Equine Ophthalmologist: Southern NH

[VicariousRider]

Can anyone recommend an equine eye specialist in Southern New Hampshire or the surrounding area?

My mother's horse has just been diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease and she needs to get a specialist's opinion (according to her regular vet). However, the horse is a rescue with some MAJOR fear issues that prevent him from trailering so we need to find someone willing to make a farm call.

I have recently moved to Boston from SE PA so I have absolutely no horse connections in the area. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Cashela]

Doesn't the place in Rochester have an eye specialist?

[fivehorses]

I would contact New England Equine in Dover. 603 749-9111.
Tufts may also have an opthamologist, but personally I prefer NEE.
I don't like students being responsible for my horse, and had a bad experience due to it. Dumb kids, even though they were vet students.

[VicariousRider]

Thanks, fivehorses. I gave my mother that number already as I have heard good things and she is going to see if they do farm calls. I'm glad to get another good review of their services, though!

[Pancakes]

I would contact New England Equine in Dover. 603 749-9111.
Tufts may also have an opthamologist, but personally I prefer NEE.
I don't like students being responsible for my horse, and had a bad experience due to it. Dumb kids, even though they were vet students.

Just sticking up for Tufts....please don't call us dumb. We're learning. True, it's a teaching institution, and if you're not okay with that, that's fine, but name calling goes a little far. We all need to learn somehow and trust me when I say we are all trying our best. Many students aren't as horse-oriented as others.

FYI, the opthalmologist is very, very good, and no procedures are done by students. I know from experience.

[chai]

New England Equine in Dover, NH may have someone on staff, or a recommendation for you. I'll also pm you with the name of my old vet in So. Maine who often traveled to NH. He had a special interest in eyes in vet school and did amazing standing surgery on my mare's eye when she developed a bizarre eye virus from chickens.

I will also send you the name of an eye specialist at a clinic near the MA/NH border who treated our diabetic cat when she went blind. She may work on horses, or she may be able to give you a recommendation.

Good luck.

[fivehorses]

Sorry if I offended you pancakes, but after my experience, I will try never to allow my horses to be cared for by students again.
My experience was my horse had opthamalogic surgery for squamous cell carcinoma.
He was going to go home the next day after surgery, and the vet students wanted him to look 'pretty' for me, so they gave him a bath.
On his notes I provided them, I told them he was petrified of hoses so to fill his water bucket, they needed to do it by hand. No problem I was told since their were auto waterers. The idiot student in charge of his care obviously never read the 1 page note I submitted with him about his history and imo killed my horse by giving him a bath.
Good grief, find something else to do with your time, I felt she was in vet school, not cosmetology school. Plus, did she not listen to me at all the week he was there? I went every other day to visit him(lived 3 hours away and worked full time and in grad school full time).
Sorry, but you mentioned it, and I am letting you know how it felt...15 years later.
The treatment there versus a private clinic is enormous. I want care, and obviously the docs were not overseeing that when I was there. Won't repeat that.

[RiverBendPol]

Dr. Nick Cassotis is fabulous. I actually met him when I had my Labrador's eyes examined before breeding her then learned that Dr. Cassotis practices at NEEMS. I doubt he makes farm calls though. Definitely worth a call however!

[touchstone-]

Dr. Nick Cassotis is fabulous. I actually met him when I had my Labrador's eyes examined before breeding her then learned that Dr. Cassotis practices at NEEMS. I doubt he makes farm calls though. Definitely worth a call however!

I too have had good luck with Dr. Cassotis. He has helped me with a horse with an unusual degenerative eye condition. I don't know about farm calls. I've always shipped to Doverl for visits, but I know that he's only there one day a week, so I've always wondered where he is the other days . .. it's at least worth a call to ask.

Good luck! I hope you find someone and your horse is feeling better soon.

[fivehorses]

I highly doubt you are going to get anyone to make a farm call who is an opthamologist.
TNT, which is the mobile unit of NEEMS aka NEE, may be able to help by coming out and examining the horse, but they are not opthamologists.

Could you get the horse sedated and hire a pro to get the horse to NEE. Once there, the horse will be calm, as they believe in not letting a horse freak out, and also the barn is quite nice, and good vibes. All of my horses who have gone there became very relaxed. My horses don't travel a lot, so whenever they leave the farm they get nervous, but NEE has a calming atmosphere.

[RiverBendPol]

I too have had good luck with Dr. Cassotis. He has helped me with a horse with an unusual degenerative eye condition. I don't know about farm calls. I've always shipped to Doverl for visits, but I know that he's only there one day a week, so I've always wondered where he is the other days . .. it's at least worth a call to ask.

Good luck! I hope you find someone and your horse is feeling better soon.

I saw Dr. Cassotis at Port City Referral Hospital
http://www.intownvet.com/portcity/index.html
http://www.intownvet.com/portcity/vets/cassotisn.html

It is another fantastic veterinary resource for us, on a par with NEEMS, this one for small animals. 5 Horse's suggestion of drugging your Mum's horse and getting it to NEEMS would be your best option. Once you get there, you'll see why we all rave about the place! :)

[Pancakes]

Sorry if I offended you pancakes, but after my experience, I will try never to allow my horses to be cared for by students again.
My experience was my horse had opthamalogic surgery for squamous cell carcinoma.
He was going to go home the next day after surgery, and the vet students wanted him to look 'pretty' for me, so they gave him a bath.
On his notes I provided them, I told them he was petrified of hoses so to fill his water bucket, they needed to do it by hand. No problem I was told since their were auto waterers. The idiot student in charge of his care obviously never read the 1 page note I submitted with him about his history and imo killed my horse by giving him a bath.
Good grief, find something else to do with your time, I felt she was in vet school, not cosmetology school. Plus, did she not listen to me at all the week he was there? I went every other day to visit him(lived 3 hours away and worked full time and in grad school full time).
Sorry, but you mentioned it, and I am letting you know how it felt...15 years later.
The treatment there versus a private clinic is enormous. I want care, and obviously the docs were not overseeing that when I was there. Won't repeat that.

I'm sorry for your experience, but that was 15 years ago....the least you could do when calling our students names and badmouthing the care of the school is provide a context to it (i.e. "I had a bad experience there 15 years ago). Consider the quality of care may have changed in 15 years! It certainly has. The entire staff has probably changed since then. And we DO care about how the horse looks when it goes home too since many clients take offense to their horses going home dirty. It is part of the overall care of the horse, not just the medical care. If the medical care was negligent, that's one thing, but if there was something else that happened (and what sounds like a freak accident happened), that's another. While your experience was horrible and certainly something that almost never happens, it's important to realize that circumstances are not the same now.

[ryansgirl]

Another vote for Nick Cassotis at NE Equine Medical and Surgical Center. He treated my mare's corneal ulcer from hell (which required a four day stay at the Center). In my case, he did make a farm call but that is NOT the norm - he came after my regular vet at TNT called him. He typically is only at NEEMSC on Fridays. But I would definitely recommend him! :)

You may want to call TNT Equine which is at the same facility as NEEMSC and ask for Dr. Staci Kehir - one of her specialties is eyes and I've used her for years too and would highly recommened her also. TNT does farm calls.

http://www.newenglandequine.com/

http://www.tntequine.com/

[lizajane09]

And we DO care about how the horse looks when it goes home too since many clients take offense to their horses going home dirty. It is part of the overall care of the horse, not just the medical care.

I will agree here - I worked for one of the best equine medical centers on the east coast, and the technicians were REQUIRED by the clinic to bathe and/or groom horses before they left so that they would look nice going home. So it may not have been the student's idea to do so... or it could have been, I obviously don't know the specific situation, but I can tell you it is NOT an uncommon practice, even at places that are not teaching hospitals.

[fivehorses]

You have got to be kidding me? Bathe a horse who is in a hospital for care?

I hate to tell you this, but I think NEE is one of the tops in the country and never have heard of them bathing a horse. Not all horses are show horses use to getting a bath.
Why stress a horse who is already stressed due to illness or injury by giving it a bath?
Please share the name of this top place you worked, want to put it on my list of 'Don't go there".
Sorry OP for tangent.

[Pancakes]

I will agree here - I worked for one of the best equine medical centers on the east coast, and the technicians were REQUIRED by the clinic to bathe and/or groom horses before they left so that they would look nice going home. So it may not have been the student's idea to do so... or it could have been, I obviously don't know the specific situation, but I can tell you it is NOT an uncommon practice, even at places that are not teaching hospitals.

Just for the record, horses are not bathed at Tufts anymore unless there is a request by the owner, or extenuating circumstances (i.e. to cool a feverish horse down who is in danger of overheating). It is mandatory for students or barn staff to groom the horses everyday though, and to send them home looking as good, if not better, than the came. This is pretty much standard with most hospitals I've been to.

And to stay on topic, Dr. Pizzirani is an excellent ophthalmologist and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him. Many of the equine ophtho appointments are also outpatient, unless the horse requires surgery and needs to stay. We also can arrange for care at a veterinarian's facility if a subpalpebral lavage system is required with medications every 2 hrs (so you as the owner don't have to) if you wish.

[lizajane09]

You have got to be kidding me? Bathe a horse who is in a hospital for care?

I hate to tell you this, but I think NEE is one of the tops in the country and never have heard of them bathing a horse. Not all horses are show horses use to getting a bath.
Why stress a horse who is already stressed due to illness or injury by giving it a bath?
Please share the name of this top place you worked, want to put it on my list of 'Don't go there".
Sorry OP for tangent.

To clarify, we weren't bathing them to make them "show pretty." Many horses that have been through a major surgery or procedure end up a mess - smeared with blood because they fought the NG tube, plastered with dried sweat from their distress before they were brought in and treated, etc. We would wash the blood or whatever else off before the horse went home because (a) being smeared with blood/sweat irritates the skin and (b) owners tend to get upset at that sight. If they weren't that messy, they got groomed instead of bathed just so they were somewhat presentable.


I will PM you the name of the clinic, although I think it would be ridiculous for you to refuse to take a horse to a clinic with many excellent vets because they'll clean blood off of your horse. Now, if you have put in the chart that under no circumstances is the horse to be near a hose and someone ignores that, that's a whole different problem. You have every right to be upset about that, and I can assure you that nothing like that ever happened at this clinic - charts were checked and double-checked before anything was done to a horse.

Also sorry to the OP for the tangent - I know of some good equine ophthamologists but they are all down in FL, so not especially helpful for you!