HELP!! Shivering pony

[Neburu]

Last sunday I noticed that pony just wasn't right and did a check at 8pm in the evening to make sure he was ok, when we got there he was shivering violently and couldn't breath properly.

He perked up himself before the vet arrived and we arranged for him to be scoped today.

The scope has revealed that he does have an infection in his lungs which is now being treated.

But this morning he was once again shivering slightly. He was feeling fine in himself to the point that he managed to escape after a quick run round we caught him and the shivering became violent, his breathing etc was all fine and he wasn't cold. The vet sedated him to start scoping and the shivering stopped completely.

After he came round from the sedation he instantly started shivering violently again.

The shivering has been on and off all day sometimes its a slight shiver then it gets really violent.

I did watch the shivering start up and it started as small tremours around his hind quarters and along his back near his spine and then became really violent shivering within 10-20 seconds.

Anyone come across this or have any ideas?

Currently just monitoring him because hes happy in himself and eating, drinking, pooing and weeing as normal.

 

[L&M]

Does he stop if you put a rug on him?

Sorry if that sounds really obvious, but maybe he is just cold.

 

[YasandCrystal]

My mare was shivering in her stable this morning and she is well covered (meat wise). My others were all shivering out in the rain by lunchtime - they are all in and double rugged now

 

[Neburu]

rugs make no difference to him.

he just keeps shivering. The shivering is like a horse with HYPP. Starts with slight tremours then gets into full blown violent shivering.

 

[YasandCrystal]

I would ring your vet for reassurance, but if he has an infection he will be feeling low and whilst he may continue to shiver I personally would be putting a medium weight stable rug on him just now and making his feeds with very warm water.

 

[Neburu]

I would ring your vet for reassurance, but if he has an infection he will be feeling low and whilst he may continue to shiver I personally would be putting a medium weight stable rug on him just now and making his feeds with very warm water.

My vet is involved with the shivering but can't find a cause for it because he is his normal bright self when he shivers, hes out in a middleweight and still had slight tremours when I last checked him.

The vet has taken some blood today to test incase there is any underlying problem that can cause it. But when he escaped after charging round which should make him warm the shivering got really bad.

The tremours/shivering is just like a mild case of HYPP but my pony is a Sec A type.

 

[magicmoose]

Grass Staggers? Caused by either mycotoxins from the grass or magnesium deficiency?

If he's been affected by either of the above, the lung infection could be the secondary problem.

 

[flintfootfilly]

I think you may be describing "fasciculations" which are slightly different to shivering, and they won't necessarily stop just because a pony warms up.

Fasciculations can have a variety of causes, and I'm no expert on them. However, one cause can be linked to muscle damage which might result from low selenium levels. I only know this because one of the vets mentioned it to me when one of my ponies developed fasciculations a few times when recovering from colic surgery.

Do ask for a copy of the full blood results (for your records and for quick reference in future). You don't need any training to read which things are "high" or "low" (although obviously you do need someone who knows their stuff to interpret the results fully). See if they mention "CK" (creatine kinase) which is the main muscle enzyme. If that is high, it indicates muscle damage, and then you start looking for causes...... which might potentially include low selenium. If you do look into that as a possible cause, then personally I would opt for testing the grass and hay rather than testing the blood selenium, because (after lots of investigations with my gang) I think forage analysis for selenium gives a clearer idea of whether there is a need for more selenium in the diet.

Out of interest, what condition is the pony in (thin, fat?) and what is he fed (time on grass, amounts of any balancer/supplementary feeds)?

In the meantime, I think I would be tempted to ensure that the pony was receiving a full ration of a good balancer (containing around 1mg of selenium in a daily ration) just to start addressing any potential dietary imbalance, but any effect of that will take time. I am just trying a different balancer with my gang at the moment, because following chronic muscle problems, the biggest improvements in their CK levels was after supplementing with a balancer including organic selenium (selenium yeast) rather than inorganic selenium. It's too early days yet to see whether the new balancer can continue the improvements that I saw last year, but it might be worth a go. The one I'm trying at the moment is Blue Chip Original.

Might be nothing to do with all this, but if by any chance the pony has had a restricted diet (to control weight adequately) and hasn't received a full ration of balancer each day, then you might find it helps.

Ah, CK rises shortly after exercise (hoolying around the field, or formal exercise etc) and peaks about 5 hours after exercise, so any elevation might reflect recent exercise. So it's worth noting what the pony was doing before the bloods were taken (and ensuring the pony has been at rest for a day or so before subsequent bloods are taken, to avoid any peaks in CK due to running around).

A lot of vets seem to ignore elevated CK levels if they are into the hundreds, and only flag them up as a potential cause of problems if they are in the thousands (as seen with tying up). But any CK level over 350 can indicate muscle problems.

Could be something different altogether though, so this is only one suggestion.

Sarah

 

[Monkers]

Have you considered seizures? I have seen a few and horses can remain upright and concious. They tremble all over and can make a sort of choking sound. Fat Piggy on here is the one to ask.

 

[Neburu]

Thank you all for your replies I will forward this thread to my vet and see what she thinks.

I will contact fat piggy too

Thanks again.

 

[Shadow the Reindeer]

My horse felt so c*** recently he was violently shaking.. the vet said it was because he just felt so horrible

 

[fatpiggy]

Hi, here I am! I don't think these sound like seizures, not least because they are going on for so long. Does he turn at all when he is shivering at his worst, or just stand normally? I would say, from my own experience, that a horse can pass the warm ears test and still be shivering due to the cold. And any exercise at all will make the shivering infinitely worse. One time I fetched in my old girl who was wearing a rain sheet and noticed she was shivering slightly underneath it. By the time we had walked across the field back to her stable she was shaking uncontrollably. She did feel the cold even when she was younger, despite being fit and healthy, carrying the correct weight and not having the world's finest coat. The weather we are having lately is very up and down and I've been feeling cold quite alot of the time. I've even been back in my winter clothes. As your horse has a lung infection, his temperature will be yo-yo-ing a bit so err on the side of caution and keep him nice and warm. When my girl developed pneumonia, she was given penicillin and the vet warned me that she would go downhill again after a few days despite the oral antibiotics, and he was absolutely right. Give him a week off work for every day he is off colour.

 

[Neburu]

Hi, here I am! I don't think these sound like seizures, not least because they are going on for so long. Does he turn at all when he is shivering at his worst, or just stand normally? I would say, from my own experience, that a horse can pass the warm ears test and still be shivering due to the cold. And any exercise at all will make the shivering infinitely worse. One time I fetched in my old girl who was wearing a rain sheet and noticed she was shivering slightly underneath it. By the time we had walked across the field back to her stable she was shaking uncontrollably. She did feel the cold even when she was younger, despite being fit and healthy, carrying the correct weight and not having the world's finest coat. The weather we are having lately is very up and down and I've been feeling cold quite alot of the time. I've even been back in my winter clothes. As your horse has a lung infection, his temperature will be yo-yo-ing a bit so err on the side of caution and keep him nice and warm. When my girl developed pneumonia, she was given penicillin and the vet warned me that she would go downhill again after a few days despite the oral antibiotics, and he was absolutely right. Give him a week off work for every day he is off colour.

Thanks for the advice! Much appreciated.

He just stands very still when he shivers and looks really sad bless him! He seem to be responding well to the Sputolosin now and hes pretty much back to his old self.

Will keep monitoring to see if he shows anymore signs of shivering once the infection has cleared up.


Neburu