A brief history of pre-purchase examinations followed by an emphasis on how to eliminate problems while performing the exams will be discussed. Areas of concern include the veterinarian/client relationship, the veterinarian’s expertise in the athletic discipline for which the horse will be used, obtaining complete and accurate information about the horse’s medical history, if possible, and repo...

BACKGROUND The importance of communication skills in veterinary medicine is increasingly recognised. Appropriate communication skills towards the client are of utmost importance in both companion animal practice and production animal field and consultancy work. The need for building a relationship with the client, alongside developing a structure for the consultation is widely recognised and ap...

Since 2007, Q fever has become a major public health problem in the Netherlands and goats were the most likely source of the human outbreaks in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Little was known about the consequences of these outbreaks for those professional care providers directly involved. The aim of this survey was to estimate the seroprevalence of antibodies against C. burnetii among Dutch livestock ve...

A 13-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse stallion developed acute onset of colic in central Georgia in October. He was found in his stall in the morning with numerous abrasions on his head. The grain and hay that he was offered the previous evening were only partially consumed. The owner witnessed him pawing at the ground. He then became recumbent and rolled. The local veterinarian was called and ...

The objective was to compare farm veterinary surgeons' and dairy farmers' opinions on herd health plans and herd health and production management with the aim of discovering and better understanding the differences. Two comparable questionnaires, one for farm veterinarians and one for dairy farmers, were distributed throughout the UK. While listing the 'major roles' of the veterinarian on the f...

Many of the congenital neurologic diseases can result in incapacity or death of the animal. Some of them, such as idiopathic epilepsy and hydrocephalus, exhibit breed or familial predisposition and a genetic basis was proved or suggested. Some diseases can be presumptively diagnosed after a detailed signalment (breed predisposition), history (e.g. family history because many of these defects ha...