botchalism

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tina brislin

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hey
my horse appears to have botchalism but have been told there are no tests for the disease..is this true?? is there anyone out there who can help me and my lovely horse..the only symptons he has for it is that he can not swollow his food ...is there anyone out there who has experienced the same and what was the outcome..i have had excellent nutritional advice and veterinary care but just wondered if there is hope for him..he is a super 15 yr old dutch warmblood..
please help us..
tina
 
tina brislin said:
hey
my horse appears to have botchalism but have been told there are no tests for the disease..is this true?? is there anyone out there who can help me and my lovely horse..the only symptons he has for it is that he can not swollow his food ...is there anyone out there who has experienced the same and what was the outcome..i have had excellent nutritional advice and veterinary care but just wondered if there is hope for him..he is a super 15 yr old dutch warmblood..
please help us..
tina
Click to expand...

I don't know of any tests to diagnose the disease, but then I've never diagnosed a case either. Hate to be a bore, but are the vets sure it cannot be grass sickness? If the difficulty swallowing is the only symptom then this is higher up on the differential diagnosis list for me...sorry :(
Chronic grass sickness cases can get better and fundementally I'd be treating the horse symptomatically anyway...i.e. nursing and antibiotics if the botulism is really a concern. One thing that may be useful to do is ask the vet to put some Phenylephrine in the eye if the eyelashes are drooping...if grass sickness is possible then droopy lashes perk up again....a bit hit and miss though :o

Does the horse have a temperature at all? Shown a slow deterioration or not...
Perhaps it's worth endoscoping the larynx to check the larynx is not paralysed (sometimes seen in the botulism but not grass sickness).:confused:
I'd probably run a full blood panel too to rule out infection...I would think botulism may show a infection pattern on the bloods, even though it's the toxin causing the disease.

I'd be very interested to know how this case progresses - fingers crossed for you. I hope it's not as the prognosis is not great:(
This is info from a canadian site but a bit more relevant than the wiki one I think and gives some information on testing for diagnosis in Canada - not sure if the same test is available here:
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/horses/facts/info_botulism.htm

best of luck,
Imogen
 
I know of a mare who had botulism and survived, it took a long time to get her better but she eventually went back to BSJA and is now a brood mare. Good luck with your horse, I hope you get a good outcome.
 
hi there
thanks for your messages
well he had this back in june , went on a 10 course of antibiotics and it cleared up..we thought it was a gutterul pouch infection from strangles virus..then at the end of august he had food coming out his nose again and he went in to be scoped by another vet who is the king of ear,nose and throat!! that came back clear but they touched the back of his throat and there was no reaction( no swollow) we run more tests to see if it could be some sort of poisoning but all clear.they have said he has dyspahia( sorry i can not spell it) they wanted him put down then but as he looked good wasnt suffering i bought him home to see how he went..since then i have had hime on homeopathy tablets for clostridia and then for his lost swollow. it wasnt untill sunday that he had a temperature of 104 and pulse rate at 80..he now has an infection in his throat and can not eat at all..he is dehydrated he has a good lots of weight on him and he can still run round the paddock like a youngster..up untill sunday he was doing really well and even thought he might come through this but now i dont know what to do...
 
Are you sure its botchalism cause i know with grass sickness horses strugle to swollow we had a horse many years ago that got botchalism from drinking water that had ducks and chickens also drinking out of it and unfortunatly dint make it we had to have him put down but i would get a second oppinion if i was you
 
Violet said:
It's BOTULISM!

There is some advise here;
http://www.equinejournal.com/articles/botulism
Click to expand...

Ok, this is a good article I think, but American. I don't mean that makes it worse, or better, :p just that we don't have the same disease spectrum here as there.

Don't misunderstand me, I'd don't mean we don't get Botulism in the UK, we do, but rarely and the article mentions WNV, WEE and EEE along with rabies as differentials (none of thses diseases we have currently in the UK), whereas grass sickness is not even discussed there which would be a likely differential in this country.

It is certainly possible, particularly if there are wildfowl, e.g.geese/ducks/swans or others on the premises frequently mixing on the yard. Could the OP tell me if this is the case?

I'd like to think it's anything else, as anything else probably carries a better prognosis :o but I hope your horse defeats the odds.

Please keep us informed?
Imogen
 
hi there
he now has a throat infection which if you look at him he looks like strangles is coming out, last night he could not drink water from a bucket on the floor so i have had to put it in a corner manger up high so he can lick at it..i also gave him some speedi beet in a separate bucket which was more like water really..he was very warm but temperature is going up , vet gave some anti inflamitry by vein last night ..this morning he has had lots of water and the speedi beet was gone but the swelling in his throat has spread, i have emailed poeple about this anti serum for botchalism which is available in america and horses were treated in england with it..he is eating as much grass as he can but is starting to drop back very fast now, vet coming back tonight..
will keep you all imformed and thank you for all your messages
tina
 
it is so strange..he doesnt seem to have the classic symptons of this disease, his nerves are damaged in his throat so he cant swollow but the eyelids are open and his membranes are all pink he isnt dehydrated, he doesnt get muscle tremors his tongue is working and does not hang out but it is very purple!!
:-(
 
when my horse had a swelling under the neck we put all his hay on the floor and it drained away but when it was up in a haynet it spread further down. dont know if this is any help. i hope he pulls through.
 
I'm so very sorry.You obviously did everything you could -There just seems to be so much bad luck around this year for forum members.
 
So sorry to hear about your horse, I lost my horse back in June to clostridia. There are many different types of clostridium bacteria one of which is currently being linked to grass sickness. My horses type was the type which affects cattle and sheep.

A type of Clostiridia can also cause fatal colitis in horses. A blood test would have shown if clostridia was present in your horse but if so given the symptoms it would have been a different type. Mine was confirmed via a post mortem as i couldn't live with not knowing, as his death was so sudden.

Although neither of us can help our own horses i am trying to campaign for a vaccine for the type which affected Quest, as it is currently available for cattle and sheep but not horses. If you'd like to support the campaign to get the vaccine and save other horses lives please join Quest Knox facebook page and complete the survey (8 questions). NOAH (national organisation for animal health) are now looking at the situation and the more support i have for the vaccine the stronger the case will be.

Once again my sincere thoughts for the loss of your horse, I still haven't come to terms with my loss
 
Oh, I am so sorry for your loss. So sad xxx

I hope you don't mind me asking but do the vets have any idea how he may have got it? I have heard that it forms easily in Haylage, which has always really frightened me, as we use it. Did you horse have haylage?
 
hello
yes i always use haylege , we think it may of been from a bale but im so careful with what i feed i dont know how i could of let this happen..:-((
tina x
 
Don't blame yourself Tina. I too lost my beautiful Dutch warmblood mare to this horrid disease. She too was on haylage. I was informed that you would never see the bacteria with the naked eye. Also that it is the large wedges NOT the small bags purely because the small bags are done by hand so dead animals/rodets etc can be removed but the large bales are done by machine....

So sorry for your loss....xx
 
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