5 Recommendations To Help Prevent Your Horse From West Nile Virus

5 Recommendations to help prevent your horse from West Nile Virus

West Nile Virus is arguably a severe disease that attacks humans, wild and domestic animals. Having its roots in the U.S. in 1999, over 25,000 cases of this disease have been reported, where 96.9% of these cases represent the horses. According to research done in Pennsylvania in 2000, a significant percentage of this virus is presumably found in birds, mosquitoes, and horses. If you are a horse lover and you are looking forward to keeping him safe from West Nile Virus, then prevention should be your ultimate goal. Before we have a look at the prevention measures, let’s comprehend how the virus gets to the horse.

How is the virus spread?
Birds are the primary carriers of the virus. Usually, mosquitoes bite the infected birds and in turn, bite on other wild and domestic animals, including horses. Infected horses or other animals are regarded as the end host; hence it can’t be transmitted from animals to animals.

Recommendations for West Nile Virus Prevention for Horses

1. Horse vaccination
Vaccinating your horse against West Nile Virus is important. Get the right vaccine purposely for the West Nile Virus. Note that vaccines for other types of the virus will not work. Do the vaccination at the right time and obviously don’t forget to consult your local veterinarian for more information.

2. Get rid of mosquito breeding areas
Stagnate water is undoubtedly a breeding ground for mosquitoes. While in stagnant water, mosquitoes take roughly 14 days to hatch. It is ideal to drain standing water or dump any containers that can hold water around where your horse lives.

3. Use insect repellants
Use mosquito repellant designed for horses. These repellants assist to keep off mosquitoes and other insects away from the horse. Mosquito repellant offers an alternative technique of preventing your horse against West Nile Virus. Since mosquitoes attack at dusk or at night, it is recommended to utilize the repellant at that time.

4. Secure your horses in enclosed stalls at night
Screening is the right way of keeping the mosquitoes at bay. However, all the mosquitoes should be removed inside the stall prior to utilizing the screens. Besides, utilizing a fan inside the stall is an awesome idea. Usually, mosquitoes don’t like windy areas and fans make them move faster than they should. Therefore, it becomes challenging for mosquitoes to find lactic acid and carbon dioxide from the horses.

5. Control lighting around the horse stalls
Light plays an integral role in the stalls. Majorly, mosquitos get attracted to light at night, particularly the yellow light. Also, the mosquito magnet patriot or stinger mosquito zappers are a great device. These devices are particularly tailored to attract and destroy mosquitoes. By installing any of these devices outside, the stall will significantly decrease the number of mosquitoes. Utilizing the device with yellow light will gear to increase the kill number.

Final word
Always implement the above recommendation to prevent your horse from West Nile Virus. Again, remember to reach out to your local veterinarian for more information about the WNL.

The Importance of Vaccinating and Deworming your Horse

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Horse Barn Hacks to Save You Money and Time

Horse Barn Hacks to Save You Money and Time Taking care of a horse is sometimes tiresome and time-consuming work. But you can practice some useful hacks in order to save your hard-earned money and valuable time as well. These useful hacks make tasks easier. You can save yourself money by using these hacks. Let’s check some horse barn hacks to save money and time as well. Some useful horse barn hacks: 1. Revolving Saddle Rack wall: This is the most needed item in order to get success in barn goals. A revolving saddle rack is one of the valuable things in order to do barn work easier. You can do your dream barn comfortably. You can simply revolve the rack and transport the room into your working area. It is a marvelous option for the busy training operations as well. 2. Add second water bucket: You can simply add a second water bucket to fill the water a second time. In this way, you can simply save time and effort. 3. Fasten the brushes to a post: If you have a bulk of old
Read more

How To Measure A Horse In Hands

How To Measure A Horse In Hands Ever wanted to know how big your horse is, but you didn’t know how to get started? Well, there exists a measurement called "hands" that is used to measure heights. The fundamental method of describing the height of horses is by use of hands, of which each hand exhibits 10cm (4-inches). Standard measuring tape or horse measuring tape/stick are primarily used to measure the horse’s height, and then the measurements are converted into hands. It is undoubtedly easier than you thought to know your horse height with super-fast measurements from the hoof to his withers. This can be important, especially when determining the right horse size for you to ride. So let’s have a look at how you measure a horse in hands. 1. Ensure your horse is in the right position So how do you ensure that he is in the right position? Well, there are some aspects to consider: - Assemble the measuring tools prior to positioning your horse. Basically, you ca
Read more

Senior Horse Health Care Guide

Senior Horse Health Care Guide He has stood by you through thick and thin, he has been the one you cried with and the one you won your first blue ribbon on. Now, he still hangs out in your pasture but his friends are a little younger than him and they get most of the attention. You still love him and you plan on keeping him until the end, but what special needs does this aging equine need? Senior horse is typically one that is twenty years old or older. They often begin needing specialized care around this part of their life, because things simply begin to wear out. Just like humans, things start to not work as well as they once did. Their eyes, teeth, joints, liver, gut and kidneys all begin to lose their functionality. These are the areas of the older horse that you must begin to pay more attention to. Older horses may have a hard time breathing; they may also have a hard time walking if they are becoming arthritic. Not being able to walk as well means that it is harder to walk
Read more