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Equine flu was confirmed in two horses in the Perth area last month. Both horses have recovered well. One horse whose vaccines had lapsed by several months ran a high temperature and was off her food for a few days. The Animal Health Trust believe the virus to be one of the strains included in the current vaccines and this would seem to fit the picture as no other vaccinated horses on the yard were affected.  We have seen no other cases on the yard or on neighbouring yards so hope the outbreak is now contained.

Signs to look out for in your horse are :

Cough

Nasal discharge

Off food

Lethargy

Tay Valley Veterinary Equine Centre is a prequenza equine flu surveillance practice and as such the AHT will process swabs for no charge as part of the national flu surveillance scheme.

Testing a urine sample is a quick and cost effective way to check for many of the symptoms of disease in your pet. Even in an animal which appears healthy checking a urine sample can show signs of the early stages of diseases which may not yet be causing a change in your pets behaviour. Conditions such as diabetes and kidney disease can be picked up early where treatment can be most effective.

CAT

In the first instance try putting down a perfectly clean empty litter tray, if your cat is in the habit of using a tray sometimes this is enough to catch a clean sample.

If you find your cat is upset by the lack of litter in the tray you can purchase a simple non absorbent litter kit. This contains plastic litter which allows your cat to display its normal behaviours around the litter tray and encourage it to produce a sample. The kit also contains a pipette which allows you to lift the sample hygienically and a urine sample pot to transport the sample to the surgery. Please ring or e-mail the surgery using the prescription request button and we will leave a kit for you at reception.

If your cat usually toilets outside or he/she finds even plastic litter distressing to use, the vet can take a sample of urine using a thin needle passed through the wall of the abdomen and bladder, this process is known as cystocentesis which is well tolerated in pet cats.

DOG

Take your dog out on a short lead, using a clean reasonably flat container, slide this under the dog or bitch as they begin to urinate.

The uripet sample collector can be purchased from the surgery, this is an easy way to collect a sample as it has a collection device and a sample container attached.

Hints and Tips

• Always use a perfectly clean and dry container for both collection and transporting urine samples to the surgery. Certain disinfectants, soaps or food contamination can alter the results from the sample.
• Wear rubber gloves when collecting samples from both dogs and cats, urine can cause infection and skin irritiation.
• Take the sample when you know that you can bring it to the surgery within an hour or two of collection, crystals can form in urine quite quickly once it has cooled and these can affect the results from the sample.
• Results can be obtained from a relatively small sample, don’t worry if the sample is only a few millilitres we can still get perfectly good results.

7pm Thursday 4th March 2010 Gleneagles Equestrian Centre

In association with the British Horse Society Scotland, World, European and Olympic Champion, Mark Todd will show how he chooses and prepares his competition horses.

Tickets £20 - Contact BHS Scotland , Woodburn, Crieff PH7 3RG