FALL 2025
EQUINE B O T O X TURNING OFF THE TAP
Dr. Danica Wolkowski injects Botox into Coffee’s salivary gland. Rigel Smith
By Rigel Smith
Coffee didn’t come to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine’s (WCVM) Veterinary Medical Centre (VMC) with a cosmetic emergency, but the solution to the eight-year-old quarter horse’s injury came from the same vial used by cosmetologists around the world. Coffee had a laceration just below the right ear and behind the jaw. The wound was a few days old, but it wasn’t healing. It was bleeding persistently, and a stream of clear fluid was also leaking from the site — especially while the horse ate. The
wound’s location was also directly over the parotid salivary gland, the largest salivary gland in the horse’s body. Just like in people, a horse’s salivary glands produce saliva at a steady rate throughout the day and go into “overdrive” when they eat, describes Dr. Chris Clark, an associate professor in the WCVM’s Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences. “If there’s a laceration into one of those glands, all the saliva starts pouring out through the wound,” says Clark. “It disrupts the blood clot that’s trying to
stop the bleeding, irritates the tissues, and basically makes it impossible for the wound to heal.” Typical treatment for a laceration would include cleaning, flushing, possibly stitching, and bandaging the area. But Coffee’s veterinary team — led by Dr. Danica Wolkowski, a senior clinician in large animal surgery at the VMC — knew these methods would not be successful without addressing the leaking salivary gland. “Initially we turned to bandaging, but the dressings would quickly be soaked Continued on next page.