By Robert Christley, Gina Pinchbeck, Chrissy Foley and Worldwide Veterinary Service
Data from animals presented to GHDT between April and September 2005
Report of Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust Clinical database (April – Sept 2005)
Introduction
This data is from animals presented to GHDT between April and September 2005 (Fig 1*). Data were recorded at the time of presentation from both clinical observation and owner reported information.In total 538 consultations were recorded. These included 118 donkeys (49 female, 63 male and 6 unrecorded; Fig 2) and 416 horses (82 females, 329 males and 5 unknown). The type of animal was not recorded in 4 cases.
There appeared to be an over-representation of males. This is likely due to the use of males for transportation to markets, which is where many of the consultations took place. There may also be a bias towards presentation of males for clinical problems due to perceived greater value or higher status of male animals. This suggests efforts could be made to increase number of females seen. There also appeared to be an under-representation of donkeys, with recent estimates (2001-2002) indicating there are more donkeys (41,000) than horses (25,000) present in The Gambia (Statistical Year book of Gambian Agriculture 2002).
Age
The year of birth was recorded for 48 donkeys and 271 horses (Fig 3). Ages were calculated on the basis of owner reported year of birth or dentition. Overall the average age was 7 years (minimum <1 year, maximum 25 years). The average age of donkeys was 8.8 years and horses 6.6 years. The average age for males and females was 7 years.
Condition Score
Condition score was recorded in 403 cases (75%). The average condition score for horses was 2.9 and for donkeys 3.3 (Fig 4). The score for horses were significantly lower than for donkeys (p<0.001).
Clinical Presentation
Two thirds of animals (358/538) presented with a clinical problem. In total 63/118 donkeys and 295/416 horses seen had at least one problem. On average donkeys presented with 1.4 problems and horses presented with 2.1 problems. The clinical problems observed are summarized in Table 1 and Fig 5. The most common presenting complaints for horses were “loss of appetite”, “weak” and “suspected trypanosomiasis”. In donkeys “loss of appetite” and “weak” were also common, however, “foot problems” were ranked ahead of “suspected trypanosomiasis”.
Laboratory Data
In all 41 animals (37 horses and 4 donkeys) had packed cell volumes (PCV’s) recorded (Fig 6). The average PCV was 27.7 and the range was 9-48. This indicates a portion of the animals were anaemic. The lower limit for normal horses and donkeys is not precisely known for this population, but is likely to be around 30.A total of 23 animals (21 horses and 2 donkeys) had total protein (TP) recorded. The average TP was 6.8 with a range of 3.6 to 8.8. The normal range for horses is likely to be approximately 5.5-7.5, suggesting some animals are hypoproteinaemic (perhaps due to parasitism or other diseases) and some are hyperproteinaemic, probably due to mild dehydration.
Trypanosomiasis
Only 22 animals had a laboratory examination for trypanosomes of which 5 (23%) were positive.The mean PCV for the trypanosomiasis positive animals was 20 l/l. This was significantly lower (p<0.001) than that for the negative animals (28 l/l). However, some negative animals did have low PCV (range 9 to 48) although it is known that the animal with PCV of 9 l/l was treated with trypanocidal drugs a short time before testing for trypanosomiasis. The PCV’s for the 5 positive animals ranged from 19 to 22.
Of the 41 animals that had PCV’s performed, 19 had a presenting complaint of “suspect trypanosomiasis”. The average PCV of these animals was 26.5, little different to that for the other 22 animals (27.7). This suggests that at least some of the animals with suspect trypanosomiasis may not have had this infection. However, the sensitivity of the use of PCV for the diagnosis of trypanosomiasis is not yet known for this population. This relationship is the focus of the investigation to be conducted in February.
Treatments
In total, 61 (52%) donkeys and 312 (75%) horses received at least one of the treatments and medications listed in Table 2. The most common treatments for horses and donkeys were Albendazole (a de-worming treatment) and Berenil (a trypanocide). The third and fourth most common treatments reported for horses were wound treatment and Trimethoprim-sulfonamide antibiotics. For Donkeys, the third and fourth most common treatments were wound treatment and streptomycin-penicillin antibiotics. Although horses and donkeys were roughly equally likely to be treated with Trimethoprim-sulfonamides, donkeys were more than twice as likely to be treated with streptomycin-penicillin. The reason for the greater usage (proportionally) of Streptomycin-penicillin in donkeys is not clear.The records also indicated that 93 bits, 36 head collars and 12 harnesses were dispensed during the period of data recording.
*We are unable to include the images for this report at the present time, however they can be obtained upon request from the WVS office. We apologise for any inconvenience.
