Peritonitis

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Stoxx

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I don't venture in here much but I hope you might be able to help.
I posted last night in the NL about my friend who was on her way to Rossdales with a 4 yr old stallion she has backed and is producing to event. He was showing signs of colic.
He has had a lot of tests done both last night and today and they have shown that he has high white cell count due to Peritonitis and is currently in a fair amount of discomfort. They are trying to determine the reason for the Peritonitis.

I have looked it up and got some information, but I just wondered if anyone has had any first hand experience of this and the outcome?
Thanks for your help.
 
I thought peritonitis was due to leakage from the bowel getting into the blood system and effectively poisoning the horse? I think my old pony got this due to some complications after an injury. He got colic, was stomach tubed and we think, as a result got a ruptured bowel. This caused peritonitis and sadly we couldn't save him.

Could also be caused by worm infestations I think.

However, when reading what you've said I thought back to something i heard at the BEVA veterinary conference in Liverpool back in Oct/Nov which mentioned eosinophillic enteritis. I had a feeling this may be something that was mis-diagnosed as peritonitis?

With any luck though they will have caught it in time and it looks like a course of ABs should clear it up. Obviously finding the cause would be helpful.

I wish your friend luck
 
I had a pony with Peritonitis over a year ago. We nearly lost him, but thanks to the specialist vets care, he pulled through. It took 2 weeks at the vet, huge amounts of strong antibiotics, and determination on his part. It is very unpleasant, especially with the invasive proceedures he went through. The sooner you get diagnosis and treatment (antibiotics) the better, and, I believe, greater chance of survival. Please PM me if I can answer any more questions.
 
Thank you to everyone so far.

The very first sign of anything being wrong at all was at about 5.30pm yesterday when he very uncharacteristically pawed the ground. The vet was on the yard before he attempted to go down and he was at Rossdales by 9.30pm.

I am hoping that the speed of diagnosis will work in his favour.
 
My sisters horse was found dead in the field. She had died of peritonitis caused by worms migrating thru the wall of her stomach. We had only just bought her, wormed her and they all moved. Vet reckons the last owners hadn't wormed her. She was fine in the evening, dead by the morning.
 
I had a mare with peritonitis. She went to Rossdales with all the usual signs of colic. They thought it might've been worms, but wormcount said no, they thought she might've swallowed a plaiting needle, but scans couldn't find it... we never found out what caused it, but she recovered very well.
 
peritonitis is inflamation of (itis) the peritoneal cavity which is the streile cavity of the abdomen. If the gut or ruptured appendix leaks its contets into this sterile environment a rapid inflammatory process starts which is difficult to stop owing to the nature of a cavity and its blood supply. Early diagnosis and strong antibiotics are key to recovery and I hope all goes well; good luck.
 
My mare had peritonitis when she was a yearling caused by a perforated ulcer. The vets felt that the ulcer could have been caused by Fynadine and aggrevated by the stud mix she was on. Little was known about ulcers at that time but thanks to Spillers and my fab vet, she pulled through. She was on 80 Cemetedine tablets per day and a litre of Gaviscon, antibios and pro-biotics. Since then, I never feed mixes, only nuts which are cooked and easier for the gut to digest.

Hope your friends boy pulls through, please let us know how he gets on.
 
Thanks for all of your views/ stories.

The vets are pleased with how he is responding to the drugs at the moment. It is still very much up in the air, but that is a positive step forwards for now.
 
My friends horse had peritonitis through eating blackthorn and swallowed someof the thorns - was touch and go at the time but recovered and is still going at the age of thirty with so side effects eg can eat mixes,grazes happily ,doesn't colic as a result
 
My TB had peitonitis in November and has now thankfully made a full recovery. I posted about my experiences on here as the info I could find on the internet all seemed doom and gloom or very technial!!

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/3702066/an/0/page/14#3702066

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/3794534/an/0/page/9#3794534

He was in intensive care for about a week at Minster Vets in York and then took it steady for a little while but was back out competing within about 6 weeks and has now put on all the weight he lost (and more!!).

Fingers crossed for your friend - hope it all turns out well.
xx
 
My friend's 36 year old was put down a week ago after he had had peritonitis. He only ate part of his breakfast in the morning and was found down in the field in the evening. He didn't show any obvious signs of colic, had gut sounds but wouldn't eat his tea. My friend pressed his belly just in front of his sheath and he immediately rolled so she called the vet. Treated for colic overnight, then the vet came back for a better look the next day. At first they suspected a blocked bladder as he appeared to want to wee, but couldn't. She did a body cavity tap and it came back as peritonitis. He was given a drip for pain relief, fluids and glucose, plus antibiotics straight into the body cavity. After a couple of days he improved but we never did manage to get him eating and exactly a week later he was PTS. We commented that he had been ravenously hungry for a couple of weeks before, and the vet thought he probably had a tumour which was taking all the extra calories. Good luck with your, it is always worth a try.
 
Thanks to those that took the time to reply.

He has responded so well that the vets have said they think he'll be ok to come home at the end of this week!
 
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