Any ideas...vet scratching his head?

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Doris68

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I will try to be brief. My 27 yo old mare has been quiet and lethargic for the last couple of days. All other things normal, poo, pee, eating, temperature etc. She seemed much brighter today but this afternoon when I was picking out her feet I noticed that she was very sweaty around her hindquarters and between her hind legs - nowhere else. She had not been hooning around. I took her temperature and that was normal, but she became quite twitchy when I touched her vulva. She's normally quite happy with this and has never previously displayed in this way. Vulval area slightly redder than normal. A rather large, painless oedema has appeared under her belly. Vet has been and taken bloods - give her a thorough examination and put her on Noradine and 2 sachets of Danilon/day. She has been on 1 sachet/day for some time as she is arthritic. She intermittently flashes her tail very rapidly from side to side but does not appear to be in any discomfort.

I have to wait for a couple of days until the blood results come back so I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any experience of such symptoms, or can throw any light on this. I sincerely hope that it's nothing too awful..!

She had a foal 15 years ago - not sure if this is relevant or not.

Many thanks.
 
Lethergy and random sweating , skin problems can all be symptoms of cushings . Perhaps you could ask your vet to check for this in his tests.
 
I'd put money on her having PPID/Cushing's disease. Lethargy is a big sign of cushings but many vets are not aware of this as it's a disease that not much was known about until recently. Also patchy sweating is a sign. She may have other things going on as she is an older horse but there is probably not many horses that age that don't have cushings. You vet needs to do an ACTH test. Although they may have taken blood it may not have been to test the ACTH levels so I'd definately ask this and if they havent done it then I'd ask to have it done. Let us know how you get on with her :) If it is positive for cushings it can be treated easily and usually you see a big improvement and a new lease of life in them.
 
You could be describing my mare perfectly, apart from the oedema, at the moment!!

My 'old lady' does have Cushings but doesn't take medication as it made her very aggressive with the other horses. Her blood levels aren't that high (48) so it was agreed with the vets to manage her with diet only (she's never had lammi).

She can suddenly develop strange behaviour at this time of year though and at the moment she's being more grumpy than usual and has come into season in the last couple of days. On our yard we have three Cushings positive horses and they all seem to go into a decline when Winter approaches and get us all worried to death but then they seem to bounce right back.

If you have the test done, at least you will know where you stand. It's only a simple blood test and you have the results back in a few days.
 
Thanks for your posts. Her blood screen is good news in that all her major organs are functioning normally which, given her age, is encouraging. The protein levels in her blood are mildly reduced. Two of her white blood cell types are also slightly reduced. There is a suggestion that there is a problem with her digestive tract and protein is leaking through. A faceal sample will be taken as a first step and then we will see where we go from there....one step at a time.

Since the antibi's she is "back to normal", we have one more day to go, so I'm hopeful - but you never can tell!!
 
deb_l222 said:
You could be describing my mare perfectly, apart from the oedema, at the moment!!

My 'old lady' does have Cushings but doesn't take medication as it made her very aggressive with the other horses. Her blood levels aren't that high (48) so it was agreed with the vets to manage her with diet only (she's never had lammi).

She can suddenly develop strange behaviour at this time of year though and at the moment she's being more grumpy than usual and has come into season in the last couple of days. On our yard we have three Cushings positive horses and they all seem to go into a decline when Winter approaches and get us all worried to death but then they seem to bounce right back.

If you have the test done, at least you will know where you stand. It's only a simple blood test and you have the results back in a few days.
Click to expand...
I am wondering if the seasonality is link to daylight hours,
technology has an answer
http://horsetalk.co.nz/2012/10/13/light-masks-mares-potential-breeding-tool/#axzz2mdcduZhM
 
The tests continue - we've not reached a conclusion yet.. Will keep you posted, but I doubt it's going to be that simple, unfortunately :-(
 
Couple things spring to mind from experiances but see vet irrietable bowl syndrome.pysuillum husk can be usefull when on sandy soily pasture. Worm count.Or a hernia.
Always see vet.
 
Be careful of Danilon as it can cause colitis ie low protein levels and and ventral oedema. My mare was on Danilon because of cushiness induced laminitis and she ended up being hospitalised with colitis which can be very serious. My vet said they had another case on Danilon at the time that was even worse and she said she would be wary of using Danilon again. I only use bute now.
 
I would have put money on chushings if not got it could it be displaying early stages.
Also if not happy in gut will swish tail and sweat between back legs.Hard to keep old horses
comfortable.
 
Nothing is being ruled out by the vet. Suspect the Danilon (which was considered to be less damaging than Bute) has caused this. FYI she has had no further sweats since she was put on antibiotics on Monday. Thanks Vanrim, interesting comment about Danilon. Hopefully, will know more next week. Not an easy time for sure.
 
Just to bring you up-to-date! Second bloods results are all completely normal and the Cushings test was negative. The vet suspects that she had a virus. Really pleased and she is certainly feeling and looking very well. What a relief...!!!

Thank you for all your comments.
 
Doris68 said:
Just to bring you up-to-date! Second bloods results are all completely normal and the Cushings test was negative. The vet suspects that she had a virus. Really pleased and she is certainly feeling and looking very well. What a relief...!!!

Thank you for all your comments.
Click to expand...
wow that great happy new year to you both x
Would have expected lot more.That great
 
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