Has anyone experienced this before??? Vet can't find anything but horse really unwell

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lynds81

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I've got a 6yo gelding who when I went out this morning to feed him was led at the back of the stable, head down, dripping with sweat and totally uninterested in food... Looked really unhappy and I figured it must be colic but with slightly different symptoms so called the vet.

Vet came out asap, but, horse has totally normal heart, lungs, temperature etc. She did a rectal exam and found nothing abnormal, so scoped him, and again, found nothing abnormal. She has given him electrolytes and fluids to help rehydrate him, and he has perked up and is now eating and drinking OK and looking brighter BUT he is not passing any droppings or urinating still...

Does anyone have any similar experiences, I'm really concerned about him...
 
Any chance he had been cast and got up himself or maybe something went through the yard and gave him a fright. I have a yearling here that, as a weanling, would always get himself cast until he learnt not to lay so close to the wall. When he got up he would always stand at the back of the box, slightly sweaty and with his head down. He never ever panicked when cast, he just lay there and waited for you to rescue him. Vet thought it might be that he held his head down to clear it, like we would if we had been held upside down and the sweating was reaction to being stuck and vulnerable. Now that all could be *******it or it might have something to it but I'm wondering if your boy could have done something similar.
Hope he feels better soon but I'd still be keeping a close eye on him if he's not passing anything, it stills sounds a bit worrying.
 
I hadn't thought about him having maybe got cast... I would be surprised because there isn't a mark on him and there's nothing on the walls to suggest he struggled, but it's certainly possible... He was fine at 10pm last night when we did late night check and gave him more hay and water, and the hay and water was gone this morning, and there were droppings from last night and stable looked the same as normal.. Vet also said that his dung looked normal when she did a rectal exam this morning.

Currently checking him every half an hour, and hoping it's not too major as he does seem brighter, but the fact he hasn't done any droppings all day is really worrying me... I have to speak to the vet at about 8, and I think if he hasn't by then they might have to come back out, but they can't find anything and have no idea... Think a blood test might be next, but that takes a long time if it is something serious..

Thanks for your ideas :)
 
Maesfen said:
It always helps having other thoughts at times like this I think.
Has he been out today or able to have a walk and possibly a nibble of grass, sometimes that helps things to start moving?
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Yes, he went out in the field on his own for about 3 hours because the vets said that might help to have some grass, and he seemed to be happy enough out there, just not very with it, and seems to want to lie down, but when he does lie down he just looks like he's sleeping, rather than in pain.

Any suggestions are very welcome, I'm hoping I've just overlooked something and he's really absolutely fine and just tired!!!
 
Perhaps he's been to a party and has a hangover; sorry, couldn't resist.

Has he had a hectic weekend which could account for the 'tiredness' as thinking about it more, it's a bit like when a horse is cooked say from a hard day's hunting?
 
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i knew of a similar case the horse was a complete mess!! They arranged a date for it to be pts and everything but they tried that 'aunty anne' and she said he had diabetes so they had further tests carried out and the horse did infact have diabetes and with good managment from the vets hes back to his old self.

Symptoms sound quite similar too
 
Peritonitis, colitis etc would give clear clinical readings re temp etc. Was the horse rugged? My veteran horse is out overnight, in during the day. He is brought in for me in the mornings, obviously still in his overnight-level rug. As the weather has improved and daytime temperatures have risen to way above normal for the time of year, my horse has struggled with maintaining his body temperature. He's had a couple of episodes where, when I got to the yard lunchtime, he was standing in his stable, still rugged, literally dripping with sweat. Literally dripping off his belly onto the floor. It can be very very distressing for a horse to be too hot. I suspect that, in addition to being too hot, my horse became very stressed and that produced even more of a sweat. If your horse had been boiling hot all night he would be very distressed by the morning and very tired too. Just a thought. Over-rugging is worse than under-rugging.
 
Not wanting to scare you, but just thought it's worth a mention, but there have been increased numbers of Atypical Myopathy
Can show symptoms of colic, but still be interested in food. Also the wet and changing weather we've had are perfect conditions for it.

http://www.rossdales.com/news.php?story=000055

Suggest it to your vet, and get some bloods done ASAP as horses with it go down hill very quickly and not all vets think of it.
Hope your horsey gets well soon, and that he's just having an off day
 
millimoo- I was going to suggest EAM but if it was most likely the horse would be dead by now. It happens so quick the moment the horse started going down hill without treatment its very unlikely he would still be alive.

Could it be a case of Azotouria (sp?) though?
 
Kokopelli said:
I was going to suggest EAM but if it was most likely the horse would be dead by now. It happens so quick the moment the horse started going down hill without treatment its very unlikely he would still be alive.
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My thoughts exactly, you didn't lose your horse to this did you?
I assume the horse is still ok as the OP has been on the forum today so fingers crossed the horse has improved and they've just not put an update on this posting.
 
I'm probably way off the mark here but could he have toothache? A while ago I found my horse bathed in sweat from head to foot. Called vet immediately. Couldn't find anything wrong but he was put on a course of antibiotics 'just in case'. A few days later he had green snot coming out of one nostril and the vet suggested a tooth problem. Sure enough Xray revealed suspect tooth which was removed under local aneasthetic. He was left with a sinus infection which was a complete bugger to get rid off - didnt respond to antibiotics despite identifying the bugs responsible. In the end he was turned out 24/7 and the fact that he had his head down drained the nostril and the infection cleared up.
I hope you get the bottom of this mystery. Its awful when they cant tell you whats wrong.
 
Hi everyone, thanks so much for all your replies... The horse seems much better again now, other than the fact he is uncomfortable behind when I tried to ride him, so... I think he may have got cast and completely shocked himself and put his back out as he did so.. I've got the chiro coming on Monday to have a look at him, and hopefully that will sort him out. If not, I think I'll have the vets back out for blood tests to see if it was azoturia or something else, although he isn't cramping up at all, just looking unlevel behind.

At least he is happy and absolutely fine in himself now, just haven't quite got to the bottom of it yet!

And about the rugs, he was rugged, but he was back down in one rug again (had been in 2 through all the really bad weather) and has seemed fine in it the rest of the time so I can't think it was that...
 
Mike007 said:
Staph equi , AKA strangles , not as serious as people think pretty normal in fact.
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Oooooh Mike, I think maybe it should be "not normally as serious as people think"? it's a notifiable disease in many countries. OK, most horses that get it suffer no more than a cold, but it's very contagious and it kills a small but significant number of horses that get it with its side effects, which can include sloughing off the skin from the legs. It leaves a fair few more with permanently impaired breathing. If you run a competition yard, hunter hireling business or a stud, it will completely devastate your business until it is eradicated. I once owned a horse that had it when it was three, before he came to me. It had paralysed one side of his larynx and at eight he still had a draining abscess between his jaws that would not respond to antibiotics and never healed. It's not exactly what I would call normal :(


OP I'm glad your horse seems to be getting better.
 
If every horse that actualy had the strangles baccilus was identified ,a lot of people would be truely shocked.it has a wide range of severity and is often undiagnosed even by vets.You clearly owned one of the many carriers of "horsey strep throat". Probably 99% of the horses he crossinfected did not get it. In the days when movement and transport were limited ,such a disease could be truely severe in an unimmune population. Nowdays I believe the strains are becoming less aggressive but longer lasting,in the population together with a much higher degree of general immunity.Oh and by the way excuse my earlier error ,I meant Strep equii not staph equii.(er I hope I now have this right:D
 
Mike007 said:
If every horse that actualy had the strangles baccilus was identified ,a lot of people would be truely shocked.it has a wide range of severity and is often undiagnosed even by vets.You clearly owned one of the many carriers of "horsey strep throat". Probably 99% of the horses he crossinfected did not get it. In the days when movement and transport were limited ,such a disease could be truely severe in an unimmune population. Nowdays I believe the strains are becoming less aggressive but longer lasting,in the population together with a much higher degree of general immunity.Oh and by the way excuse my earlier error ,I meant Strep equii not staph equii.(er I hope I now have this right:D
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I never even thought that he might be infectious and he was seen by several vets and I wasn't advised he was a risk. I followed his progress for ten years through two other owners in several local livery yards and as far as I am aware he didn't infect anyone...... ?

As I said, unless you are running a business, strangles isn't "normally" a problem to horses, but in the last outbreak near me a couple of years back at least one died, and if they die then it's not uncommon to die with the skin shedding off their legs. It can be a foul disease and even if it's not, the isolation that any responsible yard/stud/dealer has to go through is a business wrecker!
 
By all conventional wisdom a horse with a draining strangles abscess should be highly infectious. Recently I have been given strong evidence to suggest that either this is not so ,or that the Blood test and culture test are not nearly as reliable as I have been led to believe.I freely acknowlege that any bacterial infection (and strep equii is just one of many millions)that overwhelms the bodys defences ,will ultimately kill and not nicely either. But on the scale of things it is not even close to killers like Tettenus, Anthrax,Typhus etc. Strangles is an ecconomic problem predominantly.
 
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