July Newsletter
JULY 2020
COVID-19 UPDATE
Many thanks to all for complying with the policies we instated to be able to reopen the clinic building. We are saddened by the still increasing number of cases in Grant County (currently at 248) and the 14 deaths. All our policies are designed to continue to protect staff and clients from infection. All of LVC staff has remained healthy.
Here is a summary of the things we are doing at Lancaster Veterinary Clinic to continue to serve you and your animals safely:
- We provide curbside service for clients who wish to stay in their cars. Please call and let us know what you are comfortable with.
- We are providing doggie daycare and boarding with drop-off at the outdoor dog run gate.
- The Grooming drop off and pick up is at the back door to the garage. Phone information is on the door.
- Staff will be wearing masks when working with clients. Clients coming in to the building will be required to wear masks and provided one if they need one.
- Animals will be picked up and dropped off in the exam rooms.
- All the vets are happy to take your questions and help your animals with information over the phone. Sending pictures of your animal’s problem(s) is helpful.
- We are sanitizing surfaces, esp areas like phones, door handles and computers, and washing hands frequently.
To protect yourself and your family and reduce viral spread, follow these tips:
- Wash hands frequently and thoroughly with soap and water
- Avoid touching your face
- Stay at home
- Practice social distancing and use a mask when you do go out.
- Cover your cough or sneeze
Drive through COVID 19 testing has been done on July 8 in Lancaster and July 22 in Cuba City. If you have not been able to attend one of these sites and would like to be tested, Crossing Rivers in Prairie Du Chien offers testing daily by appointment or drive through. Please call ahead at 608-357-2819.
COVID-19 appears to be infecting younger people now and is spreading rapidly in the south and west. People can be infected and shedding and spreading the virus for days without feeling sick. Some are asymptomatic carriers, others are early in their infections.
Please continue social distancing and mask wearing when out in public. That is the best defense we have against more corona virus infections.
TERRIBLE PINKEYE PROBLEMS
Once summer decided to arrive this year, the heat and humidity have come with a vengeance. The terrible flies, gnats and mosquitoes have resulted in annoyance, skin problems and terrible pinkeye infections in calves and cows. We have even been seeing some eye infections in horses. The best treatment for pinkeye is either Draxxin or LA300 giving as soon as you see a watery eye or any drainage on the face. If you wait, you will be dealing with a white eye or one already blown out.
Suggestions for preventing pinkeye:
- Install rubber or oiler with fly repellent at mineral feeders
- Vaccinate. We have vaccines with “regular” pinkeye and “winter” pinkeye bacteria in them. You can have eyes cultured to see if you have any mycoplasma involved.
- Keep grass mowed or clipped.
- Consider feeding a mineral with tetracycline. Talk to Sally about this option.
- Use insecticidal flytags to keep flies away from calf’s faces.
- Keep cattle as spread out as possible.
- Monitor daily and treat as soon as you see any moisture on the face.
- You can use a dart gun to treat animals with Draxxin because of the low ml/lb dose.
RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS IN HORSES
Sally has been treating a number of horses lately for snotty nose and cough. Some are due to dusty or moldy hay, but some are an infection. These infections can be caused by a virus or bacteria and show similar signs. Sometimes with strangles, it is best to let the horse work through the infection and develop immunity rather than giving an antibiotic.
Excede works well for treating pneumonia and upper respiratory infections in horses. The dose is 1.5 ml per 100 lbs BW in the muscle of the neck and repeat in 4 days. It is expensive, but the good thing is that you don’t have to inject them twice a day like you do with penicillin. Please call if you have any questions about Excede and how best to use it in horses or if your horse really needs it.
SALLY CHECKING LOTS OF HORSES
The extreme cold winter and dark, rainy spring seem to have thrown mares off cycle and out of synch with the season. Last year was similar, so we had a lot of mares foaling late this spring. Sally has been ultrasounding many mares who did not come in heat until May or June or who were bred earlier, but did not settle. Stallion fertility also seemed to be hampered by the weather.
It is getting late in the mare breeding season now. If you still have mares that you would like to get pregnant, please call ASAP to get them checked. We have options to short cycle mares and to induce ovulation, but they need to be ultrasounded to see what is going on first.
NEW 24/7 HOTLINE FOR FARMER MENTAL HEALTH
A new 24/7 counseling hotline hopes to relieve Wisconsin farmers, under added pressure from effects of COVID-19.
888-901-2558 is a free, confidential service by the Farm Center at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP).
The hotline launched in July-- as part of a pilot program-- is funded by the state biennial budget. It connects farmers with licensed mental health professionals contracted by the department.
The program’s staff explains, “If you’re a farmer who, one, can’t get off the farm, and two, doesn’t have the financial resources or the insurance to cover mental health therapy, now you’ve got an avenue. Now you’ve got someone to talk to who’s going to understand.”