Help Pneumonia

[miss_bird]

Went down to the field and 1 of the yearlings (9months) was lying down when i went to check, he could not get up and was stiff all down naer hind, anyway got a digger driver to scoop him up carefully in the front bucket, and laid him in the gateway of my other field and had to drag him into the box and take him back to the stables.
Had vet out and he said it is a cross between pneumonia and pleurisy, he has given him 3 jabs, painkiller, anti inflamatory, and antibiotic, just got home and the yearling is eating like it is going out of fashion, not really drinking much (having to syringe it into him) but he has never been a big drinker, but he still cannot get up.
Please can anyone give me advice on anything else i can be doing to keep him comfortable.
Also any experience of other peoples horses coming through this would be a great positive help at the moment as the vet has said we will just have to take one day at a time, and that he is really seriously ill.

 

[Tiffany]

So sorry to hear about your boy

I've no experience myself but presume keeping him warm will help ? Hope he's soon on the mend - please let us know. Everything crossed for the little fella

 

[shazza283]

ask your vet about EHV - paralytic form - just a thought if he had high temp etc and some signs of respiratory /lung problems and now paralysis.
moving him onto opposite side every 2 hours if you can (within reason - you need to sleep!), massaging the muscles he's been lying on and plenty of soft bedding will help minimise muscle damage from lying down too long - try damping all feeds to help fluid intake and either apple juice, ribena or treacle in the water to get him to drink.
The eating is a good sign.

best of luck .

 

[miss_bird]

HI thanks for your replies, his temperature is normal, i have moved him from one side to the other as where he keeps kicking 3 of his legs he is getting sores, have put a deepbed under him but shuffleing aroung he ends up with nothing under him.
Last night i put a waffle cooler rug next to his fur, with a wool blanket (old bed blanket) and then a stable rug over him, i did not do any of them up as did not want him to get caught in anything, a friend whose house he is staying at checked him at 11pm, 12pm, 1am, 2am and 6 am.
Thankfully today he has trid to get up 3 times but his near hind just keeps giving way, to have been moving it loads to try and ease it up a bit.
Am going to put magnetic therapy boots on his near fore and hind as they are the most stiff and hoping it will help with the circulation, also going to bandage his legs as he keeps having slight fits when in the most pain and he kicks his legs about, just worried about him hurting himself more.
The vet is due back out at 3.30pm for his daily jabs, and just keeping my fingers crossed that it will halp make him keep improving.
Thanks again will keep you updated

 

[bailey14]

When I read Lanieps post my first instict was EHV. My wobblers horse was tested and was positive for carrying EHV but 33% of the horse population do but maybe the vet could test for it with Lanieps yearling. My horse developed ataxia (loss of coordination in the hind legs) but it turned out it was due to Wobblers and not EHV but the symptoms are very similiar. I know horses become recumbent (unable to rise) with EHV. I have found out some information for Laniep below of various web sites.

Equine herpesvirus-1 (also known as equine rhinopneumonitis virus) can cause neurological disease, respiratory disease, abortion and death of newborn foals. Neurological symptoms are varied but can include hind limb weakness and loss of coordination (ataxia), which can progress to problems in the horse getting up (recumbency) and paralysis. EHV-1 is also the cause of a recently identified syndrome, peracute vasculitis, which is fatal to adult horses.
Specific blood tests can be used to determine if a respiratory infection is associated with EHV-I or 4 infection. In most cases, two blood samples are taken 10 days to two weeks apart and tested to see if antibodies have been produced to one of the viruses (seroconversion). While the horse is often well on the way to recovery by the time results are available, the information may help with the management of other horses in the same yard.