A little Grace update...

_jetset_

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I have been down to Olympia, so sorry to those who have PM'd me and sent messages on here... I am very touched!

I have had several updates from the resident vet, Mel, and she has been fantastic. Never once have I felt I am chasing up information, she has phoned me twice a day and I am so very grateful for her honesty when she speaks to me.

I phoned the vets yesterday morning and there was a message waiting for me saying it was "excellent news" and Mel was really pleased with how Grace was doing and would phone me later on. About 10 minutes later I received a phone call from Mel saying she was really pleased with Grace's progress, and she was eating all of the haylage that she was having put in, was really bright and had eaten the high energy feed that she had been given. The biopsy had also come back and everything was fine... there was also no signs of salmonella damage, but we are still awaiting the rest of the test results for this from the lab.

Mel then phoned me in the evening and said Grace was still very bright, but had not eaten the high energy feed. I asked whether she had haylage in too, and she did... so I explained that she does not really bother with hard feed if it is quite plain when she has haylage. So this morning she ate all of it before having the haylage put in.

I phoned up this morning for an update and the receptionist said it was excellent news again this morning, she was incredibly bright and she had been taken off the IV fluids. However, when Mel phoned me this afternoon it transpired that Grace had removed her catheter twice so they had left it out and were monitoring her dehydration carefully which was looking good this evening.

We are still waiting for the test results of the salmonella, but she still has the dirrahoea... I asked what could be causing this and Mel said colitis was more than likely the cause
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Does anyone know about colitis??? From how she said it, it seemed quite a common thing and not something to be too concerned about...
 
Colitis is an infection of the colon - do not stand behind them, diahrea has been known to cross county lines with this, and as you can guess (being infected) it smells gross too. It is quite treatable, and it seems they have a handle on it.

I am not surprised she pulled her catheter out - no other equine hospital I have seen has stables where horses can hang their head outside.
 
GT's you should see one of the BIG vet hospitals in Newmarket, ALL the horses can put their heads over the doors and look outside and most of them have catheters/drips in suspended from the ceiling!

Becki So glad that she is doing so well.... onwards and upwards now!
 
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GT's you should see one of the BIG vet hospitals in Newmarket, ALL the horses can put their heads over the doors and look outside and most of them have catheters/drips in suspended from the ceiling!

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Well it seems a very poor design!!!!!!
 
Oh honey that's fantastic news, I bet you are so relieved
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am so pleased its not GS
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let's hope they get the results soon so you know what you are dealing with xxx
 
Thanks everyone...

GTs, at this moment in time I couldn't care less whether she can put her head out or not. Leahurst is an excellent hospital, and they are doing everything they can for Grace. I have never been into an american equine hospital, only the ones over here so I cannot comment. But I find it difficult to believe that if this was such a 'poor' design, that every hospital in the country would have it like this. Just a personal opinion.
 
Well it may do in your estimation but there cant be much wrong with it when the BIG vets at Newmarket all have the same design, let alone other equine hopsitals.... I think it is much better that the horses can see out over the door - surely better than literally caging them in so they cant see anything! obviously things are very different here compared to where you are, inluding opinions on things!
 
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The top colic expert in the country is based at Leahurst... so I cannot imagine him condoning anything which he suspected to be a 'poor' design!

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My horse was also in a stable with an open top door...and she not only managed to pull her catheter out, but dug up her entire bed, tipping water buckets in, etc....she'd never been stabled before....I think the grooms were glad to see her leave....
S
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Thats great news Becki, my friend has colitis but I'm afraid I don't know anything about it in horses! Glad she is doing well though.
x
 
I am glad Grace is improving.

My horse also suffered from colitis and was hospitalised for several days. He is now fine and back to normal - there has been no re-occurance since (May).

Best of luck
 
She is obviously feeling better if she took her own catheter out! I know that feeling...
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So glad they are getting to the bottom of it (no pun intended...) and it isn't grass sickness. Phew!
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I do not see how it could be classified as anything but poor - your horse got it's catheter out (twice), as did another members. It is hardly the most pressing issue of any horse there, however it could be easily avoided by better design.

It probably comes from a traditional English stable design, with the two half doors while in America we are used to large barns. There is one advantage to your design though, it is easy to give PPGs without getting kicked.

Here is the barn that you will at any decent equine hospital in the US.

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I am pleased your horse is improving though - hopefully she will get discharged soon!
 
my horse was at Greenwood Ellis in Newmarket and they have full grids on all the doors as they have had horses try to jump out - drove my horse mad though - he is a weaver and box walker and takes comfort in looking out and seeing what's going on so was incredibly stressed. at the RVC where i trained we had doors for them to look out over though, and so do most of the equine hospitals i know in this country. most dont have problems - i never had a horse pull a catheter out when i was at uni.

anyway, off topic ever so slightly!

really glad Grace is doing ok - colitis can be nasty, so pleased she is over the worst.
 
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