Equine Infectious Anemia and Your Horse

Spring is in the air and for horsemen, this marks the beginnings of hitting the trails, rodeos, horse shows, and other events.  For the last 10 years the Animal Care Center has hosted a Spring Equine Health Month, offering discounted vaccines, de-wormers and Coggins Testing.  Our goal is to help the horseman be prepared for the event season by having their Coggins Testing completed and keeping their horses healthy by preventing the common diseases they may come in contact with during the year.

Coggins testing is a blood test that tests for a virus that is responsible for a disease called Equine Infectious Anemia.  The virus is spread through blood sucking external parasites such as biting flies and mosquitos.  It can be spread from horse to horse through these insects.  The reason it is so important in the horse world is because there is no cure for it and no vaccine to protect your horse from the virus.  Risks for contracting this disease increase whenever your horse is hanging out with other horses that may be silent carriers of the virus.  For this reason, horse sales, horse events, organized trail rides, trainers all request that your horse be tested for EIA at least once a year, some may even request it within 6 months of the event.

I won't bore you with the specifics of EIA, I have attached a link about the disease if you have interest in it.   It is a state reportable disease, meaning if your horse test positive for the disease it must be reported to the State Animal Health Department by your veterinarian or the lab that ran the test.  While incidence of EIA is rare in the Midwest, cases do occur, and your should safe guard your horse and others that may come in contact with your horse (and visa versa) by having them tested.

There reason I bring this up now?  It is not uncommon for me to have a horse owner call on a week-end needing their horse Coggins tested because they are leaving for a horse show the next day.  This means you have to present your horse for inspection by your veterinarian and they will need to draw blood for the test.  In most cases, test results may take as long as a week and certainly would not be back in time for you and your horse to attend the event.  Fortunately for my clients, the Animal Care Center is a state approved lab for Coggins testing and we can sometimes have results back within a day and two at the most.  However, why wait until the last minute and find yourself unable to show your horse for the lack of good organizational skills on your part.  Be prepared, organized and keep your horse safe; now is the time for testing.