Mystery illness, all new ideas welcome :(

[PatchyBabyHorse]

Really stumped by this one

9 year old Welsh A mare. Always been fit and well.
In February she had a mild respiratory virus that went round the yard. Recovered ok.
In April she was very ill. Raging temperature, skin went very dark and big patches of hair fell out. Lost lots of weight and very lethargic. This was after a few tick bites, but this may be a red herring.
I couldn’t get a vet out. It was in the start of lockdown and they would only come to life or death emergencies. Nothing I said made any difference. They gave antibiotics and bute for me to pick up.

After a few weeks when vets were coming out again, she was better.

In July, I noticed her breathing when working was slightly more laboured than it should be, and she coughed intermittently. Vet prescribed Ventipulmin and it improved.

4 weeks ago ish I went to see them and her resps, at rest were 32. She was seriously struggling. More ventipulmin prescribed at a higher dose.
A week or so later she was only slightly better, so the vet gave max dose ventipulmin and ten days antibiotics.

There hasn’t been much improvement, and tonight (last day of antibiotics), she was colicking quite badly. Emergency vet came out. She’s much better now ?? and nothing abnormal in obs except that her resps are still slightly raised and still noise on her chest.

We’ve taken bloods and faeces sample. I feel like this is one big problem - but what!?

Her coat is dreadful and she looks about 19, not 9. I just don’t know what to do??

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I would ask for a Cushings test even though she is only 9. I believe that I lost a 6 yr old Shire to undiagnosed Cushings years ago.

 

[Equi]

It all sounds related to the issue she first had and maybe hasn’t recovered from. Does she get her forage soaked? Is there any rapeseed etc growing? What are they testing for in the blood?

 

[PatchyBabyHorse]

I would ask for a Cushings test even though she is only 9. I believe that I lost a 6 yr old Shire to undiagnosed Cushings years ago.

I had kind of not considered Cushings, as she hasn’t had even a sniff of laminitis. And she’s only 9. But actually I think you may have a point and we should test for it. The coat and seeming immunosuppression are definitely suspicious. And like you say, it sadly can appear in younger horses. Sorry to hear about yours
Thank you.

It all sounds related to the issue she first had and maybe hasn’t recovered from. Does she get her forage soaked? Is there any rapeseed etc growing? What are they testing for in the blood?

Yes I agree - I just want to know what the illness was, and why she hasn’t recovered?
She’s out 24/7 on only grass (bare but big area so they can graze) and no rapeseed nearby.
She’s having a full blood count, with an extra vial in case we find anything else to check for.

 

[AmyMay]

Could it be something as ‘simple’ as pneumonia?

 

[SEL]

Lyme?

 

[PatchyBabyHorse]

Could it be something as ‘simple’ as pneumonia?

I did suggest this on the last visit before the colic, but the vet didn’t think it was presenting quite like. I can’t remember exactly what he said now but I will ask again.

Lyme?

I asked about this too, but it causes lameness and stiffness apparently which she hasn’t had.

 

[Nudibranch]

What's her temperature at the moment?
I had a pony with PPID. She caught strangles (in the horror days of being on a yard) and some time later came down with pneumonia. Basically I'm sure the initial infection knocked her. Higher than usual respiratory rate for a good while and then eventually broke suddenly, into a high fever and profuse sweating.
She did survive although the vet at the time wasn't hopeful!

 

[HashRouge]

I'd be going round the field with a fine tooth comb to see if there is anything she could be eating - check surrounding trees and hedges too if you have them.

 

[ycbm]

Deleted, Already covered.

 

[PatchyBabyHorse]

Just back from the horses now, she’s back to ‘normal’ after the colic thank goodness!! She’s my daughters beloved pony, one of those one in a million mothers dream first ridden types. I honestly thought we might lose her last night, it was the one of the worst colics I’ve seen, the staggering about/collapsing and groaning type.

I’m going to ask again about a chronic pneumonia. But surely ten days antibiotics would have seen to that?

Ive been round the field but nothing. It started in the winter fields which are further away anyway.

Temp last night was 36.9.

I too feel like it’s something chronic rather than a few different things. Should have first blood results back today ?

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Lyme?

My 1st thought too. Worth testing.

 

[PatchyBabyHorse]

The thing with the Lyme’s disease test (apparently) is that a high proportion of horses have it asymptomatically. So she may well get a positive test, but it wouldn’t mean it was necessarily that. It’s apparently quite difficult to test for and a lot of the diagnosis rests on the clinical signs, of which she only had the most generic (lethargy etc).

Ive just read about a new blood test for encysted small red worm so I’m going to ask about that.

 

[PatchyBabyHorse]

This was her at the start of lockdown when I couldn’t get a vet to physically see her due to the initial Covid restrictions.

 

[PatchyBabyHorse]

And this is how she should look

 

[The Xmas Furry]

The thing with the Lyme’s disease test (apparently) is that a high proportion of horses have it asymptomatically. So she may well get a positive test, but it wouldn’t mean it was necessarily that. It’s apparently quite difficult to test for and a lot of the diagnosis rests on the clinical signs, of which she only had the most generic (lethargy etc).

Ive just read about a new blood test for encysted small red worm so I’m going to ask about that.

I'd still speak to your vet about Lymes. Liphook are very clued up on it as a number of cases locally to them every year x

 

[southerncomfort]

Not sure if this helps but one of my old ponies had Cushings. She had a really awful virus that left her 15kgs lighter in a week and she needed 10 days of antibiotics.

She also had a couple of colic episodes before we got her dose of Prescend sorted.

Hopefully the bloods you've taken will give some answers but if not it wouldn't hurt to test for cushings.

Really hope you get to the bottom of this illness, its horrible when they are so poorly.

 

[paddi22]

Just back from the horses now, she’s back to ‘normal’ after the colic thank goodness!! She’s my daughters beloved pony, one of those one in a million mothers dream first ridden types. I honestly thought we might lose her last night, it was the one of the worst colics I’ve seen, the staggering about/collapsing and groaning type.

I’m going to ask again about a chronic pneumonia. But surely ten days antibiotics would have seen to that?

I had one that started coughing during canter when ridden. vet checked chest and seemed fine, but swabs showed infection. ten days antibiotics and the coughing stopped but horse felt a off still. brought it to vets hospital and it had septic pneumonia. you honestly wouldn't have thought it looking at the horse. ten days more antibiotics now, but I still don't think it's cleared up, so back in hospital next week. blood test showed PPID/cushings and it was explained to methane thats why he gets bad infections due to immune system being off. the horse has no other symptoms of bushings at all and is not footy or laminitis ever. well worth getting a cushings test done if you have infections that don't seem to clear.

 

[PatchyBabyHorse]

I had one that started coughing during canter when ridden. vet checked chest and seemed fine, but swabs showed infection. ten days antibiotics and the coughing stopped but horse felt a off still. brought it to vets hospital and it had septic pneumonia. you honestly wouldn't have thought it looking at the horse. ten days more antibiotics now, but I still don't think it's cleared up, so back in hospital next week. blood test showed PPID/cushings and it was explained to methane thats why he gets bad infections due to immune system being off. the horse has no other symptoms of bushings at all and is not footy or laminitis ever. well worth getting a cushings test done if you have infections that don't seem to clear.

thank you that’s really interesting. Hope yours is on the mend soon.
Sorry to sound think but how do they test for cushings these days? Last time I had one done it was bloods but after some special powders??

 

[ester]

you can do acth test from straight bloods (albeit the vet needs to go straight back to practice to get them shipped asap).

Have you any more recent pics?

 

[PatchyBabyHorse]

you can do acth test from straight bloods (albeit the vet needs to go straight back to practice to get them shipped asap).

Have you any more recent pics?

This was last night. She looks more like 19 than 9. It’s so upsetting. Her winter coat has come in early and is very poor looking. This is the fattest I have ever had her, but everything has done well this year the grass just hasn’t stopped.

She is actually a very smart pony, if you don’t know her it’s hard to understand just how scruffy and poor she looks (for her).

 

[ester]

Don't worry, I do get what you are saying re. in comparison to usual smartness. I didn't want to be swayed by the winter fuzz in the before pics.
I think if I were you I would want to rule cushings in or out as a fairly easy first step given the infections.

I've known a couple with tested lyme, but both have had stiffness/lameness although both also took a while to get to that diagnosis.

 

[Beachbabe]

Could it be something as ‘simple’ as pneumonia?

That was exactly my thought. We had ours with it ten years ago and it took months of tlc for him to recover. He was 15 at the time and wouldn't even drink, he had to be regularly tubed to get fluids in. He made a full recovery, but I kept him in at night so that he would rest properly. Honestly thought I was going to lose him, so when I eventually got back on him, it was the best feeling ever. Vet reckons it's a week off for every day they have an even slightly raised temperature, which I think is spot on. I'd give him much more time to recover.