Silver Fern Equine services in Berwick, Victoria | Pet service

Silver Fern Equine services

Locality: Berwick, Victoria

Phone: +61 450 576 123

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20.05.2022 Lovely to promote a sport I love

18.05.2022 Wild case at the end of the day today. This 22 year old QH mare presented with the rather dramatic facial swelling seen on the right side of her face, extending... down to the corner of her jaw. The mare had been examined a couple years ago for a much smaller swelling (golf ball size) and the previous vet and owner had elected to just monitor it. Recently though the swelling had increased dramatically prompting the reason for the visit today. After sedation, clipping, and sterile prep of the site - a needle aspirate revealed a very foul smelling fluid. Being the field veterinarian I am, in practice for almost 30 years, I elected to just be bold and open that monster up! Even though we didn’t know what the heck was going on, I figured at least getting that foul fluid out was better than just hemming and hawing and hoping for the best and attempting to drain through a needle. Wow. The stink about knocked us over it was so bad, nearly a liter of it. One thing I have learned the hard way is never let a mass, or pocket like this go without getting the opening big enough to be able to explore the inside with a finger. It took a bit, as the wall of the mass was over an inch thick, but eventually I got a finger in there and was able to do a sweep. As I was exploring and determining if the mass at the jaw communicated with the mass on the cheek (they did), my finger hit a rock hard structure at the base of the jaw. Another dose of sedation, some alligator forceps, and much wrangling and finagling and I was finally able to get the biggest salivary stone I’ve ever dealt with out! Over two inches in length and half an inch wide. While I had a hunch it could have been a stone all along, I’ve never seen one cause that much swelling, or cause an infected, foul smelling fluid to build up, or not be able to palpate the stone pre surgery. I figured it was just as likely we’d find a foreign body or some other reason for the abscess. Pretty cool case. And while I doubt the mare’s face will ever be normal again and we might have more drama with the distorted, distended, probably destroyed salivary duct - it’s gotta feel better for her tonight and at some point healing should finally occur and improve her situation. Just another example of when you take a phone call requesting you go see a horse and what you think is going on, or what you might encounter, turns out to be something totally other!

08.05.2022 Some glimpses of the work done during the upskilling course IAED ( International Association of Equine Dentistry) Australian chapter In Tamworth.

04.05.2022 Interesting read

17.04.2022 Another big milestone reached doing Equine dentistry with excellent trainers and facilities. Full on course for upskilling and be in tune with the industry. Officially Double qualified from NZ and AU. Was very nerve racking experience during assessment time when they had their examiner face on but all ended well.

08.04.2022 Write up about me where it all started as a kid in the newspaper HINDU one of India most read and popular news paper established in 1878 and second most English newspaper circulated in India https://www.thehindu.com//a-stable-life/article38328835.ece