Causes of sudden death in horses
In a dvm360® interview, an associate professor of large animal internal medicine outlined factors that may cause sudden equine death.
According to Sandy Taylor, DVM, PhD, DACVIM-LAIM, associate professor of large animal internal medicine at Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine, fortunately sudden death in horses is rare. In a dvm360® interview, she highlighted factors that may contribute to this kind of tragedy including intense exercise, toxic plants, and more.
View the video below for the entire discussion. The following is a partial transcript.
Sandy Taylor, DVM, PhD, DACVIM-LAIM: One of [the common causes of death in horses] is exercise-associated death. That's typically seen in racehorses and high-level performance horses, and those are typically due to pulmonary hemorrhage or some underlying heart disease...There are several studies that have been done looking at sudden death in racehorses, but most of the time, there's some acute hemorrhage, usually in the lungs.
