Preventative Health Care, Dentistry & Geriatric

Preventative Health Care, Dentistry & Geriatric

Dentistry

Quality care for your horse starts early in life and taking care of the teeth is very important. We start at birth checking the bite and palate for correctness. Weanlings with correct bites should do well but will need to have their first float and wolf teeth removed before they begin training as yearlings. Horses that have their teeth checked and floated every year can be expected to live well into their senior years on hay and pasture with very little grain. Contrast that to the senior horse with missing teeth who requires multiple feedings and expensive feeds.

Your dental care at Central Georgia Equine Services starts with a physical examination. We’re going to make sure your horse can be safely sedated, check his weight and vital signs before we proceed. We utilize full mouth speculums and powerful lights to examine every inch of your horses’ mouth. If needed our oral endoscope allows us to see, video and photograph the entire mouth. Once we have identified any problems we are ready to proceed.

Indications of dental problems may include:

  • Dropping feed while eating
  • Holding the head sideways or tossing the head while eating
  • Episodes of choke or colic
  • Poor hair coat and condition, weight loss
  • Whole grain and long stems of hay in the manure
  • Nasal discharge, swelling of the face, bad breath, bump on the lower jawbone
  • Fighting or resisting the bit while training, head tossing or tilting, failing to stop or turn

We have a vast array of power and hand instruments that enable us to diagnose and treat most dental conditions such as enamel points, hook and ramp formations, wave mouth, step mouth, excessive tartar buildup and incisor corrections. Miniature horses we’ve got you covered with small instruments that enable us to care for you too. Our extraction tools allow us to treat fractured, loose and infected teeth. Skull radiographs are done in cases of infections, fractures, sinus involvement.

Your horses comfort and safety are paramount to us during their dental procedure. We utilize sedation and nerve blocks to keep everyone safe and comfortable. Our padded stocks are a huge help in extensive procedures. We encourage horse owners to attend dental procedures and learn more about their horse’s mouth.

Preventative Medicine

Your horse lives outside where parasites, biting insects and the elements impact his health. Thanks to modern medicine a horse never has to die from diseases like Tetanus, Encephalomyelitis, West Nile Virus and Rabies. Vaccine confidence is so high that manufacturers now offer protection guarantees.

We will develop a custom protection plan for your horse. Horses that live in boarding stables need different protection from horses that live on private farms. If you attend horse shows or competitions you also need higher levels of protection. We stock a complete line of vaccines to protect your horse.

Times have changed. Resistance to anthelmintics is prevalent. We no longer deworm horses every 60 days. Instead we do fecal testing. Our McMasters fecal egg count can be done while you wait, you will know what drug to use and when. Many horses only need one treatment per year.

Our “Preventicare” programs reward owners for good care. Clients on our “Preventicare Gold” program receive 10% off all services including emergency care, lameness and reproduction services. Your time is valuable, we offer complete health care and can perform your horses’ annual wellness examination, dental care, sheath cleaning, vaccinations and Coggins testing all in one visit.

Senior Horse Care

It’s not just a horse, it’s a special horse that has been your partner in competition, 4H, trail rides and so much more. You spent hours grooming, riding and talking to each other. You have a bond that is hard to describe. It’s your Senior Horse.

We believe Senior horses need special care. We start with a yearly Senior Wellness Exam, dental care, fecal testing and vaccinations to protect their health as their immune system wanes in their older years. Endocrine testing to screen for conditions such as Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction is done before they have laminitis. Routine complete blood counts and chemistry profiles can identify a decline in kidney function and adjustments made before they are in a crisis. We look for arthritis and use a combination of joint injections, dietary supplements and anti-inflammatory pain medication so that we can preserve joint motion and muscle mass. We find that taking a little extra care with our older patients is time well spent.

Dentistry

Quality care for your horse starts early in life and taking care of the teeth is very important. We start at birth checking the bite and palate for correctness. Weanlings with correct bites should do well but will need to have their first float and wolf teeth removed before they begin training as yearlings. Horses that have their teeth checked and floated every year can be expected to live well into their senior years on hay and pasture with very little grain. Contrast that to the senior horse with missing teeth who requires multiple feedings and expensive feeds.

Your dental care at Central Georgia Equine Services starts with a physical examination. We’re going to make sure your horse can be safely sedated, check his weight and vital signs before we proceed. We utilize full mouth speculums and powerful lights to examine every inch of your horses’ mouth. If needed our oral endoscope allows us to see, video and photograph the entire mouth. Once we have identified any problems we are ready to proceed.

Indications of dental problems may include:

  • Dropping feed while eating
  • Holding the head sideways or tossing the head while eating
  • Episodes of choke or colic
  • Poor hair coat and condition, weight loss
  • Whole grain and long stems of hay in the manure
  • Nasal discharge, swelling of the face, bad breath, bump on the lower jawbone
  • Fighting or resisting the bit while training, head tossing or tilting, failing to stop or turn

We have a vast array of power and hand instruments that enable us to diagnose and treat most dental conditions such as enamel points, hook and ramp formations, wave mouth, step mouth, excessive tartar buildup and incisor corrections. Miniature horses we’ve got you covered with small instruments that enable us to care for you too. Our extraction tools allow us to treat fractured, loose and infected teeth. Skull radiographs are done in cases of infections, fractures, sinus involvement.

Your horses comfort and safety are paramount to us during their dental procedure. We utilize sedation and nerve blocks to keep everyone safe and comfortable. Our padded stocks are a huge help in extensive procedures. We encourage horse owners to attend dental procedures and learn more about their horse’s mouth.

Preventative Medicine

Your horse lives outside where parasites, biting insects and the elements impact his health. Thanks to modern medicine a horse never has to die from diseases like Tetanus, Encephalomyelitis, West Nile Virus and Rabies. Vaccine confidence is so high that manufacturers now offer protection guarantees.

We will develop a custom protection plan for your horse. Horses that live in boarding stables need different protection from horses that live on private farms. If you attend horse shows or competitions you also need higher levels of protection. We stock a complete line of vaccines to protect your horse.

Times have changed. Resistance to anthelmintics is prevalent. We no longer deworm horses every 60 days. Instead we do fecal testing. Our McMasters fecal egg count can be done while you wait, you will know what drug to use and when. Many horses only need one treatment per year.

Our “Preventicare” programs reward owners for good care. Clients on our “Preventicare Gold” program receive 10% off all services including emergency care, lameness and reproduction services. Your time is valuable, we offer complete health care and can perform your horses’ annual wellness examination, dental care, sheath cleaning, vaccinations and Coggins testing all in one visit.

Senior Horse Care

It’s not just a horse, it’s a special horse that has been your partner in competition, 4H, trail rides and so much more. You spent hours grooming, riding and talking to each other. You have a bond that is hard to describe. It’s your Senior Horse.

We believe Senior horses need special care. We start with a yearly Senior Wellness Exam, dental care, fecal testing and vaccinations to protect their health as their immune system wanes in their older years. Endocrine testing to screen for conditions such as Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction is done before they have laminitis. Routine complete blood counts and chemistry profiles can identify a decline in kidney function and adjustments made before they are in a crisis. We look for arthritis and use a combination of joint injections, dietary supplements and anti-inflammatory pain medication so that we can preserve joint motion and muscle mass. We find that taking a little extra care with our older patients is time well spent.

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