help advice need

T

tikino

Well-Known Member
Joined
30 January 2006
Messages
4,632
Location
scotland/ glasgow
Visit site
my lad has been ill since october. he is 12yrs old 13 in june and was my first homebred foal so means so much to me.he has a bill in excess of £6500. sorry but it is long.

when he first took ill he presented with weight loss, anemia, low white blood cells and a raised respiratory rate. his resting respiratory rate was between 22-34bpm. he had his lungs and stomach scoped and all was fine. his urine was tested and protien wasin urine so sample sent to lab but came back fine had is bladder scanned the scoped and it was ok.

he was referred to vet hospital and they did rectal and dudenum biospys as well as took a dung sample. sample came back with 250 eggs and rectal sample results stated possible worm burden.

he was treated for the worm burden (hehad been in loan for 2.5yrs and had just came home from loan home as i was not happy with the set up). the treatment was 5 day panacur equine guard followed by equilan duo 3 weeks later 5 day panacur equine guard followed by equimax then 3 weeks later panacur equine guard followed by equest. he was also on high doses of steriods for 6 weeks. adn fynidine as and whenhe should any signs of discomfort.

thoughout this treatment he remained varible and was quite dull at time and his respiratory rate continued to be abnormally high (he used accessory muscles to aid breathing.

he has been getting regular blood wok done and they have all been different results at different times. the latest done xmas week are liver emyzemes and kidney funcyion are out and his neutriphils are also very low.

i have managed to get hime to a decsent weight by giving him 6 small feeds a day. he is fed every 6 hours.

he looks like an old man and very dull and very grumpy to the other horses. he has lost his spark. his coat has started to fall out and he has baldy bits all over his body you just touch it and it falls out. his respiratory rate was 29 tonight while chilling out in his stable.

i am not convinced that the worm thing is all that is wrong with him but the vets in my opinion don't realy know whats wrong with him. i feel all alone with this.

does anyone have any idea what could be wrong or any tips on how to help him.

thank you for getting this far i realy thank you from my heart.
 
have you tried a liver detox? one of the herbal companies do one called resorb? or similar! worked well for one of mine who went odd after the flooding..............
 
I happened to be reading this when my vet came for a load of logs so got him to have a look at your report.
I was thinking along the lines of possible poison which was shutting his system down but clever clogs thinks (without the benefit of the actual blood reports to see which might have helped him a bit more and remember this is without actually seeing horse so from your report only and he could well be wrong) that it could be the result of an excessive worm burden which has shredded the lining of the gut so he can't get any benefit from nutrients. If it is that, you have an incredibly ill horse and an uphill struggle which will take a very long time to get him right. Sorry can't help any more and I wish you the best of luck for his recovery, you have brought him on so much from when you had him back.

If his coat is sloughing off, is there any way you could set up some heat lamps so he doesn't need rugs which would irritate the skin even more?
 
A high worm burden will take a while to get over, particularly at this time of year.

I wonder if oil and equine gold would help his condition and his skin?

You are doing the best you can for him and he is a lucky horse, but I wonder when his teeth were last checked?

I ask because my horse had a split tooth which he did not complain about, but I knew he wasnt himself.
 
I would be highly suspicious re possible liver complications. Most commonly, the cuprit is ragwort. Do you know how bad the conditions were that he was kept in at his loan home? When I took on a rescued mare with dreadful ragwort poisoning (vets said pts was kindest) the first thing the vets did was a liver flush. That's not the proper name but your vets will know what you mean if you tell them a massive 2 gallon drip was attached to a neck vein and a solution of assorted vits and mins was dripped in. The idea is it goes straight to the liver and absorbs any toxins still circulating. Did the trick for Angel - we repeated bloods 3 weeks later and the overall result showed she was then almost within normal range. Symptoms of liver damage include weight loss, loss of interest in life, loss of appetite, depression, lethargy, jaundice and standing in corners pressing the head against a wall. End stage symptoms include blindness, highly abnormal behaviour and self harm.
 
thank you very much for the advice guys. the vet has been out today and is not happy with toby either as he has nnow been ill since october. they have referred him back up to the vet school for further tests
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top