Lionheart Equine Veterinary Clinic

11/14/2025

11/12/2025

🚨🩺This evening I witnessed just how incredible the Cariboo community is and I am so grateful to be a part of the team! We were called to the scene of a horse trailer accident by a client who was on site and within moments the community was rallied - horse trailers were en route ( ), my vet tech .t_b was lobbing her groceries into the truck to meet at the scene, local store staff (Interlakes Canco, The Country Pedlar) were on hand helping medicate and get the horses out, and the fire department, RCMP, paramedics, and numerous other official and unofficial first responders were managing every aspect. The horses are already home and settled - no doubt a result of the collective effort of all… Accidents happen, it’s how we respond that counts! ❤️🦌

10/28/2025

So important!

Bale net wrap does a great job of preserving feed quality, but if your horse happens to eat remnants of the plastic wrap, it can cause some serious health issues.

Dr. Alannah Friedlund, a veterinarian and large animal surgical resident at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM), is seeing a growing number of horses that have ingested net wrap, and as a result, have developed colic.

“This net wrap makes it all the way to the small colon, which is the very last stop before the rectum,” says Friedlund. “This is where it seems to get caught in every single case.”

In the small colon, Friedlund says the net wrap gets twisted around f***l balls, forming a “rosary-style chain” that the horse can’t excrete. These horses present with typical colic symptoms but treating with fluids and pain medication rarely work.

Instead, these cases require costly colic surgery with a 50-50 recovery rate.

Friedlund says awareness is critical for avoiding this serious issue, and she recommends following five safe feeding practices.

1. Remove all net wrap from hay bales before feeding
2. Consider alternative feeding methods to make it easier to identify and remove potential hazards
3. Always remove net wrap before processing bales into chopped hay
4. Regularly check fields and paddocks for net wrap debris
5. Call your veterinarian if your horse shows any signs of colic

For more details, read the full article in the Fall 2025 issue of the Horse Health Lines, newsletter for the Townsend Equine Health Research Fund. https://ow.ly/OkiC50Xc4PM

📷 https://ow.ly/P48h50Xc5QN

10/26/2025

What in the Wild West 🥰❤️‍🔥 🛤️🐂🐂🐂

10/22/2025

It’s time to celebrate our vet tech AMY!! HAPPY VET TECH WEEK (sorry we were a little slow on the draw)! Amy is our stethoscope and needle-wielding super tech! This lady keeps us organized, autoclaved, smiling, and sane 😂 Thank you for going above and beyond in every facet of your job and for being such an essential part of our team. Thank you Amy!! 🩺💉💞

10/20/2025

How lucky we are to have loved something so much that losing it can be so painful ❤️‍🩹 Thank you for being authentically you, Driddles 💞 The toughest little spitfire under saddle and the biggest love bug on the ground. He “lived for retirement” and enjoyed his golden years being the sweetest old Dad to baby Tonks. It’s bittersweet he’s back with his best buddies Connor and Jawad galloping in the big pasture in the sky. Give them all a nuzzle for me Drids 🩷

10/02/2025

IT'S MYTHBUSTERS TIME! 🔎

As we know, our equine companions can be quite accident-prone. Injuries can vary in severity from small surface cuts that can be managed at home to deep wounds that require sutures that should be addressed by your veterinarian.

As a horse owner, it's inevitable that your equine will sustain several less severe wounds throughout the course of its life, and you may be tempted to clean these wounds with products such as hydrogen peroxide in an effort to prevent infection. However, hydrogen peroxide may cause more harm than good to the healing process.

The truth is that hydrogen peroxide is much too aggressive and toxic to the fibroblasts and other healthy cells that aid in wound healing. Therefore, the use of hydrogen peroxide can actually delay wound healing. In addition, its use can be quite painful when being applied to the wound site.

Instead, it's important to use an isotonic solution (similar in pH to the fluids of the body). Ideally this solution will be warmed to limit the amount of constriction of the blood vessels. If you're in a bind and the wound is grossly contaminated, clean tap water is acceptable to clean the injury site but be sure to use gentle water pressure.

Overall, be sure to approach wound care and cleaning with caution so that you do not unintentionally worsen the injury or slow the healing process. Avoid using hydrogen peroxide, concentrated antiseptics like Betadine or chlorhexidine that have not yet been diluted, or high pressure when applying water or cleansing agents.

If you have questions or concerns about wound care or are unsure if a wound needs veterinary intervention, contact your veterinarian.

10/01/2025

Latest Meowakee upgrade.🔧🧰⛑️

09/27/2025

SPONSOR NEWS from Zoetis Equine: Research Compares Metabolic Effects of Pro-Stride® APS vs. Triamcinolone Acetonide

Researchers at Gluck Equine Research Center at the University of Kentucky, compared the metabolic effects after injection of Triamcinolone Acetonide (TA), to that of Pro-Stride® APS. Triamcinolone treated horses experienced multiple days of steroid induced insulin resistance and adrenal insufficiency. However, horses treated with Pro-Stride APS or saline experienced no negative metabolic impacts.¹

¹Page AE, Johnson M, Parker JL et al. The Effects of Intra-Articular Triamcinolone and Autologous Protein Solution on Metabolic Parameters in Horses. Animals. 2024 Aug 2;14(15):2250. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14152250

²Page AE, Rauber-Ramos AM, Humiston M et al. Initial investigation into the metabolic effects of intra-articular betamethasone on normal and insulin dysregulated horses. JEVS, Volume 147, April 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jevs.2025.105404

Read more here: https://equimanagement.com/news/recent-research-compares-metabolic-effects-of-pro-stride-aps-and-triamcinolone-acetonide/

09/26/2025

Our whole world ❤️ Happy daughter’s day to my wee Peyton!

09/12/2025

Dr. Maia, Peyton & good-boy Balto are out office until mid-day September 15th! The office is maintaining regular business hours for appointment bookings and medication dispensing. Thank you for your understanding!🎣❤️