Peritonitis - help!?

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eventer0508

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My horse has just been diagnosed with it and is on anti inflammatory & anti biotic but has no appetite managed a slice of carrot earlier and a little amount of water but has anybody had any experience with it as i've never come across it before, looked up on various websites but not much on treatment and prognosis.
Any suggestions etc welcome as desperate to get my normal horsey back and do the best i can for her.
Happy for you to PM or reply to post, thank you.
 
One of the horses on my yard had this last year, he came in showing what i thought were colic symptoms but thank god they weren't. Like you he was on anti inflam & antibiotics and after 24 hours was getting back to eating. We kept him on small portions as his stomach had been so upset and built it back up.
It just took a bit of time for the drugs to work and his body to respond & strengthen again.
 
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Our vet was quite casual about it, when i looked things up on the internet i read horror stories. If your vet is checking things with you and not too worried then trust them, you know your horse and what to look for or changes in him.
 
Can't believe your vets are being so offhand about it. Peritonitis is a very serious illness - it can be fatal in humans. The question I would be asking is what has caused it? If it's because some of the stomach/bowel contents have leaked out of the gut and into the abdominal cavity (and if they have, why?), then your horse would need immediate surgery. Any idea what caused the peritonitis???
 
vets talked it through with me and said it an be fatal there also still not ruling out grass sickness, but we have agreed to give her till monday morning and decided weather to continue antibiotics if shes improving or take her into the clinic if she isn't but the vets have been brill and are pleased with the way she is at the moment.

She has ate a small amount of grass and her temperature has come back down to normal and a couple of carrots managed to grab her appetite and a small mouthful of hay along with eating small amounts of her nice straw bedding so were keeping everything crossed and have the vets on emergency call if we need them who are being fantastic.

no we have no idea whats caused it either nothing has changed routine, diet or stress wise the only thing that was different was the high winds but the vet has said most cases of it there is no specific reason to cause it.

thank you again xx
 
hi
my project horse had peritonitis as a 4yr old (he's 8 now no problems) although he wasn't with me then his old owner explained he was rushed into horspital and put on iv AB and fluids ,he lost a terrible amount of weight and he was in a fortnight

he is a little fighter and they thought they were loosing him but he pulled round ,it took an awful long time to get weight back on him but he is fine now
they never found out what caused it and he didn't have surgery

mine was terribly poorly and made it so thought i'd just give you a success story ,sorry i don't know anything more to help you as i didn't know him then

best of luck hope he brightens up soon
 
Thank you she seems brighter again tonight and is eating very small amounts, not drinking but isn't dehydrating yet. Just keeping everything crossed but its good to hear success stories, shes a fighter so hopefully she will pull through thank you xx
 
This is caused by something damaging part of the gut - could even just be a splinter and it is very unlikely you will ever know what caused it. I had mine scoped at the end of his treatment and there was absolutely nothing to see. You need to strictly moniter your horses temperature and make sure she is drinking. Try sugar beet water along normal water if she won't drink but monitor closely... I had mine tubed on the second day as not to make any chances. He was on small bran feeds and constant small amounts of soaked hay ( not Haylage). Bloods were collected each day to start and my vet was up first thing wach morning. Mine had liver damage as a result but came good. So to sum up, constant check of water, low protein feed and temp checking. Vet even was out over the bank holiday weekend. Horse was 100% at the end.
 
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myy lad was lucky and could have got this if the needle had hit the abcess in his stomach,

my mare who had a viral would not eat anything 23. hrs would not eat.
we tried everything the only thing we finally got to eat was alfa a oil thats all she would eat with high fiber cubes
my friends horse had grass sickness wouldnt eat also she finally got her through it by speedy beet and something else, you might need to borrow handfull of other feeds till you fine something she will eat.
 
eventer0508 said:
My horse has just been diagnosed with it and is on anti inflammatory & anti biotic but has no appetite managed a slice of carrot earlier and a little amount of water but has anybody had any experience with it as i've never come across it before, looked up on various websites but not much on treatment and prognosis.
Any suggestions etc welcome as desperate to get my normal horsey back and do the best i can for her.
Happy for you to PM or reply to post, thank you.
Click to expand...

PM Nelson 11 (she is my friend and won't mind). Her horse had it a while back and was very poorly with it.
 
Thank you everybody, she is drinking small amounts and has had a small amount of sloppy bran this morning and some hay and grass so all fingers crossed vets took bloods came back with low WBC count. She seems much brighter and more comfortable in herself, also on her 3rd dose of AB' s and AI's so we are heading the right way just fingers crossed it continues :) thank you all again for your help. xx
 
My mare had peritonitis had at the time had a history of colic. They said the peritonitis was a complication from a colic, was admitted and dripped etc and turned out it was a tear to her gut lining. She as said above lost lots of weight but recovered 100% and is 18 now.
 
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