Clinical Laboratory
Southwest Equine offers extensive in-house laboratory services.
- CBC/Chemistry/Fibrinogen/Lactate
- PCR- Strangles, Salmonella, EHV-1
- Fluid Analysis
- ACTH / Insulin
- Anhidrosis Testing
- Serum Amyloid A
- IgG
- Quantitative Fecal Egg Counts
- Culture
- Send Out
Our in-office Idexx Blood Analyzers provide reference-lab quality results for Complete Blood Counts (WBC, RBC) and Chemistry Panels (liver, kidney, protein, electrolytes) within 15 minutes. Fibrinogen levels are available within 30 minutes.
For horses with suspected infectious diseases, we offer rapid result testing (Strangles and EHV-1 in less than 60 minutes, Salmonella in less than 24 hours). We can easily monitor for safety to return to the general population in the case of Strangles and Salmonella as well as determine which horses are likely to require enhanced biosecurity measures at home
Joint fluid, peritoneal fluid, and thoracic fluid can be analyzed by our in-office laboratory machines, and microscopic analysis is routinely performed on complex cases.
Southwest Equine is proud to offer testing for Cushing’s (ACTH) and Insulin (Metabolic Syndrom) in our in-office laboratory. ACTH and insulin testing are critical when evaluating horses with laminitis or metabolic conditions. It takes several days to get results back from send-out laboratories, so the ability to have results within 30 minutes has been a game-changer when developing the best treatment recommendations.
Insulin tests can be performed stall-side and are often recommended prior to joint injections with corticosteroids, particularly in any horses with known or suspected underlying endocrine or metabolic dysfunction (Insulin dysregulation, Cushing’s Syndrome).
We are excited to offer the ability to diagnose and monitor horses with Cushing’s Syndrome with a test that provides results in 20 minutes (no longer do we need to send the test out and wait up to a week for results). Our Truforma Analyzer is capable of providing accurate results for both baseline ACTH and TRH stimulation tests in a timely manner and results will be available the same day or overnight (Depending upon the number of samples we need to run each day).
We offer stall side testing for anhidrosis to determine if your horse is a complete non-sweater, partial non-sweater or has a normal ability to sweat and may have a high respiratory rate for other reasons.
SAA is a marker of inflammation that is often used to monitor infections and response to treatment. SAA levels can be run on the farm or in our office with results within 15 minutes.
it is important to evaluate IgG levels in neonatal foals between 18-36hrs of age to ensure that they obtained enough high quality colostrum. Low IgG levels are highly associated with the development of sepsis/infection in neonatal foals. Our IgG analyzer is superior to the old subjective <400 mg/dl or >800 mg/dl style and will give a quantitative result of up to 2000 mg/dl.
We recommend strategic deworming schedules that incorporate an annual fecal egg count to prevent over-use and resistance to our limited dewormers for horses. We HIGHLY recommend fecal egg counts on foals and weanlings to evaluate parasite burdens and risk for ascarid induced respiratory disease.
Coming in 2025: we will provide in-office uterine cultures to increase the efficiency of diagnosing and treating uterine infections during the breeding season. Samples will be limited to uterine cultures only.
Some tests require submission to an outside laboratory or university. Results may take several days to weeks before they are reported back to our office. Below are some of our most common “send out” tests