Our daughter
will be showing her pony at our county fair this summer.
While we do not want to discourage her, we are worried
about her pony getting strangles.What can we do to
prevent this?
A: Strangles, also
commonly called distemper, is a very serious, contagious
disease in horses. Many horses with strangles refuse to
eat and drink, are depressed, have high fevers and have a
white discharge from the nose. By the third or fourth day
of the disease, the lymph nodes under the jaw begin to
swell, become sensitive to touch, and eventually break
open and discharge
The normal duration of strangles is about two weeks.
Your daughter can protect her pony from getting
strangles by being very careful by not using equipment
contaminated by other horses and by having her vaccinated.
Your veterinarian can give you additional advice about how
your daughter can minimize the risk of her contracting any
diseases while at the fair.
Q: We are very impressed
with the breadth of knowledge that our veterinarian has
about all of the domestic animals. It seems that we can
ask her anything related to animals and she has a good
answer.
Do veterinary students have to learn about all of the
domestic species and wild animals or do they pick only one
or two species to learn about while in school? Can
veterinary students specialize while they are in school?
Are veterinarians licensed to practice on everything that
walks, crawls, flies or swims?
A: Although most
veterinarians choose to limit their practices to only one
or just a few species of animals or to a specific
discipline within the profession, veterinarians are
allowed to practice on all nonhuman animals in the states
in which they are licensed. In other words, veterinarians
in the United States are not licensed to practice only on
specific species. Veterinary licensure in the United
States is general, that is a licensed veterinarian is not
limited to practicing on only one species of animal.
Because there is so much to know and because there is a
great amount of differences in the various species related
to anatomy, physiology, susceptibility to various
diseases, and reaction to medications, many veterinarians
are discussing the merits of limited licensure and
customized educational tracks while in veterinary college.
In other words, veterinarians in the future might be
licensed to practice only on pets or only on cows or only
on horses, or only on exotic animals, etc.
Many veterinarians currently choose to work on only one
species or in a specific discipline area such as surgery,
ophthalmology, dermatology, etc. Veterinarians can become
board certified in more than 20 specialty areas.
Board-certified veterinarians have obtained additional
training in their disciplines and passed the scrutiny of
examination boards within their specialty. Board-certified
veterinarians are recognized specialists.
In addition to learning about all of the domestic
species of animals, veterinarians learn about public
health issues related to animals and people while earning
their degrees. The work of many veterinarians in the
United States relates to ensuring that we have the safest
food and water supply possible anywhere in the world.
Following natural disasters and foreign animal diseases
threats, veterinarians are often called upon to help
restore order.
Send e-mail to
copleysd@copleynews.com or write to Pets, Copley News
Service, P.O. Box 120190, San Diego, CA 92112-0190. Only
questions of general interest will be answered in this
column.
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