4,777 answers about horses & farm animals
Horses and farm animals run on routine — feeding schedules, hoof and health care, safe fencing and calm handling, in all weather. This page gathers the horse and farm animal library of KinsLe Answers in one place, organized by topic from daily care to travel and senior animals. Every answer is original, written by KinsLe, and tied to a real KinsLe feature.
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449 answers in Health & Vet Care — page 15 of 19
A useful medication log for several animals is one running record where every treatment gets a line the day it happens: which animal, what was given, why, when, and when any withdrawal period ends. Keep it somewhere everyone treating animals can reach, and use names or tag numbers that match the animals themselves,…
An egg-bound hen needs warmth, quiet and gentle support while you get veterinary help lined up, because a stuck egg can become life-threatening quickly. Bring her indoors into a warm, dim, draught-free box, and sit her in shallow warm water for fifteen to twenty minutes at a time to relax the muscles around the vent.…
Technique beats force: use the dosing syringe your vet supplies, slip the nozzle into the corner of the mouth where there are no teeth, aim it over the tongue toward the back of the mouth, and depress the plunger steadily, then keep the head raised a few seconds so the medication is swallowed, not dribbled. If your…
Start beyond the small-animal clinics: most companion-animal practices see no farm species at all. Look instead for mixed-animal or large-animal practices and mobile farm vets who visit holdings, and ask around — regional veterinary directories, agricultural extension services, poultry clubs and feed merchants usually…
Stand your horse square and relaxed on a level surface, then rest your fingertips lightly over the digital artery as it runs down either side of the fetlock and pastern, pressing softly — a firm grip can squash the pulse flat. In a healthy resting horse that pulse is faint and often hard to find at all, so what…
Day-to-day Cushing's care is built on consistency. Give the medication your vet has prescribed at the same time each day without gaps, and shape the diet around low sugar and low starch — many owners soak hay to reduce its soluble sugars, following their vet's guidance for this horse. The heavy, slow-to-shed coat…
Score a goat with your hands, not your eyes: goats carry much of their fat internally, so a goat can look fine and feel thin. Work through three areas — the loin and spine just behind the ribs, the ribs themselves, and the sternum between the front legs — pressing your fingertips through the coat to feel how much…
Hens stop laying for many ordinary reasons: shortening daylight, a moult, getting older, going broody, a fright or change in the flock, or feed that has slipped in quality — and sometimes she is laying perfectly well in a hidden nest. Work through those before worrying, and check she is eating, bright and moving…
A worm egg count looks at how many worm eggs a horse is shedding in his droppings, and vets use it to worm only the horses who actually need it instead of treating the whole yard by the calendar. That targeted approach leaves the low shedders untreated, which slows the build-up of wormer resistance and keeps the drugs…
In general, every horse needs tetanus cover, because the bacteria live in soil and manure and a small wound can let them in, and equine influenza cover is standard for horses who travel or compete. Beyond that core, vets commonly discuss equine herpesvirus, and risk-based additions such as rabies or West Nile where…
Work through the herd animal by animal before breeding and turnout: score body condition and adjust feed for any doe too thin or too fat, trim feet, check eyelids and condition for signs of parasite burden, review vaccination and worming status with your vet, and confirm minerals are available and being eaten. Check…
Watch the basics in a steady rhythm: that he is bright and interested, eating and drinking normally, passing droppings and urine as usual, and that his temperature stays in his normal range. Check the procedure site itself for growing heat, swelling, discharge or edges opening, and note how any sedation wears off — he…
Phone the vet first and describe the signs, then keep your horse safe and closely watched while you wait: take hay and feed away, and walk him slowly in hand in a secure space if he is restless or determined to roll. Note when the signs started, whether he has passed droppings, what he last ate, and his temperature…
Build the kit around wounds, bandaging and information: non-stick dressings, rolls of bandage and cohesive wrap, a way to flush a wound clean, blunt-ended scissors, a digital thermometer, disposable gloves, a hoof pick and a hoof boot, plus your vet's number written inside the lid. Keep it somewhere dry at the yard,…
Send the whole clinical story, not a summary: the passport and microchip details, vaccination record with dates, and notes of every significant treatment, colic episodes, laminitis, lameness investigations, surgeries and any bad reactions to medicines. Dental charts and the date teeth were last done, shoeing notes if…
Go with questions that separate the hen from her circumstances: ask whether her age and breed make a pause normal, whether her body condition, vent and crop feel right, and whether parasites or a hidden illness could explain it. Ask what the rest of the flock's laying pattern tells them, since a whole flock stopping…
Bring every new farm animal into a separate pen or shelter it cannot touch noses through the fence with your stock, and keep it there for an isolation period, commonly a few weeks, before any mixing. Give the newcomer its own buckets, feed bowls, brushes and tools, handle it after your resident animals rather than…
A Coggins test is a blood test that checks a horse for antibodies to equine infectious anemia, a viral disease spread mainly by biting flies that has no cure and no vaccine. Your horse needs a current negative result to travel to most shows and events, cross many state lines, enter a new yard, or be sold, because the…
At a routine dental visit the vet examines the mouth with a full-mouth speculum fitted and the horse usually sedated, so the back teeth can be seen and felt properly. Sharp enamel points that form as the teeth erupt and wear are rasped down, a process called floating, and the vet checks for hooks, ramps, loose or…
A first visit with a new horse is part examination, part fact-finding. The vet checks heart, lungs and gut sounds, looks in the mouth to age the horse and assess teeth, examines eyes, skin and legs, and watches the horse walk and trot in hand. Expect questions about the horse's history, worming and vaccinations, and a…
The honest signals are ordinary ones stacking up: an old animal eating less and losing condition despite feed, taking longer to rise and struggling to keep up with the group, and losing interest in the herd mates and old routines. Watch for an animal standing apart, pushed off feed by younger stock, lying down more…
Stop work straight away and lead him at a walk to a stable or small, level pen; a suddenly lame horse should not be ridden, lunged or turned out to work it off. Pick up each foot and check the sole and shoe for a stone, nail or lost shoe, then feel down the legs for heat, swelling or a wound. With no obvious cause,…
Most horse insurance is built around mortality cover, which pays if the horse dies or has to be put down on humane grounds, with vet-fee cover for major illness and injury added by most owners. Loss of use, tack and saddlery, and personal liability are usually optional extras rather than standard. What policies almost…
A vet advises far better with the land's story in hand: which fields each group grazes, how they are rotated and rested, what the grazing is like in a wet season, and whether fields have carried stock with problems before. Herd history matters just as much: which animals arrived or left and when, what illnesses have…
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