On-site veterinary medical evaluation and care of working dogs and horses at the 2012 Republican National Convention.

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.