Lung Infection causing Colic... (please read and help)

[FinkleyAlex]

First post here which is making it quite daunting

will give you the scenerio as to how I found my pony (14.2 part bred arab gelding 13 yrs old) this morning.

Got a call saying he wasn't eating, obviously was worried and drove straight to the yard. He was on full livery yesterday as I was at college in the evening, his routine didnt change and he was fine. This morning however he has not touched his feed or his haynet, passed few droppings and hardly touched his water and was very depressed. I immeditately called the vet suspecting colic and then the weird bit came...he coughed like I've never heard a horse cough before, really really throatily - you could tell something was really really wrong.

So the vet came, told me he was very ill, took blood tests and felt up his bum (very dry and quite painful) and immediately stuck a tube up his nose and gave him fluids as he was dehydrated. When vet left, he seemed to perk up a bit and was picking at hay (vet said it was alright for him to eat a bit) and took little drinks. This carried on all day untill the vet rang back with the results of the blood test saying he has a Lung Infection - he could only have got this in 2 ways (apparently) 1- caught off other horses, but no one else on the yard has it. 2- caught a chill - but he is always well rugged and is not clipped yet.

For some reason this lung infection is causing him to not drink which is in turn causing colic. I gave him a bran mash but he only ate a 1/4 before returning to his haylage which I have left him with as there's quite a lot of water in it. He also took a few more little drinks during the day and finally passed some droppings (which honestly made my day)

He's now being given antibiotics twice a day and I'm checking up on him every 4 hours as I'm such a worrier and have owned this pony for 6 years, he truly is my everything and I hate to see him so down.

I'm not entirely sure what the point of my post was, maybe to get it off my shoulders I guess but I'd also like to know if anyone else has heard of anything similar to this? Or other reasons for lung infections? Any help would be much appreciated

 

[Happy Horse]

Welcome to the forum

I have had a chest infection and I know how rubbish I felt. Any change to the eating and drinking habits can upset the digestive system. You could try putting some ribena in a seperate bucket of water or bobbing some apples in his water to encourage him to drink.

I hope he feels better soon, at least you have caught it early.

 

[Lynz25]

My pony got a lung infection after suffering with a choke, maybe another reason your pony is suffering?

 

[buffy2]

Sorry cant help with the lung infection ,but hope your horse is feeling better soon.

 

[GTs]

Sorry to hear you pony is sick - hopefully the antiobiotics will make him feel better. I would keep him drinking out of buckets, soaking his feed that way you can monitor how much fluid he gets. If he has not drunk enough just call the vet and he can have a medically assited drink via an NG tube. If you need to be more aggressive you can always get him on IVs to help keep him hydrated. Hopefully it will not come to that.

 

[FinkleyAlex]

I've now found he drinks a bit more if I hold the bucket up to him, maybe it hurts his neck to drink from the normal position? Also hard soaking his feed as he refuses to eat much of anything, including his beloved bran mash. However he has been going for the haylage at a steady rate and I tricked him into taking antibiotics in 2 cored-out apples and watered down Alfa-A so doing the best possible to get water in him.

Had to go through the trauma of an NG tube today - have a feeling he'll go through it again tomorrow as he hasnt drunk as much as I'd like but it was very distressing to carry that out today so not looking forward to it

hopefully he'll feel better and drink some more tomorro, we are giving him a bran mash with antibiotics tomorro morning and if he eats it we'll know we're on the right track (fingers crossed) thanks everyone for your help!

 

[GTs]

The fact you can water and food in him suggests things are improving - definitely offer him water as often as you can. Horses do not need to eat every second of every day (like the healthy ones suggest), when they are sick much like us a few days without will not hurt. If push comes to shove you can force feed via NG too. Just do not offer to pump, it is about as bloody hard as it comes, and that is without the tube clogging up!

As far as NG tube being traumatic I would not be overly concerned - I have seen a horse recieve one 10 times in one day (scope, reflex, water, syllium, etc). Much like you when you are sick, unpleasant things are not as unpleasant once they have done it to you a couple times, or you are feeling too ill to care.

Hopefully his care will become more managable soon it is not only expensive, an awful lot of worry, but very time consuming too!! Best of luck!

 

[hussar]

Welcome to the forum - sorry it's on a distressing topic for you.

You've perhaps tried this already but what about sugar beet tea - ie, heavily watered down soaked sugar beet? That was the only thing my youngster would eat or drink when he went off his food completely for five days in January. It's a good source of fibre as well as fluid.

 

[magicgirl]

We had a pony who had colic an stopped drinking. I got hold of a large syringe and was syringing water down him, a bit like using a wormer. He was able to swollow. I had to do this for several days and we were also pulling long wet grass for him to eat in a haynet.

 

[FinkleyAlex]

vet has left me a syringe to stick antibiotics down him, thankfully he's managing small feeds so I no longer need to use this. I was thinking of using it to pump water into him but got worried I could choke him!

he's looking very cheerful and even managed 30 mins on the walker last night and tried to eat my boyfriend, which shows he's on the mend

 

[Happy Horse]

That's good news! Once they start getting naughty again it's a sure sign they are on the mend!