The Rivers Equine Vets

11/07/2025

HENDRA HEROES – IS YOUR HORSE PROTECTED?

**SPECIAL OFFER**

As many of you may already know, last Friday 4th July 2025, an unvaccinated horse has tested positive to Hendra virus on a property in South-East Queensland.

This case is a timely reminder to ensure that our horses are protected.

Vaccination saves time and allows us to treat your sick horse immediately and comprehensively. We want your horse to have access to the best treatments as quickly as possible.

To support our local equine community, we have partnered with Zoetis to offer a special promotion for the next month—making it easier and more affordable to get your horses up to date with their Hendra vaccinations.

We will be running a ‘second dose free’ special on our allocated vaccination days, if you have:

- New horses that are yet to be vaccinated;

- Horses who have lapsed Hendra vaccines.

**Excludes travel costs

This promotion starts from 14th July 2025.

If you would like to take advantage of this promotion or have any questions about the Hendra status of your horse, please call our office on 02 6672 3898.

07/07/2025

Very excited to have our keen vet student from joining us for an action packed two weeks of getting learnt 💪

28/06/2025

🪱 In-House Faecal Egg Counts 🪱

Roo has been busy overseeing the set up of the microscope and we are happy to announce we are now able to do your horses faecal egg counts in house! (This means they are cheaper too 😉)

🔬What is a faecal egg count (FEC)?
It’s where we take a measured amount of faeces, mix it with a special solution and then place it under the microscope. This allows us to count the number of worm eggs present and to judge how high that individuals burden is so we know whether we need to deworm them or not.

🔬Why should I get one done?
Parasites, including intestinal worms, are able to develop resistance to the drugs we use to kill them (same as antibiotic resistance).
The more we use the drug, the more resistance develops. This is why having measures such as FEC and only deworming when required helps reduce the amount of resistance present in our community and means our drugs stay more effective for longer.

🔬How do I get a FEC done?
Collect a roughly golf ball size of fresh faeces into a clean zip lock bag labelled with your horses name and drop it into the office. If you can’t get it to the office within a couple of hours place it in the fridge until you can drop it off.

Bulk discounts are available if dropping off 5 or more samples at a time. Call the office if you have any questions (02) 6672 3898.

26/04/2025

Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS)

🔹 EMS involves both endocrine and hormonal changes that essentially create insulin dysregulation.

🔹 Can develop at any age and is more commonly seen in Pony breeds, Morgans, Warmbloods and Arabs to name a few.

🔹 Management factors of modern day horses increase the risk and prevalence of EMS due to access to high quality pastures and hay, high sugar feeds and not as much regular exercise. This has all lead to an increased availability of metabolisable energy in the form of glucose.

🔹 Clinical signs may include;
- cresty neck
- increased body condition score
- regional fat pads (tail head, prepuce, shoulders)
- laminitis

🔹 Diagnosis involves testing the insulin levels within the blood, this may be done fasted and/or in conjunction with administering a high sugar syrup. We often run glucose bloods at the same time to help rule out Diabetes Mellitus as this is more commonly seen in EMS cases.

🔹 Treatment revolves around careful management - nutrition, exercise and medications if required. Medications may include Ertugliflozin or Metformin.

🔹 Hoof care is very important due to the high risk of laminitis associated with EMS. We will always offer hoof xrays in these cases so that the horse or pony can be trimmed or shod appropriately.

🔹 Affected horses diets should be low sugar (

25/04/2025

First up - Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID)

🔹 PPID is a common endocrine disease of older horses, generally affecting those aged 15 years and above.

🔹 Occurs when a section of the pituitary gland in the brain becomes enlarged and overproduces hormones.

🔹 Clinical Signs may include;
- change in attitude and/or lethargy
- hypertrichosis (long shaggy hair coat that doesn’t shed come spring). See photo.
- muscle wasting (especially along top line)
- regional fat deposits
- increased water intake and increased urination
- laminitis
- increased susceptibility to infections (hoof abscesses, skin issues, respiratory issues, dental issues).
- infertility

🔹 Testing for PPID involves taking blood to check the level of ACTH - one of the hormones that is released by the pituitary gland. If levels come back high and the horse is showing clinical signs we can usually assume they have PPID.

🔹 Depending on the clinical signs your horse is showing we may carry out other diagnostics such as xrays if we suspect laminitis or a dental exam if they are having weight issues.

🔹 Treatment for PPID involves daily medication with pergolide (most commonly in the form of Prascend tablets). This is a lifelong treatment and there are now multiple formulations available so discuss options with your vet. This may be in conjunction with other treatments such as pain relief in the initial phase depending on symptoms.

🔹 Longer term;
- Horses with PPID are high risk for dental disease and so it is important to keep them up to date with regular dentals.
- Routine blood testing is recommended to ensure ACTH levels have come back within normal limits. Initially 2-3 months after starting treatment and then yearly.
- ACTH levels fluctuate naturally during the year so the best testing time is Autumn.
- Nutrition is important and should be tailored to the individual, some general rules are aim for low sugar and provide a good quality protein.

🔹 Tomorrow we will take a look at EMS!

Photo Courtesty of the Equine Endocrinology Group

24/04/2025

🐎 What is Equine ‘Cushings’? 🐎

This is something we see very commonly and is a blanket term used for two seperate conditions occurring in our horses.

These two conditions are Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) and Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID).

The symptoms can be quite similar between the two and a horse may be suffering from just one, or both of these conditions. We often diagnose them when we are called out to a horse or pony that is laminitic.

Keep an eye on your Facebook feed over the next few days as we cover each of these conditions in more depth 📚🤓

17/04/2025

OFFICE HOURS -
EASTER HOLIDAY AND ANZAC PERIOD

Friday, 18th April 2025 - CLOSED

Monday, 21st April 2025 - CLOSED

Tuesday, 22nd April 2025 to
Thursday, 24th April 2025 - OPEN

Friday, 25th April 2025 - CLOSED

We will have a vet on-call for
EMERGENCIES ONLY
throughout the holiday period.

09/04/2025

Thanks Randlab for coming down to the Northern rivers ! Always an informative and social day looking after our four legged friends 🐎

Scoping day at The Rivers Equine - Murwillumbah. Dr’s Kat and Katherine are excellent vets. If you need Equine help/advice in the northern rivers reach out to The Rivers Vets.

29/03/2025

❗️Ross River Alert❗️

Please be aware we have been seeing Ross River Virus (RRV) infections over the last couple of months in our local horse population. This virus is transmitted by mosquito’s and can also infect humans.

Clinical Signs can be very non-specific and may include;
🔎 Fever
🔎 Reduced appetite
🔎 Muscular pain and spasms
🔎 Joint and/or lower limb swelling
🔎 Lethargy
🔎 Lymph node swelling
🔎 Increased respiratory rate +/- cough
🔎 Wobbly gait, weak and uncoordinated

Not all horses that are infected will show clinical signs. Those that do can present similarly to other diseases such as colic, colitis and cellulitis. Unfortunately it is also similar to Hendra and so this may need to be ruled out depending on your horses vaccination status.

If you do suspect your horse may be affected by RRV we can assess them and run a blood test which will detect antibodies against the virus. It is common for horses to have low levels of antibodies in this region and so in a lot of cases we run what is called a paired blood test. The first test will give us our initial level and then the second test, run 3-4 weeks later, will indicate whether those levels are still the same or if they have changed significantly.

If your horses antibody levels are similar between the two tests then we can assume they have had infection previously (months to years ago) and there immune system is not actively fighting the virus at this time. If the antibody levels are significantly different this indicates that your horse has had a recent infection and their immune system has been busy trying to fight off the virus. This helps us formulate a treatment plan for your horse, especially when trying to determine if their clinical signs are associated with the virus or something else (hopefully not colic!).

Treatment is symptomatic so we may prescribe anti-inflammatories and pain relief to help with the fever, swelling and muscular pain. We may also start your horse on antibiotics if we are worried about secondary bacterial infections. Other treatments may include fluid (oral or IV), diet changes and injections to help support the immune system. Symptoms can hang around for weeks to months and so time, rest, and patience are also important.

To reduce the risk of your horse contracting Ross River Virus consider insect reduction measures such as insect sprays, rugs and stabling during dusk and dawn. Try to eliminate any stagnant water around your horses environment that may provide a breeding site for mosquito’s, we understand this is difficult at the moment!

If you suspect your horse may be infected with Ross River Virus or if you would like to have their anti-body levels checked please contact the clinic on (02) 6672 3898.

Photo courtesy of thehorse.com

24/03/2025

Gastroscope Day - Rescheduled to Tuesday 8th of April.

Due to Cyclone Alfred our gastroscope day was rescheduled.

The new date is Tuesday the 8th of April and will be taking place at Murwillumbah Showgrounds.

We are very fortunate to have helping facilitate this day for our local horse community. Anyone who would like to book into one of the few remaining appointments please give the clinic a call on (02) 6672 3898.

14/03/2025

OUR OFFICE IS BACK ONLINE!

Our vets have been busy seeing many weather affected horses in the past few days. We hope all of your horses are recovering well.

We would like to confirm that our office is back online taking bookings for routine and emergency visits.

Contact our office on 02 6672 3898 for an appointment.

09/03/2025

Government Funding for Flood Affected Animals

If your animal requires emergency treatment as a result of flooding associated with Cyclone Alfred NSW Government is providing financial assistance.

Eligible cases include animals that have conditions directly arising from flood water exposure, prolonged exposure to rain, wet and muddy conditions. This may include wounds, greasy heel, rain scald, hoof abscesses and stress colic.
The last few days have been taxing with power cuts, intermittent phone reception and road closures so we thank you for patience during this time. We hope everyone has stayed safe, please contact us if you require assistance with your horses and we will endeavour to help to the best of our ability.
Clinic number (02) 6672 3898