Insect bite or sting? My girly could hardly walk!

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emmaln

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Hi everyone,

I'm hoping that someone will have experienced this before! My 19yr old tb toffs came in last night and she was not herself at all, very despondent and it was like she had to think about how to put one leg in front of the other! She was eating fine and pooing, weeing etc I stayed with her for most of the night and she seemed ok so I left her and got to the yard first thing this morning, when I got her out of her box and she could barely walk on her near hind, I called the vet and he thinks she has been stung or bitten as we found an odeama up in between her back legs which was really sore, he gave her a steroid injection and an antibiotic!

I'm really worried though as she really isn't herself and I'm sure when I look at her from in front one eye looks lower than the other and ear!

Anybody elses horse had a reaction from a bite like this?
 
Went to check ours one night out in the field & found one wee mare with a nose and face so grotesquely swollen that I could barely look at her. Called the vet straight out - she seemd ok but a little below par. Like you he gave her steriods etc. In the end we came to the conclusion that it was a SNAKE BITE! She had two tiny puncture wounds right in the centre of her face, just above her top lip. The vet reckoned she'd disturbed a sleeping adder or similar.
We live near Oxford so it was the last thing I would have thought of.
By the next morning the swelling had gone down considerably, and in a day or two she was back to full health with no lasting effects.
I really hope your poor girly gets better soon.
Sending a big hug. x
 
mellie_rc said:
Went to check ours one night out in the field & found one wee mare with a nose and face so grotesquely swollen that I could barely look at her. Called the vet straight out - she seemd ok but a little below par. Like you he gave her steriods etc. In the end we came to the conclusion that it was a SNAKE BITE! She had two tiny puncture wounds right in the centre of her face, just above her top lip. The vet reckoned she'd disturbed a sleeping adder or similar.
We live near Oxford so it was the last thing I would have thought of.
By the next morning the swelling had gone down considerably, and in a day or two she was back to full health with no lasting effects.
I really hope your poor girly gets better soon.
Sending a big hug. x
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Interesting. Our neighbour's dog came in from a walk like that last year, and a few weeks later our dog got up with a really puffy face too. They'd both been for walks in the same field, but I could never find a plant that was poinsonous or anything. A snakebite would explain it....
 
I doubt very much it's an insect bite/sting or snake bite. The biting/stinging insects are all gone for the winter now, which is why the swallows and martens have too, and the only poisonous snakes in the UK are adders and it's far too cold for them to be active - they'll all be hibernating. I'd be concerned about what appears to be some mild neurological problems but the sore patch between her back legs could be where she's caught it on wire or spiked herself on hawthorn or brambles. Take care with injected steroids. I think I'd have preferred just antibx for a day or two to see if it all settled.
 
I have to admit that I was very surprised when that was the conclusion the vet came to! I would also be surprised if it was some kind of foreign body as we have electric fencing which is well maintained and no bushes etc, she does have a shelter in her field but u checked that and it is in good order with nothing hanging off! Because of where the swelling is it would have been very unlikely that she rolled on something or got kicked/bitten etc! Just out of interest box of frogs why would you be concerned about a steroid injection? She has already had it as I just trusted my vet!
 
Hi,

My mare had exactly this a few weeks ago!

I went to get her in from the field and she couldnt walk and was twisting to one side (I thought the worse!) and when looking at her she also has a big lump (about the size of a small rugby ball) right at the top inside her back leg which was hard to touch and obviously sore (as she tried to kick anyone incl the vet that looked at it)

The vet thought it was some kind of allergic reaction (the only thing different I had used on her was Camrosa on her heels as she has a bit of mud fever), she had simular lumps last winter when I used Pig Oil and Sulpher so I think her belly area is really sensitive to things like this when she lays down and her legs touch possibly (can you tell she is a sensitve chestnut tb lol)

The Lump went down after a couple of days and the vet gave her a bute jab and bute for 3 days.

I really hope it is the same thing with your girl!

x
 
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