Ambulatory Services
Although Pilchuck serves as a leading equine referral center, we also take pride in providing exceptional primary care for the horses of the Puget Sound area. Pilchuck’s ambulatory practitioners are based from the hospital facility and work closely with our hospital surgeons and internist to provide their patients with exceptional care. They also have direct access to in-hospital equipment and resources such as an on-site pharmacy, state of the art laboratory and administrative offices.
Pilchuck’s ambulatory vehicles are fully equipped to handle routine and emergency veterinary care for our clients, allowing us to bring the expertise of our veterinary staff directly to their farms and ranches. Our field veterinarians are able to perform diagnostics such as radiology and ultrasound, and take pride in the quality of the service they are able to provide to our clients.
Wellness Care/Preventative Medicine
Pilchuck’s ambulatory department offers comprehensive wellness and preventative services intended to provide our patients, young or old, with the care required to keep them healthy. From the young foal to the geriatric retiree, we recommend personalized vaccination protocols that are based on the AAEP guidelines and tailored to each horses’ particular circumstances. Because of increasing resistance to parasiticides, we now recommend running fecal tests to assess a horses’ parasite burden and allow us to form a strategic deworming protocol specific to that horse or group of horses. We offer nutritional assessment and consultation for horses of all ages and can provide recommendations to ensure a healthy digestive tract. Hay analysis is available upon request.
Dentistry
Horses have a dental arrangement unique to their species that requires regular maintenance and care. Frequently observed conditions that may bring your horse to the dentist include weight loss, or trouble chewing/dropping feed. More subtle indications for dentistry might be head shaking, lameness, or unusual aggressive behavior. Pilchuck offers both mobile and in clinic equine dentistry for your horse. We are able to perform routine floating, extractions, dental radiographs and some advanced procedures.
Pre-purchase Exams
Pre-purchase exams typically include both a physical and lameness exam. The lameness exam will often include flexion tests as well as x-rays. These exams are valuable tools for the perspective buyer to determine if the horse in question is an appropriate mount for the intended use. We can perform pre-purchase exams either at the farm or in the hospital, and can address any specific issues that the buyer or seller may have.
Lameness Exams
Our ambulatory practitioners regularly perform routine lameness evaluation and diagnostics. From the acute and severe lameness to the mild and chronic one, our doctors will take the time necessary to diagnose the source of the problem. Radiographs and ultrasound are a routine part of the diagnostic procedure; if your horse requires further care such as an MRI or surgery, we have full access to these services at the hospital.
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT)
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT) can often aid the healing process of soft tissue or bone injuries that are not responding to conventional treatments. It is a non-invasive procedure utilizing the production of acoustic sound waves to produce high pressure waves that are then focused at a point of tissue or bone. Studies have shown that it reduces inflammation, thereby reducing pain and promoting healing. It appears to be especially effective where ligaments attach to bone or where there’s an arthritis problem. ESWT has been used successfully to treat bowed tendons, suspensory ligament injuries, stress fractures, splint bone fractures, bone spavin, navicular syndrome, overriding spines (withers), sacro-iliac conditions (Hunters Bumps), & back pain. It can be done on an out-patient basis at the hospital or at an owner’s barn. Patients are sedated and treated standing, which takes approximately 10-15 minutes once the sedation has taken effect. It customarily takes from one to three treatments (two to three weeks apart), depending upon the severity of the condition and the type of tissue being treated.
Regenerative Medicine
In recent years there has been a lot of exciting developments in the use of stem cells derived from either bone marrow or fat for the treatment of soft tissue and joint injuries in the horse. Current derivatives of stem cells are more accurately described as bone marrow derived progenitor cells. Pilchuck Veterinary Hospital has been involved with the use of stem cells for over 4 years. Stem cells have been utilized for the treatment of tendonitis, suspensory ligament desmitis, and soft tissue injuries within the stifle. In recent years additional treatment options including the use of Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) as a way to deliver growth factors to the injured site have been incorporated. At Pilchuck Veterinary Hospital we currently use both PRP and bone derived stem cells as part of our treatment modalities for various soft tissue injuries.
