Vets moving to yard... Advice?

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strange

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Basically our equine vets are a mobile practice. They had plans for a surgery etc but it's all fallen through, so for some reason they approached our YO and asked about building some boxes. No mention of stocks or a surgery or any equipment, just boxes. So I assume these will be used for isolation for disease as can see no other use for them :confused: Surgery is referred to other places... Is there any other use for these boxes?

So the planned conversion backs onto the stables where my horses are being kept. I am not sure how I feel about this :confused: It's a potential danger to my horses if those do have diseases as it could be very easily passed on.

Added complication is that we live near to yard and closest one is 20 miles away. This would be impossible as parents job is so much that she couldn't drive me there every morning and evening.

YO is barely horsey so I don't think understands. Mum has had quiet word with her but she said 'it'll all be fine!' and brushed her off. There are 4 liveries and we maintain the yard ourselves and never complain or anything. No bitching at all. YO has said nothing to us about leaving so I suppose she intends to run the two side by side.

Ideas? Opinions? Kick up the backside? I don't know what to make of the whole thing tbh :(
 
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Personally I'd love to have the vet on the yard (thinking of the savings on call out fees) - I am sure that any risk of an infected horse would have been considered by the vet - they would not want to be responsible for infecting other horses - just think of the negative publicity. Why not, if it is your vet, ask them outright .... the worst they can do is confirm your fears, at best they can put your mind at rest.
 
strange said:
Basically our equine vets are a mobile practice. They had plans for a surgery etc but it's all fallen through, so for some reason they approached our YO and asked about building some boxes. No mention of stocks or a surgery or any equipment, just boxes. So I assume these will be used for isolation for disease as can see no other use for them :confused: Surgery is referred to other places... Is there any other use for these boxes?

So the planned conversion backs onto the stables where my horses are being kept. I am not sure how I feel about this :confused: It's a potential danger to my horses if those do have diseases as it could be very easily passed on.

Added complication is that we live near to yard and closest one is 20 miles away. This would be impossible as parents job is so much that she couldn't drive me there every morning and evening.

YO is barely horsey so I don't think understands. Mum has had quiet word with her but she said 'it'll all be fine!' and brushed her off. There are 4 liveries and we maintain the yard ourselves and never complain or anything. No bitching at all. YO has said nothing to us about leaving so I suppose she intends to run the two side by side.

Ideas? Opinions? Kick up the backside? I don't know what to make of the whole thing tbh :(
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I understand your concern, i would definitely try to speak to the Vets yourselves especially as the yard owner is "non-horsey". You may be worrying about nothing but i would certainly try and have a word if you can.
 
Anyone who moves an infectious diseased animal surely is plain stupid as it should be nursed where it already lives so I can't see the vets doing that on purpose at all. It could be used more as a recuperation after surgery or for those needing scanning I would think. Can you not ask the vets themselves to put your mind at rest?
 
I dont see it being a bad thing if they build boxes and use them for in-patients......if anything you should be quite happy that there will always be a vet to hand should anything happen to your horse.
 
We have a vet practice locally that is based at a livery yard.

The liveries benefit from not paying a callout when they need a vet during normal working hours.

There are a couple of dedicated vet boxes there, so if a horse goes for nerve blocks, Xrays, choke or whatever, there are stables for the visiting horses.

I suppose you could say there's a greater risk of disease transmission because there are more horses coming and going than on a closed yard, but the vets aren't going to risk having any horses with contagious diseases on the yard. Let's face it, they should be able to spot that kind of thing better than most of us.

I think our local practice just has reception, examination room (no stocks as far as I'm aware), computer room and drugs store, as well as more basic equipment like ultrasound scanner and xray machine.

I think I'd be quite happy to know that there was going to be a vet at my yard at least once each day, just in case I ever needed an emergency visit.

Sarah
 
Change can be difficult to deal with but the best thing to do is find out as much as possible about what the vets are planning to do by talking directly with them.

There are many reasons for building boxes and infections diseases is probably very low on the list. They are likely being built for monitoring purposes , i.e. if a horse is bought in for colic, or to work up a lamness issue, or after surgery care, etc.

As for me i'd love to have a vet on the yard.
 
A lot of people keep their horses in places without any electric or facilities so maybe the vet needs to establish a clinic type environment for proper examinations etc. Highly unlikely that a horse with an infectious disease would be moved anyway and certainly not next to unaffected horses I would have thought.

I wouldn't get overly worried about it yet if the yard is great in all other ways. It may come in handy to have the vet on the yard.
 
Thanks guys, am taking dogs in for boosters later to their small animal side so shall get mum to ask them.

Initially I was ecstatic - no call out charges etc. The only other thing is safety will be compromised. Currently gate is padlocked with code. If owner has horses in box they'll probably be given code, which could easily be passed on. Unless there's set visiting hours or something and vet is on yard... is this standard in a vets clinic? Really don't want randomers knowing the code...
 
Our vets are based at the yard. Though they have an office, stocks and 2 stables of their own there. They use their stables for horses that they need to keep a close eye on, ones on drips and ones that they have performed minor surgery on. Anything serious gets sent straight to the equine hospitals. They will never move a horse there that has an infectious disease, they aren't stupid, those horses will be treated where they are along with any others at that yard.

Having vets there is both a plus and a minus to start with.

Pluses - you have no call out fee and they are usually on hand should anything go wrong. You can ask their advice on any number of things when you see then not busy rather than ringing them and worrying that you are interupting something important.

The minus's - Until they get used to you and your ways they will pick up on every little cut or scratch, cough, sneeze etc... and will offer advice on how to do this that and everything until you put your foot down and let them know what you can and can't deal with without their help.
 
Another one who thinks you're worrying about nothing!
I can tell you from experience that the isolation boxes at the RVC are completely separate from the rest of the yard, (Up a dark alley and round the back of the building!) and have washing and changing facilities for the staff for each isolation box - staff completely change their clothes before they go near any other horses.
So unless the boxes they are building have all these facilities, I would imagine, like some others said, that they are for observation rather than for isolation.
 
strange said:
Thanks guys, am taking dogs in for boosters later to their small animal side so shall get mum to ask them.

Initially I was ecstatic - no call out charges etc. The only other thing is safety will be compromised. Currently gate is padlocked with code. If owner has horses in box they'll probably be given code, which could easily be passed on. Unless there's set visiting hours or something and vet is on yard... is this standard in a vets clinic? Really don't want randomers knowing the code...
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Why do you think random people would get to find out the code? When my horse went into vet hospital for an operation, I was only allowed to visit him between set times and there were *always* veterinary staff on site to monitor the horses. Actually, you might find the site is more secure because if they have horses in, they are likely to be there because they need supervision (colic, recovering from surgery, foaling maybe and so on). When mine was in hospital, there certainly weren't any contagious horses there, just other horses have wind operations and some who'd had colic/ colic surgery.

I really do think you are worrying over nothing. I wish my vet was located at my yard, would save me a fortune in call out fees! If a horse has a contagious illness, surely the last thing you'd want to do is move them from their usual yard unless absolutely unavoidable - you risk contaminating the lorry/trailer (and any horses who subsequently travel in it) plus other horses at the vet hospital.
 
MissTyc said:
Boxes could be for teeth, blood taking, colic watch, Xrays, eye examinations, foaling stuff ...
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I think its understandable you are anxious about this happening, as you dont have the full picture.
Speak to the senior vet about your concerns, you may be getting in a lather over nothing.
I think they are likely to be for observation and also for treatment which may require the horses to be sedated and investigated on site.
I wouldnt imagine any vet will move a horse carrying an infectious disease from the yard its on, that is counter productive as the aim is to contain any spread of disease
To be honest id be more concerned over the increased traffic on the yard with people coming and going.
 
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