botulism

[maggiehorse]

hi , i don,t usually post but i felt i needed to write this down , a pony at the yard where we keep ours has got suspected botulism , all day yesterday they battled to stabilise him including a emergency tracheotomy so that myself and huband could transport him to the vet clinic , he got there on his feet , hes a remarkable and brave pony and i just wondered if all of you can send send him get well soon vibes , tarquin is only a moorland pony , nothing spectacular but i,ve never seen a pony as sick as that fight so hard to live
thanks in advance
tracy

 

[spike123]

fingers crossed for Tarquin.I hope he manages to pull through this ok.He sounds a very sick pony.

 

[MurphysMinder]

Fingers crossed for Tarquin, sending loads of positive vibes.

 

[samp]

Fingers crossed, it can be an awful condition. Sounds like the vets are doing the best for him

 

[Honeypots]

(((((loads of positive vibes and good wishes for Tarquin))))))

 

[henryhorn]

Good vibes on their way. Did he get it from haylage or don't they know how?

 

[maggiehorse]

how he got it is a mystery . hes in summer paddock with 3 others , he hasnt left field in over 6 weeks since he came back from an unsucessful loan home , ( he was a bit of a beasty to the kiddies lol ) he has no supplimentry feeding at all , no hay or haylage and was right as rain till 2 days ago
... hes still hanging in there but is partially paralysed in hind end and completly unable to swallow.. thanks for all your good wishes i,ll tell his owner when she updates me later
tracy

 

[samp]

That is awful, do they think it is a type of grass sickness? As I think botulism has been linked to grass sickness

 

[maggiehorse]

hi , in acute grass sickness they show symptoms of a paralysed intestinal tract , in tarquins case his main life threatening symptom has been the paralysis of his larynx so that when he tried to breathe it obstucted his windpipe , his tongue also was protruding from his mouth and he was losing fluid by his mouth and nose , hence they performed the trachiotomy so that he wouldnt die of respiritory failure , he started also to show symptoms of paralysis of his hind legs and this was causing him to rock back and forth , they have given him botulism anti serum (from good old NHS ) and this hopefully will stop further nerve damage from the toxins , he seems they say to have just been terribly unlucky and maybe found some spores in the soil, all other horses at yard are fine so it may remain a mystery how he got in contact with it , they can only contract the diesese by ingesting it , he will require weeks of intensive care and the few days are critical but i,m hoping hes a toughie because unlike grass sickness if caught early enough some horses do survive it
tracy

 

[threeponies]

A horse at my yard a couple of years ago had botulism and survived, but it took a long time to recover. She did get it from haylage, but the organism is found in soil too. Good luck, I hope he recovers.