February March 2013 - Page 21
M
ost owners of aged horses are concerned about the health,
welfare, and quality of life of their aged animals. Yet
surveys of management and preventive health-care reflect
that there may be some limitations to what owners are actually
achieving in practice. They show declining management as horses
age, particularly for the retired horse, and insufficient appropriate
preventive healthcare via veterinary surgeons.
There is a school of thought amongst some involved in the care
and welfare of equines that `skinny is normal' for an aged horse.
Malnutrition is never normal in any animal. It is a symptom of
underlying problems.
Defining `aged'?
Physiological age refers to the internal function of an animal, once
it has reached peak performance and senescence begins. Senescent
cells, as they are called, are no longer capable of dividing yet remain
metabolically active.
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