Abstract
Objective—To describe on-site veterinary medical care for working dogs and horses deployed for the 2012 Republican National Convention (RNC) in Tampa, Fla, August 24 to 30, 2012.
Design—Retrospective case series.
Sample—130 dogs and 45 horses.
Procedures—Data collected included breed, age, history, task assignment, reason for evaluation, and physical examination findings. A patient encounter report was recorded each time an animal was seen by veterinary staff for a physical evaluation.
Results—46 of the 130 (35%) dogs and all 45 (100%) horses underwent at least 1 on-site veterinary evaluation, for a total of 478 patient encounters. The most common reason for an on-site veterinary evaluation was a wellness check (446 patient encounters). On the basis of veterinary recommendations, 1 dog and 4 horses were removed from continued service for the duration of the event. In addition, 1 dog and 1 horse were removed from active service for 12 to 24 hours but allowed to return to service for the duration of the event following a veterinary reevaluation.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Results suggested that working dogs and horses deployed for large planned events face different health concerns, compared with concerns previously reported for animals deployed following disasters. Pre-event planning and training of handlers and riders may have helped reduce the number of health concerns, particularly health concerns related to high heat. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2015;247:539–541)
