Lymes Disease

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Scarolina

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Hi everyone,

My horse has been very lethargic for months and we’ve been running bloods on him.

The test came back with partial results pointing to lymes disease. We will have full confirmation within the next few days.

Has anyone had a horse with this? He is a 10 year old polo pony.

Also so strange, I live in Malta and we don’t have lymes disease here. Could it be he had it when he came from Germany in 2024?
 
This is becoming more common. I wonder if the vets are now testing more for Lymes disease. I've seen 2 cases in the last year, it's very interesting. If lethargy is all that your guy has, hopefully you've picked it up early.
 
Hey, sorry to hear about your horse. Yes, it’s very possible he picked it up in Germany before moving to Malta ticks are common there. I’ve known horses with Lyme, and the lethargy fits. Treatment is usually long-term antibiotics, so be prepared for that. Hope he recovers soon.
 
Sorry to hear this. I'm not sure what partial results means - preliminary indications but not sure til they run more tests or if it sort of only partly matches the profile for Lyme's? I'm not scientific enough to know if that's even a thing! But if it is the latter, could it help to test for other tick-borne diseases? My horse had anaplasmosis (sp?) a few years ago, which is another tick-borne disease. Similar symptoms, I had only noticed lethargy - it was actually the physio who picked it up as she said his muscles felt weird and she'd felt it before in a Lyme's horse, so I got the vet out and they found anaplasmosis, which is (or was then) much rarer (well done horse!). The vet said it's similar to Lyme's but not the same. It took hefty doses of liquid antibiotics to cure, but the good news is that unlike Lyme's it doesn't lie dormant and flare up again, once it's gone it's gone. So if its something that looks 'similar but not quite' to Lyme's then maybe worth testing for that too. Hope you get to the bottom of it.
 
Yes, my NF mare had it 2 summers running. The 1st time I had to stop the doxy as it was upsetting her stomach badly. The drug changed to powder the following year and I also fed a gut supplement.

Her only real symptom was lethargy. She did present a little footy on stony surface but 2 vets and my farrier decided it was due to the lymes and not laminitis.

She hasn't had a re-occurence but it is possible as we are based in the NF and I know a few other ponies (and humans) who have suffered with it.
 
Yes my late mare had it, in fact it was eventually the reason I had to retire her. In her case she became quite dangerous, swapping from very lethargic to sudden explosive and dangerous behaviour and then within minutes reverting back to a very lethargic demeanour. Initially it was thought to be some sort of neurological thing going on, possible brain tumour and a good few other possibilities during nearly a years worth of various tests and treatments. Eventually Lymes was diagnosed and treated, again quite a long drawn out period of high dose meds etc. but was moderately successful. My vet was of the opinion she had probably had it for sometime without it becoming apparent.

My vet considered her flare ups too unpredictable and dangerous to continue riding. I took his good advice I honestly could not have sat that sort of explosion and I did still have quite a sticky bum at that time! In retirement she was quite settled with only a few flare ups in the field (she was turned out 24/7) but I did not allow anyone other than myself or one of my sons to handle her. They did become less dramatic too which was another reason why we stuck with her and allowed her a few years very spoilt retirement until she had to be PTS for entirely unrelated reasons.
 
Confirmed it’s lymes disease. We’re starting treatment today.

Does anyone know anything about Jugular Vein Thrombophlebitis (JVTP) in horses?

My horse has his jugular on his left all swollen. It usually flares up after strenuous exercise or when it’s very hot. He came to me this way from Germany.

Vets here don’t seem too concerned… but now I need to do intravenous on alternating jugulars everyday, I’m a bit concerned.

Anyone had this issue?

Vet is going to use the same vein but keep an eye out.
 

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Scarolina said:
Confirmed it’s lymes disease. We’re starting treatment today.

Does anyone know anything about Jugular Vein Thrombophlebitis (JVTP) in horses?

My horse has his jugular on his left all swollen. It usually flares up after strenuous exercise or when it’s very hot. He came to me this way from Germany.

Vets here don’t seem too concerned… but now I need to do intravenous on alternating jugulars everyday, I’m a bit concerned.

Anyone had this issue?

Vet is going to use the same vein but keep an eye out.
Click to expand...
Is that definitely what it is? In the case that I’ve seen, lymes can cause a lot of lumps to appear on the body, sometimes thought of as other things but are actually a product of the lymes disease.
 
Germany.

The lump on the neck is definitely an old thrombosis.

We stopped intravenous and are giving him oral antibiotics as his other side was very sore just after 2 days
 
Spookily I clicked on your post Scarolina without meaning to but yes my young mare developed a blood clot in her vein after an operation a month ago. Initial scan showed vein blocked and vets said it’s ok as horse can live with brain being drained by other vein. I was told the horses body might make alternative blood flow around the blockage over time. She had aspirin given for a month and scanned each week. I wasn’t happy because it meant if the other vein became compromised she would be in a very poor position. However last weeks scan showed the blood clot had gone and vein almost completely circular again.
Have you seen an ultra sound of the compromised vein? It’s probably not ever going to go away now but you could see if there is any flow…although your photo doesn’t look promising. I wouldn’t be doing anything on “ the good side” which might compromise it.
 
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