# Anybody used veterinary thermography?



## DD265 (24 June 2016)

I will be discussing this with my vet when they come out but I wanted to know if anybody had experience of clinical grade thermography which is subsequently reviewed by qualified veterinarians then given to your local vet to follow up.

There's another thread in here about my 24yo who's dragging his toes and following advice on here and a heart to heart with myself, I decided to pursue some initial investigation.

A friend has suggested that whole horse veterinary thermography would help us to pin point any areas that need further investigation. It'll run around the £250 mark which I feel is comparable to x-rays but we might spend a fortune on lameness workups anyway. Of course, I could go down either route and we still need to x-ray so... 

One of the main draws for me is that it's non-invasive and I really want to spare my lad as much as possible but this won't be done on insurance and I need to use my money wisely.


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## Milliechaz (24 June 2016)

I talked to my vet yesterday about this as I was also keen on the non invasive technique with a nervous suspicious horse. She said it's OK if used in conjunction with other investigations ie gamma scans xrays etc but on its own it really isn't much use. She is very open minded, I like her very much and she understands the limitations I have with my horse in particular so for her to say "I wouldn't bother" is enough for me not to.


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## JillA (24 June 2016)

It really only detects heat close to or on the surface as far as I am aware, so yes, on its own not reliable. Discuss with your vet - I know some aren't in favour and if you spend the money but your vet isn't willing to help interpret it it will have been wasted.


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## wkiwi (24 June 2016)

http://www.thehorse.com/articles/33247/equine-thermography

some advantages and disadvantages mentioned in this article. often claimed to diagnose deeper structures, but not true, and you would need a suitable place in your yard to avoid the confounding factors (although if you have an american barn situation i've heard thats ok.


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## wkiwi (24 June 2016)

ps. xrays and ultrasound are also non-invasive and will detect deeper structures.


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## applecart14 (24 June 2016)

wkiwi said:



http://www.thehorse.com/articles/33247/equine-thermography

some advantages and disadvantages mentioned in this article. often claimed to diagnose deeper structures, but not true, and you would need a suitable place in your yard to avoid the confounding factors (although if you have an american barn situation i've heard thats ok.
		
Click to expand...

My physio and I have spoken in the past about thermography.  She is a friend as well as my horses phsyio and we often discuss various veterinary and physio topics, I find all the latest information and research very interesting.  Her opinion is that there are so many variables with getting the surroundings where the horse is stood and the horse itself spot on in order to take images and the thermography machine is able to pick up on very slight temperature differences that are not relevant to the injury the horse has or the area of suspicion which could lead to false results.

So she is not a big fan of thermography although agrees that in certain situations it has its place.


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## Darkly_Dreaming_Dex (24 June 2016)

We bought the https://therma-vet.com/ unit for OH smartphone & it is fantastic, i use it for saddle fitting (on a professional basis ) and less than £200  he uses it for his work too  we have also used it on Dex to track his hoof temp as he has laminitis in the past. It would only work on the skin so no good for tracking deep tissue injuries etc


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## paddi22 (24 June 2016)

i had it down to examine if a horse i had had kissing spine or sacrolilliac injuries, and nothing showed up on the scan at all. Ironically, it did pinpoint a mouth issue that hadn't been spotted, but for deeper stuff I don't rate it at all. Horses back and sacro showed as being perfect.

Showed the scans to a vet months later, and he said they trialled it at their vets hospital but didn't rate it highly, said it could be a useful backup too, but they'd never use it to diagnose.


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## DD265 (24 June 2016)

That's great to hear, thank you.

I will be interested to hear what my vet says; I'm willing to bet that the first thing is a bute trial so it could be a couple of months before we actually start any investigation.


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## Dubsie (24 June 2016)

OH has one for his business and I have used it on horses, dogs, damp walls etc.  As posters say it can throw up false heat depending on surroundings or other factors, but can be useful to detect source of lameness.  Handy gadget to have, but depends how you use it.


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## BBP (25 June 2016)

It's been brilliant for monitoring mines sacroiliac and associated back pain, tied in perfectly with the bone scan when I had that done afterwards and improved once he had his sacroiliac medicated. It also showed raging heat in his head when his allergies were really bad which the lady taking them had never seen before. I have the FLIR ONE which is exactly the same unit as the ThermaVet is but about £60 cheaper as you don't pay for the name. I love it for monitoring his SI and any bumps or bangs but it isn't clinical grade.


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## Goldenstar (26 June 2016)

We tried it on C .( have a look at my , My poor horse thead).
It was not the all singing and dancing type that takes hours to do .
My horse turned out to have a broken seventh rib , the thermal images showed on hot spots on the rear end so took you to completely the wrong end of the horse in that it just showed the muscles working hard as he stood in a strange stance .
So won't be doing that again .


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## ihatework (26 June 2016)

I had one done on a complex horse.
It was of little use to be honest, showed nothing that came back on further veterinary diagnostics. The only interesting thing was a very blue/cold hock - indicative of neural damage. But then we didn't need the scan to show that given the horse had string halt on that limb.


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## luckilotti (27 June 2016)

when i had it done i opted for an independent company who offered the thermography without their vets report (as i didnt really see why i should pay for a vet to do a report based on images as i thought to do a useful report that vet would have to see their movement etc!).  I think i paid around £60 for the imaging and £20 travel costs. 
i found it really useful as it pin pointed where the vets should target their investigation (vets had said it could be hoof right up to shoulder somewhere so they wants to nerve block until they found the problems location etc!).  It also showed some heat in her backend which was her compensating how she was standing and moving. 
I would certainly have it done again.


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