Puddock
Well-Known Member
This should possibly be in Veterinary, but thought more people might see it in here. I'm rather worried about my boy 
He's not obviously ill at the moment, but is displaying some slightly odd behaviour when urinating. Basically, it seems to take him forever to go. I first noticed it when riding a couple of weeks ago, he would get into the "stance" then fail to actually pee. As this was happening when ridden (according to yard staff he has been fine when in his box, not drinking too much/too little, but by that they mean they have seen wet bedding, not the palaver that goes on when he tries to go), it's been suggested that it's a new form of napping 
Now, this horse is 21 and admittedly knows every trick in the How to Get Out of Work Manual, but I'm used to his nonsense and I think differently. You could set a bomb off underneath him when he's decided he needs to try to pee and he wouldn't move.
I had the vet out two weeks ago and he was given a checking over, sheath thoroughly cleaned etc. etc. The vet (from the University practice, so knows his stuff) said not to worry too much and took two samples. He also said to carry on as normal and was aware that I was going off on holiday the next day. So, horse was left in capable hands of YO and ridden a couple of times by sharer and my friend, neither of whom encountered any probs. But the "issue" as such had only occured when my horse was ridden in the evening, and neither of the these two rode at night. The vet called me on hols to say the tests had come back clear for infection etc. and not to worry (that phrase again), but one of them showed a "low concentration" (having done some reading I think this might have been a specific gravity test). He said he would need me to get another sample when I got back, but exercise to carry on as normal again.
Having had positive reports from sharer and friend, I was starting to hope the sheath cleaning had done the trick. Came back from hols this Saturday, hacked in the aft with no probs, schooled Sunday morning, no probs. He had Monday off, but went up on Tues only for the trying to pee thing to happen again! This was at 8pm. Being a bit more prepared this time, I noticed there were no wet areas on his bed and that he had drunk one small bucketful and half a large bucketful since coming in, I felt this was rather a lot for 4 hours standing in the stable
The second batch of samples is currently with the vet for analysis, I am just a bit worried as to me this is beginning to look like a kidney problem, and I ave read that kidney problems often aren't discovered in horses until a lot if damage has been done. I am also worried because the vet said after first visit that if they couldn't get to the bottom of the problem he may need to be hospitalized for catheterization and he's a bit of a stress head, so I'm worried how he would cope
Thanks and a nice refreshing G&T to anyone who's made it through my ramblings.
He's not obviously ill at the moment, but is displaying some slightly odd behaviour when urinating. Basically, it seems to take him forever to go. I first noticed it when riding a couple of weeks ago, he would get into the "stance" then fail to actually pee. As this was happening when ridden (according to yard staff he has been fine when in his box, not drinking too much/too little, but by that they mean they have seen wet bedding, not the palaver that goes on when he tries to go), it's been suggested that it's a new form of napping Now, this horse is 21 and admittedly knows every trick in the How to Get Out of Work Manual, but I'm used to his nonsense and I think differently. You could set a bomb off underneath him when he's decided he needs to try to pee and he wouldn't move.I had the vet out two weeks ago and he was given a checking over, sheath thoroughly cleaned etc. etc. The vet (from the University practice, so knows his stuff) said not to worry too much and took two samples. He also said to carry on as normal and was aware that I was going off on holiday the next day. So, horse was left in capable hands of YO and ridden a couple of times by sharer and my friend, neither of whom encountered any probs. But the "issue" as such had only occured when my horse was ridden in the evening, and neither of the these two rode at night. The vet called me on hols to say the tests had come back clear for infection etc. and not to worry (that phrase again), but one of them showed a "low concentration" (having done some reading I think this might have been a specific gravity test). He said he would need me to get another sample when I got back, but exercise to carry on as normal again.
Having had positive reports from sharer and friend, I was starting to hope the sheath cleaning had done the trick. Came back from hols this Saturday, hacked in the aft with no probs, schooled Sunday morning, no probs. He had Monday off, but went up on Tues only for the trying to pee thing to happen again! This was at 8pm. Being a bit more prepared this time, I noticed there were no wet areas on his bed and that he had drunk one small bucketful and half a large bucketful since coming in, I felt this was rather a lot for 4 hours standing in the stable
The second batch of samples is currently with the vet for analysis, I am just a bit worried as to me this is beginning to look like a kidney problem, and I ave read that kidney problems often aren't discovered in horses until a lot if damage has been done. I am also worried because the vet said after first visit that if they couldn't get to the bottom of the problem he may need to be hospitalized for catheterization and he's a bit of a stress head, so I'm worried how he would cope
Thanks and a nice refreshing G&T to anyone who's made it through my ramblings.
