post-viral anaemia

[nickylou]

Has anyone had experience of this and have any advice?
My girl has just been diagnosed and has a Hb of 6 which is very low for a warmblood type.
The medication takes 10-14 days to work.
Should I just rest her for all of this time?

Thanks
Nicky

 

[mygeorge]

I expect it's pretty much the same as in humans. When your Hb is low you are pale and tired. (To see a pale horse look at the pink membranes around eyes inside lids) Good nutrition, rest and medication all help. As recovery progresses (Hb rises) colour starts to return and tiredness gets less. With your mare, a few days of rest followed by a return to light work until she is fully restored to normal should be fine. Hope all goes well.

 

[nickylou]

thanks mygeorge.
have spoken to vet and Lanny has now been signed off for 2-3 weeks.
the scary thing is that when vet looked at her gums and eyes they were salmon pink!
the only reason that i knew something wasn't right was that she didn't really want to work with her usual enthusiaam and she had a drippy nose with clear fluid when she did work.

 

[JessPickle]

My horse had this after a respiratory infection. I was advised to rest him in the field for 10 days. Then bring him in for light work initially. Its quite easy to tell if there getting better and there is an increase in horses energy and there gums become pinker again.