Grass sickness: how do you no if your horse may have it ?

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Gucci_b

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I have read lots and lots of reports about grass sickness this year, but how do you no if your horse has or may have the onset of this sickness, the facts not the text book as i hear that some vets are missing the symptoms.
 
I believe that it starts as a cold / colicy type symptoms? I'm not sure, so would be interested to hear others points of view on this. I think with all the grass sickness about lately we need to know the symptoms, and the equestrian media seems to be holding back on this.
 
Your vet will know weather GS is a prospect and do a reflux test, scan to see movement and a eye nervous test however these aren't very good so he will go into surgory and do a biopsy which it sent to liverpool uni which takes three days for results.
 
I did ask my vet this week ref grass sickness, and he tells me no known cases in Surrey, well sorry but I find this hard to believe as there seems to be quite a bit going on with this terrible sickness.
 
The problem is there are really no definitive symptoms for grass sickness. There are a variety of possible symptoms but these can also be caused by other things. In the very acute forms of the disease there are often no obvious symptoms before death. The only real way to diagnose it is by histopathology either post-mortem or by biopsy.
 
With my mare, and this is very common, she appeared to have colic, but it wouldn't go. She lost weight dramatically within 24 hours. This was followed by brown water running from her nose. They will also refuse to eat anything from very early on and later be desperate for water. They will also stop pooing as the gut becomes paralysed.
Check out the grass sickness website
http://www.grasssickness.org.uk/
 
[ QUOTE ]
I did ask my vet this week ref grass sickness, and he tells me no known cases in Surrey, well sorry but I find this hard to believe as there seems to be quite a bit going on with this terrible sickness.

[/ QUOTE ] Grass sickness is much more prevalent in certain areas - particularly parts of Scotland. However, I do know of one horse in Surrey that died of grass sickness last year.

This is a good site for more info on the condition:

Equine Grass Sickness Fund
 
Really sorry to tell you this but there was fatal GS case in Surrey about 2 weeks ago. The horse was kept where I work but then it was moved to a different yard and died of GS about a week later.

The year before last a 4yr old welsh pony on my yard (Surrey again) was pts at liphook due to GS. His young owner was devastated and ever since then we haven't used the 80acre field where he grazed for 3 days before he got GS.
 
What an awful illness
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I've never heard of this before
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We used to see a lot of cases at the Equine Hospital. Most present as colic and the horses reflux (have fluid backed up in their intestine), this sometimes spontaneously come out of the nose and mouth (and stinks!). They are often shakey, tucked up, rapidly loose weight and condition. The only 100% diagnosis is a biopsy of the intestine but they are often PTS before the results come back.
 
Weight lose, lack of eating due to finding it differcult to swallow, tucked up, mucles spazzing, shaking, retaining fluid which often refluxs out the nose, horrid brown colour. The invetigation normaly begins with colic. Blood test will pretty much always show normal. They reflux, dain fuild which the small instentne isn't moving, do scans and a eye drop test, if they eye lashes go droppy then it backs up GS but isn't good test. There isn't a good test becase its due to neverous system. A biopsy is done and the horse is kept alive till results unless acute or maybe subcute inwhich they barely make a few days. Chronic has 70% recovery with suitble case which they try to nurse through.
 
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