Off food; diarrhoea; occult blood in faeces: Any ideas?

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flintfootfilly

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Bit of a long shot, but wondering if anyone has any experience of anything similar, and what it turned out to be, or what tests/procedures were most useful.

6yo gelding pony walked up reluctantly from arena yesterday morning.
No interest in fresh haylage.
Temp was initially 39.2C. Pulse around 40.
Normal routine is yarded 24/7 with access down a stoney track to the arena. Fed on soaked hay/soaked oat straw/ haylage.
No digital pulse.
Got up, lay down a few times. Pawed ground a few times. Looked at right side of flanks a few time.

Vet came first call.
Did rectal. Found occult blood on examination glove.
Pony uncomfortable when rectalled at around "5 o'clock" - ie lower right flank
No sign of distension
Gut seems a bit quieter than normal.
Membranes a bit pale.

Gave IV bute plus antibiotic. Now on oral bute and antibiotic.

Breathing rate went up to mid 30s, but has come back down.
Temperature came down to "normal" yesterday afternoon, and this morning.

Overnight temp went down to 33.8C, so quite a bit lower than normal.

Awaiting blood/faeces results, including salmonella, which hopefully will be in this morning.

Surgery isn't an option, but if there's anything we can do to find out whether there is hope, then I'd like to consider it.

Is ultrasounding rectum an option?

I think the most likely option yesterday was colitis/salmonella.

Any experiences of either, or other possibilities that show similar symptoms.

He's clearly still very out of sorts, and whilst I don't want to give up too soon, I do want to be realistic about his chances. And if we find something terminal, I'd rather he didn't suffer any longer.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Sarah
 
My lad had similar symptoms and worsened over a period of 24 hours. His temperature got higher and higher in that time. He wasn't interested in food or water. He had perotinitis. He did recover but had got so bad in that time (was initially diagnosed with respiratory infection) that he spent 10 days in intensive care at Liphook. My friends horse got it 10 months later but we recognised the symptoms, the vet ran bloods and they were dreadful but nowhere near as bad as my lads. He was treated at home but it was pretty intensive with the vet coming 3 times a day (during the night too). They both survived. Good luck keep us posted xxx
 
Forgot to say both horses had stomach taps done as well and it was cloudy can't remember the technical terms but the vets knew immediately by the colour even before they tested that the horses were very ill
 
Thanks for the replies.

Spoke to the vet this morning, and initial blood and poo results were back.

Slightly anaemic, but within reasonable limits.

The main thing is very low white blood cells (neutrophils and lymhocytes), which I understand indicate that he's trying to fight off either an infection or a tumour. Must admit, I'm wondering about a tumour, because it may well account for his reluctance to move much (longer term issue, both loose with the herd, led and ridden).

I asked about possible further investigations, and a belly tap is definitely an option and possibly some sort of ultrasound scan, though I don't remember what area it would be of.

Salmonella results likely to be back in next day or two.

Edited to add: Will do a bit of reading up about peritonitis. Had a pony suspected with that earlier this year (turned out to be laminitis), and she would barely put one foot in front of the other, whereas my boy will move around his stable and out onto the yard, but just does so briefly and then lies down again. There's been no escalation of temperature/pulse/apparent pain, but no real improvement to be seen either.

Thanks again.

Sarah
 
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With diarrhoea and a high temperature then there probably is colitis occurring, the question is why. Infectious causes e.g. Salmonella, Clostridia and others. Parasitic causes e.g. encysted red worms. Inflammatory causes e.g. IBD. Neoplastic causes e.g. lymphosarcoma.
The main part of initial treatment is usually supportive care - IV fluids to correct any dehydration, small and often feeds of high fibre.
Investigation can be difficult in horses. Belly taps, faecal samples, blood samples, rectal biopsies, abdominal ultrasound, glucose absorption tests, full thickness biopsies at surgery, duodenal biopsies by endoscope are all possibilities. The question is usually one of cost, and how much you are willing to put the horse through to get an answer.
Personally I would start with blood sample and faecal sample (as has been done), then usually get a belly tap and a rectal biopsy as these are minimally invasive, low cost tests, with a reasonable chance of reaching a diagnosis.

EDIT: Low WBC count is also associated with Salmonella infection, so definitely make sure he is isolated from other horses, and make sure you are extremely careful re: handwashing etc.
 
Thanks Alsiola.

Will swot up on rectal biopsy and see if that's a route I'd go down.

No sign of worms was found (can't remember if that was from the blood or from the poo sample), and my suspicion is that it won't be worms because they're a closed "herd" with 100% poo picking and worm counted every 3 months, and wormed with praziquantel and moxidectin over winter. I know it's not possible to say definitely no to that, but I think it probably seems one of the less likely options. Shame really, as that might be the easiest to do something about.

Spent much of today working out how best to isolate my boy from the others, and then shuffling ponies round and bedding down different stables and working out how best to minimise crossinfection in case it is that.

Sarah
 
Have you had him for a long time? Does he have any fluid in his limbs? Is there a risk of him having picked up an infection from any new animals in the yard?

Sounds really worrying, and I hope you get to the bottom of it.
 
My previous horse was eventually diagnoised with IBS last August after 3 months of on off the skits and swollen legs and off food.
His bloods came back with a few things but cant remember off the top of my head what they were. Altho he came back to say he didnt have worms we wormed him anyway on pancur 5 day guard on vet advice. And he did a belly tap which the horse wouldnt allow us to do. He had a ultrasound to check his internal organs which were ok. He then had a rectal biopsy done which showed up the inflammation etc and it was then diagnoised with IBS. He was PTS last Dec from other issues but until that time he lived on a lowish dose of steroids. They were the only thing that helped control it.
 
I've known him since he was a twinkle in his mum and dad's eye. I bred him. He's only ever lived here with me, or for 3 years he was with someone where he ran over a large acreage with one other horse and some cattle. He's been back with me for 2 years.

Last new pony to arrive here was a year ago.

No visiting horses, and no sniffing noses or anything with horses when we're out hacking.

He did go down to the local vets for a lameness investigation as a day boy about 6 weeks ago. Other than that, no visits to strange places or mixing with strange horses.

No swollen legs, but I'll keep checking them.

Sarah
 
How old is the pony.

Do you have pheasants around.

About 2 years ago my22 yr old little New Forest Mare had the same sort of thing. She is a quiet little pony most of the time spending time on her own. On the Friday she seemed off her hard feed but was picking at the hay. On the Saturday she was about the same, then on the Sunday morning I had a phone call from my friend who said the mare had very bad Diarrhea and would not come down with the others.

The mare is semi wild and not easy to catch but on the Sunday she was very easy to catch. WE called the vet and when he came it was found that she had very blue gums , she was in septic shock. The vet wanted to put her down but I asked him to give her a chance. Monday came and she was still with us bloods were taken to the lab but nothing really came up other than she was very dehydrated. She was given antibiotics and we put a drip up and gave her 4 10 lt bags of fluid. We also tried her on any kind of food we thought she would like Sugar Beet , Alfa, readi grass etc and slowly she pulled through. Some how she had eaten something.

One vet told us that it could have been grass that had pheasant droppings that had caused it.

To help her I also used Aloe Vera juice and something called L94 (A liver / detox tonic) It comes from Trinity Consultants (Roger Hatch)

Today the mare is cantering around the field with the others. A healthy girl.

Good Luck with your Pony.
 
Thanks for that. He is 6 years old.

Pheasants? Well there are usually one or two lurking in the hedgerows this time of year, but no more than that, and no chickens or anything either.

Last night we seemed to be at a low point, with only 1kg hay eaten over 24 hours, and the lying down and standing up starting to include rolling (and nearly getting cast). I was all set for him being pts today if he was no more comfortable this morning.

Anyway, this morning sees him standing on the yard, bright-eyed and ready for food. First 0.5kg hay gone in an hour and a half. Temp/pulse normal........and.........2 totally normal sized/texture poos! Plus a half size one.

He's had a further 2kg hay this morning, and done two more almost normal poos (good size, but only partly formed faecal balls, forming a good mound rather than a splat), and he's just starting on his lunchtime net.

Watching him while I sorted the other ponies, he showed no signs of being ill at all. No pawing, no lying down, no rolling, no standing head down looking dejected.

Happy that he is at least a lot more comfortable, and hoping that this is a turning point, but we'll see how he goes.

Oh, salmonella test came back negative so at least he doesn't have to be isolated any more.

Sarah
 
Thanks Paulineh. I asked my vet yesterday, and he said that it's very common not to find a cause for colitis/diarrhoea, and so we're hoping it's a one off, but time will tell.

Keeping him on antibiotics for another week, and keeping a good close eye on him. This morning he was standing by the gate, ears pricked, eager for breakfast and has had his head down eating non-stop since the hay went out. Good number of mounded poos with semi-formed faecal balls.

Added up his total intake for yesterday. 9kg hay/haylage (for a 530kg pony), which is just astonishing compared to the previous two days (of about 0.5-1kg per day).

Sarah
 
Glad to hear the pony is doing well.

It would be worth giving a detox such as the L94 from Trinity Consultants and some Aloe Vera juice (Best got from an organic shop) to settle the tummy and guts down.

When the weather gets frosty just watch for gut problems.
 
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