Among the many tools Zoetis offers to help horse owners maintain better horse health is Stablelab which is a handheld equine blood test that is 30 times more sensitive at detecting infections than traditional tools.
White and dappled gray horses in stable
StableLab measures SAA, a protein in the horse that is normally absent or present in very low concentration in a healthy horse, but increases rapidly during an infectious inflammatory disease.
© 2010 by John Clark New window.
Stablelab Serum Amyloid A is a blood test that can be done in ten minutes right at the horses stall to monitor disease. SAA is a protein in the horse that is normally absent or present in very low concentration in a healthy horse.
This protein increases rapidly during an infectious inflammatory disease process, allowing it to be used as a biomarker of disease. The protein does not increase in non-infectious inflammation with the exception of only a certain few conditions.
Stablelab SAA quickly detects disease in very early stages. The ability to differentiate infectious vs. non-infectious inflammation gives veterinarians critical information to use in formulating a treatment plan, or conducting further diagnostic tests.
- SAA allows veterinarians to monitor a horse’s response to treatment when long term antibiotics are needed (e.g. internal abscesses, pneumonia, peritonitis, cellulitis, post-surgical infections, upper respiratory infections, post-castration swelling, wounds)
- The information SAA provides allows veterinarians to practice judicious use of antibiotics. The growing prevalence of antibiotic resistance and the have negative side effects such as colitis associated with antibiotic use are key reasons to use antibiotics only when needed.
- SAA is a good screening test for disease pre/post shipping and pre/post-surgical.
- SAA tracks the patients progress and/or response to treatmen
Press release provided by Zoetis