ir • The unit must be securely locked when no staff are present, to prevent unauthorized entry
to the unit.
• The attending vet will give advice on special procedures necessary for dealing with a
particular disease.
The above procedures are possible with a purpose-built or specially adapted isolation unit.
However, where facilities are unexpectedly needed on smaller equine establishments, the
attending vet will give advice and make recommendations that can be achieved with the
facilities available. The above guidelines should be adhered to as much as possible.
When there is no separate isolation unit, the following steps should be taken.
• Infectious horses should be moved to a separate area of the premises if possible.
• The person looking after the sick horses should not have contact with the other horses. If
there are not enough people to achieve this, the healthy horses should be attended to first.
• Protective clothing should be worn when working with the infected horses. This should
remain in the isolation area.
• An approved disinfectant (as advised by your vet) should be used for cleaning boots and
all equipment, feed bowls, rugs, headcollars etc.
• Great care should be taken to avoid inadvertent transmission of the infection to healthy
horses. Take special care not to get discharges or infected fluids on your clothes, hands or
hair.
It is sensible for any equine yard with new horses entering on a regular basis to consider
some form of isolation policy for new arrivals as it is common for these horses to bring new
infections with them. Isolation should ideally last for 3 weeks.
EUTHANASIA
Having a horse put to sleep is something that unfortunately many horse owners will have to
face at some time. Euthanasia is a method of providing a humane and painless death. It may
be done as an emergency procedure or planned in advance.
The most common reasons for euthanasia include:
