Specialist Dental Care Required for Pony at Sanctuary in Essex

INGATESTONE, U.K. - Feb. 20, 2018 - PRLog -- Remus Horse Sanctuary are asking for donations to help one of their ponies - Sparkey – who has had problems with his mouth, teeth and now nostrils, with both Diastema and Periodontal Disease – and will need ongoing veterinary care, medication and possibly surgery.

For some time, the staff at the charity noticed Sparkey's breath smelling quite badly and on an examination by the vet a Diastema was found. Diastema is a gap between two teeth that allows food to build up. As the food rots down, it causes infection in the gap, known as periodontal disease.

When the food in this gap was cleared, a small piece of wood was found in the gap and further veterinary examinations found that the wood had gone through his gum piercing his nostril. Having endoscoped his nostril it was clear that this piece of wood had been there for a long time causing massive distortion to his nostril. It is not easy to extract a horse's tooth due to their design and the roots being deep set so Sparkey had to undergo three sessions under sedation to finally be able to remove the tooth.

Sue Burton, Founder of the Sanctuary said, "we have spent many hours with our vet clearing food that had gone through the hole in Sparkey's nostrils, and now we are trying to sort the hole out.  Its too early at this stage to say whether the hole will heal or not and we now have to wait and see. But for now it is packed to prevent any more food going up through the hole into the nostril."

Sparkey arrived at Remus 4 years ago when his owners were no longer able to provide him with what he needed to live with his Laminitis and Metabolic Syndrome problems.

Sue continued, "dear little Sparkey has been through so much and we still don't know how this is going to turn out, but he has remained his usual cheery self and within minutes of the sedation wearing off he's back to himself and calling for company and food!

"He is only 12yrs old, so we want to give him every chance possible, but this of course has already cost veterinary care into thousands of pounds with more vet visits and possibly surgery to sort out."

This year, Remus Horse Sanctuary is celebrating its 35th Anniversary.

Donations can be made via numerous methods. Full details can be found on the website at: https://www.remussanctuary.org/donate/.  For further information, contact Sue Burton on tel: 01277 356191.