Another diagnosis for Rusky

[Booboos]

Brief summary: Rusky is presenting with a weird hind leg ataxia and severe muscle loss. 18 months of investigations have suggested a number of diagnoses which have not really worked out or eliminated a number of more obvious problems.

Sooooo at the last update the most plausible diagnosis was that the horses had been poisoned by eating yew trees and some kind of nightshade plant, so they were removed from those paddocks and R was brought back into work. After 6 weeks of in hand work I got back on him and he seemed much, much better.

However, the more ridden work he did, the worse he got again (although in the past he has gotten worse with just lunge work and the worse he has ever been was after 6 weeks' paddock rest). He finally got to the point where he was collapsing in front again and was too dangerous to ride, so we booked him in for a scintigraphy as a final attempt to get to the bottom of it.

Off he went to Barcelona (our nearnest equine scintigraphy!!!) where they have now found a (peculiar) very hot spot in the middle of his spine which doesn't correspond with the area suspected of KS (KS was further back, lumbar region). He is being x-rayed in that spot tomorrow to see if that gives a clearer picture of what is going on, but the best guess at a treatment at the moment is to try to inject steroids directly in that spot and see what happens.

Here is the weirdness:

 

[WellyBaggins]

Well that is interesting, at least you have something to go on, hopefully the x-ray will be helpful, can they ultrasound scan it?

 

[Booboos]

Yes I am sure they can...although they have already x-rayed and ultrasounded the entire spine and neck! Perhaps though it will make a difference to focus on that spot and see what it shows (previous x-rays focused on spinal nerve impingement).

 

[WellyBaggins]

Oh my, how odd! It may help having a localised area to concentrate on, I hope you get to the bottom of it!

 

[Booboos]

So far he's had: 3 neuro exams, 4 lameness exams, x-rays of the neck and spine, ultrasounds of the neck, spine and front legs, muscle biopsy, endless blood tests. In terms of diagnoses we've had (from 5 vets): ligament, pelvis 'out', kissing spines, foot pain front legs, poisoning. In terms of treatments he's had: chiro treatment x 2, steroid injections, heart bar shoes, tildren iv, trial period of EPMS diet, removal from possibly toxic paddocks and special diet devised by nutritionist to put on weight/muscle.

At the moment he also has leptospirosis that hasn't cleared up with the first lot of antibiotics (the other two infected horses cleared after the first treatment). We're waiting until after the stress of the scintigraphy and the travelling to re-treat the lepto.

 

[WellyBaggins]

Blimey *praying my vet loving horse doesn't see that list*

 

[Booboos]

The vets have been seeing us so often even they feel sorry for me and have been giving me free visits! Never had that one before! My lovely vet is actually driving down to Barcelona on her weekend off to discuss the case with the vets there and pick him up - that's service for you!

 

[Puppy]

I've nothing constructive to add, but I wanted to wish you and Rusky the best of luck. You really have been through hell trying to get answers and help for him. x

 

[Booboos]

Thank you!

 

[Perfect_Pirouette]

Gosh- this has been a long journey hasn't it?? Poor Rusky and poor you!

Off point and random but do you think a practice like Rossdales would have gotten to the bottom of it sooner? (This isn't a criticism of your vets btw, just dont know how specialised and advanced they are in comparison with someone like Rossdales)

 

[Worried1]

Hopefully this might be the key to finding a solution. Fingers crossed for you both x

 

[wench]

You may think me totally mad... but have you tried an animal communicator? I have used one lady in particular who has helped me with previous horses...

 

[Booboos]

Perfect_Pirouette: I have no idea. I did consider packing him off to somewhere like the AHT or similar for a battery of tests, but my vets here have been brilliant about everything. They are very willing to discuss options, they have contacted vets abroad for second opinions (a neurologist, a radiologist and an internist) and they have accessed the best experts locally, like the toxicologist who had very area-specific knowledge. At the end of the day I don't think they are missing anything, I think it's a very complicated case with possibly more than one problems (there is still the question of why Freddy started showing symptoms and then got over them so the poisoning hypothesis is still in play).

Worried1: thank you. I think we'll either make him better with this or call it a day as there is only so much he (or I) can go through!

wench: thank you for the suggestion, I don't mean to be rude but it's not something I believe in. Glad it helped you out though.

 

[applecart14]

Yes I am sure they can...although they have already x-rayed and ultrasounded the entire spine and neck! Perhaps though it will make a difference to focus on that spot and see what it shows (previous x-rays focused on spinal nerve impingement).

Have they used a portable xray machine to do this? Or is it an equine hospital xray machine (which can be much more powerful)?

My wobblers horse was xrayed using a portable machine and the xrays came back clear. A few weeks later he was xrayed at Liverpool Equine Hospital and a very different story. I was told a portable machine does not show bones in the neck clearly and a misdiagnosis can be made based on this. This is because a horses neck muscles is very dense so a clear picture on a small machine is not really possible.

 

[wench]

Ok another mad suggestion from me... Have you seen horse hair testing? If not look up cross gates farm in Leeds. I haven't tried the remedies they supply, so can't comment, but their test results are interesting

 

[Booboos]

applecart14 that is a very good point, sadly in this case it was a hospital x-ray machine and ultrasound.

wench what exactly do they do with the horse hairs? He's had bloods done specifically for parasites, vit e/selenium, muscle enzymes and cushings.

 

[wench]

They test the hair for "imbalances" in the horse, and give you a spray remedy that is meant to help. This may not appeal to you, but when I had one done for my horse, the testing showed up exactly what her problems were.

I getting another one done shortly so will soon be able to tell if it actually works or not.