Advice for infectio/virus please

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jessieblue

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Hi there, I am posting for a little help or maybe reassurance. I am very worried about my horse who for 3 days now has been very quiet and lethargic with a fever fluctuating between 38 and 40.5 deg. No other obvious symptoms of illness apart from raised heart rate and respiration, probably due to the temperature. He is on bute and antibiotics although I am not sure how much of the dose he is getting. Mostly I am wearing it as it the stable walls his bedding and him! I have done all I can to get it in him and everthing to tempt him to eat it, but no go. Syringing it has to be but this is done under severe protest! Blood tests revealed nothing other than white cell changes consistent with an infection of some sort. Does anyone have any similar experience. I am trying not to worry myself sick over my precious boy and dont know how else to help him. Its the weekend so dont want to keep pestering the vet as he said theres really nothing more he can do unless he becomes worse or develops specific symptoms such as colic. I havent ever had a horse with a virus such as this and all his jabs are up to date etc. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks
 
Hi I think the most important thing is that he is receiving the antibiotics as this will help his temp come down , if you are not able to do this then I would
Suggest iv antibiotics by the vet or get the vet to show u how
To do this of u are happy to do this , If u are at all worried or he is not picking up then I would speak to ur vets again even if it is a weeked as they are on call,. How is he tonight ? X
 
Propell plus boosted mine very quickly (2 days) but some people prefer red cell. Both both of these can be bought from feed merchant.
 
Hi and thanks for replying. I had vet out again tonight as I felt he was slightly worse today. temp never fell below 40 deg and he was duller than yesterday. The vet has put him on iv antibiotics which, he tells me will be expensive - of course - but he will have to come every day to administer them. I dont care as long as it helps my boy, plus I hope insurance will cover it. So five days iv antibiotics and anti inflamms. If that doesnt appear to work quickly an abdominal tap to see if he has an abdominal abcess. This doesnt carry a very positive prognosis and his temperature is still high tonight 38.5, so things are not looking good for him. I just have the worst feeling about the whole picture. Cant say why, but I feel this is a fairly sinister illness. I wish I could do more to help him and not coping with the prospect of losing this special horse. It took me so long to find my perfect partner and just 8 months later I may have to face losing him. Feel very sad tonight
 
We are on a worming programme at our yard. I am not allowed to worm separately and we are due to worm if not a little overdue. We did equest pramox in autumn and so will need equest winter wormer. To be honest I have no idea if this means were are covered for redworm or not. I just give the wormer when I am told to and trusted this would take care of worming needs.
 
Use 5 day panacur guard to eliminate encysted red worm. If your horses health requires a specific wormer surely the yard would allow it. Only mention it ask know someone who's horse displayed similar symptoms and that's what it turned out to be.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. Yard is v funny about lots of stuff, but if the vet recommends it I guess they would have to allow it. Her argument is that all the horses must be done with the same wormers to keep everything ok. I have no idea if this is right. She kind of hard to argue with. I will ask the vet tom. Is there any way to test for redworm. How can you tell or do you just need to worm and see what happens. I think the equest winter wormer covers encysted redworm too and this is the wormer we will be due to use. Anyways thanks for the suggestion it gives me something else to try. xx
 
morning , you would have get a sample of poo and send off for worm count and also do bloods aslo which would rule out tapeworm also but usually get more colic accossiated with tapeworm but if vet already out then may as well do this at same time , hope your boy is a little brighter today , keep us updated xx
 
A shetland at our yard had a similar thing in the summer. His temp was 40 for days on the broad spectrum paste and only started to get better when injected everyday with another type. Can't you inject him or ask someone on yard to?
 
Don't want to depress, but that is exactly the symptoms my horse had with an abdominal abcess. As you mentioned prognosis with that is poor & we had him PTS after scan & abdominal tap confirmed the diagnosis.
 
Hi all and thanks for your replies. My horse got referred to RVC yesterday as he was getting worse day by day and he started to show signs of low grade colic. He had just about every test going within an hour of being there and nothing has really shown us very much. They havent been able to do get any fluid from a tap as there is no fluid to be had really. Ultrasound was unremarkable and re scanned today, still nothing. Bloods all normal. He was scoped to look for ulcers yesterday and they couldnt see his stomach lining because it was still full with food, so he was starved and rescoped this morning. Still half full of food so has to be scoped again later. Its heartbreaking because I dont know if I am doing the right thing by adding to his suffering. Obviously this doesnt look like it will have a positive outcome and I am feeling so torn about whether I should continue with this brutal testing. Never thought I would feel this way as I would literally do anything to save my horses. It could be a tumour too which would be untreatable, so not sure there is anything positive to hold on to.
 
Hi and thanks for asking after him. Still no real idea of whats wrong with him. He has been starved for 2 days until his stomach finally emptied and 4 scopes later they say no masses to be seen in stomach. He does have moderate ulcers but they are certain these are not causing this problem. I still cant help thinking there could be a link somewhere but they tell me not. So more waiting. My vet just spoke to colledge and it seems his temp has been down for quite a few hours with no more bute, which is a good sign. I pray it stays down. I guess its early days but small glimmer of hope.
 
glad his temp coming down , fingers crossed stays like that , have u spoken to ur vets yourself so you have a better idea of what the next plan is ? any further investigations , healing vibes keep us updated , what breed is he and how old ? xx
 
Thank you. He is just 9 and TB x but quite a lot of TB. He has weatherby passport. I have been in contact with my vets and the clinic vets. My vet spoke to them today and relayed all the info. He knew the right things to ask and how to explain it to me so it made me feel slightly more optimistic! They are testing for any nasty infectious diseases such as strangles and even equine infectious anaemia Eeeek! But he doesnt really have any of the symptoms so I think its just a precaution. If he shows improvement from antibiotics then there maybe no more test but all depends oh the next few days. Im keeping everything crossed. Vets tell me that some cases of peritonitis never have a cause found and they remain a mystery, but if he responds to treatment that is the most important thing.
 
Awww positive thoughts for your mare and for you. I know how stressful it is and you need to take care of you too hun. Is she on the mend? How did they diagnose a bowel infection and is it related to ulcers?? My boy has ulcers as well but they say its definitely not related to the illness. Im not altogether convinced actually and also they dont think I will be able to make 2 claims one for ulcer treatment and one for the infection. If they are unrelated why cant I make 2 claims?? I dont get it.
 
A friend of mine has a mare which had similar symptoms to your horse and it turned out to be B*****t strangles, they got her through it just about then about a year later it happened again they nearly lost her but touch wood it has not come back, I hope they find whats wrong and wish him better x
 
Hoping he responds to the abs , do they think it is peritonistsis or is that just a precaution , these tbs are a walking vets bill ,. Well mine is anyway !! But we love them , hopefully he will start to show some improvement , fingers crossed ,. Keep us updated x
 
News is slow Im afraid. Yesterday his temp had stayed down for 24 hrs, but again it went back up to 39.5! Urghh, so frustrating just so wanted it to be a breakthrough, but not to be. He is eating and seems comfortable, but fever persists. More tests today on his chest and heart. Will also try and find some abdominal fluid to test again as they havent been able to locate any yet. So no diagnosis really, just on antibiotics and they are going to add another antibiotic as well. I dont know what to think. Im exhausted with trying to find something on the internet that might answer the mystery. I guess if all vets at RVC cant faind whats wrong with him theres little chance of me doing so. Waiting for strangles swab to come back to rule that out, but really he doesnt have many other symptoms. Fever, slightly swollen lymph nodes, mild low grade colic on sunday, lethargy and slow emptying of stomach. Thats it! I have raised just about every question with them and most have been ruled out. I am totally out of ideas. Very frustrating and very worrying. xxx
 
Hi sorry late reply , it does sound
Odd but also very frustrating , sometimes we can never find out why ,?!!,
Hopefully you will have some answers soon !! Keep us updated x
 
Hiya, I had a phonecall this morning to say his temp had stayed down to normal just about, over night and that he seemed brighter this morning. Eating well and producing plenty of droppings. Thats great news, but of course I am cautious about getting too hopeful because I am well aware things could take a turn for the worse again. They started the ulcer treatment last night so maybe thats why he feels more comfy? Cant believe the cost of the gastrogard, what a rip off!! Now I am tentatively looking at my vets bills and trying to work out how I am going to pay for all of this. My stomach churning at the mere thought of it all!
 
Good news re his temp , I know
Gastroguard is so dear , we trialled it on my tb which didn't touch him and scoped to confirm
Ulcers or not !! Wouldn't like to
Think what ur bill is !! My
Dog just cost me 500
In 2 days , is your horse insured ? X
 
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