Establishing Health Care Programs for Aging Horses

Recent large-scale surveys suggest clients want their veterinarians to provide more services for geriatric horses.
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Two recent large-scale surveys have substantiated that clients want more veterinary services for their geriatric horses, so if you’re taking care of an aging horse, you’re not alone.

At the 2016 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention, held Dec. 3-7 in Orlando, Florida, Dianne McFarlane DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, of Oklahoma State University’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences, talked with veterinarians about medical conditions affecting aged horses, how best to provide wellness care for these animals so you can intervene early when a problem arises, and, of course, end-of-life issues.

More than half the horses over 20 years old are still performing. McFarlane stressed the importance of veterinarians recognizing and teaching their clients the difference between normal aging and disease (more on this in a moment), then identifying age-related diseases early, to maximize the possibility of a good outcome.

Some veterinary practices do this by offering packages where clients pay one up-front price for a complete examination, diagnostic testing, dental exams, a nutritional consult, and education. At a minimum she suggested veterinary practices offer a “geriatric examination,” which would be more like a prepurchase exam than a regular adult wellness exam

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Written by:

Maureen Gallatin is a freelance writer, founder of Horses on a Mission, and author of the inspirational devotional, An Extra Flake.

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