Potential viral infection and hospital admission

MarvelVillis

MarvelVillis

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I've had a very stressful/emotional week with my gelding. On Tuesday, my friend who turns him out for me in the mornings, noticed he wasn't his usual self and hadn't eaten much hay throughout the night. I took the day off work, went to the yard to check him over and decided to call the vet. His temperature was 40 and heart rate was high. They did a belly tap to check for peritonitis which was clear. They also checked up his bum which all seemed fine. He was given an injection to bring his temperature down and was given bute. His bloods were in normal range expect from white blood cells which were low. His SAA reading was circa 1k. This was Tuesday morning. I then had the vet out twice a day every day until Friday morning when they decided to refer him as he still wasn't improving and hadn't eaten or drunk a lot overnight even after strong painkillers and antibiotics. I took him to hospital on Friday where he had some more tests done (bloods/ultrasound/second belly tap) and a tracheal wash which we're awaiting the results of today. The vets are all a bit stumped about what's causing him to feel unwell but they suspect it may be a viral infection. Currently trying to sort out insurance paperwork now which is stressful in itself!

Anyone had anything similar?
 
I had similar in Nov 2022 with my gelding. Very poorly, he ended up in the RVC for 3 days. We never got to the bottom of what caused it other than some unknown virus. He did bounce right back quite quickly, although it took his liver a while to get back to normal.

Good luck, it’s so worrying, we now refer to it as his expense spa break….
 
One of my oldies was really poorly recently. Fine the day before, then early morning didn't want eat or move. I got hom moving and not lame do suspected colic.
Called vet who was there within the hour and suspected neurological. Gave pain meds snd steroid and took blood. Blood showed high infection markers but not intestinal, liver or kidney.
Vet came back and gave antibiotic injection, horse already brighter and picking food. Antibiotic injection next day and 3 days oral abs.
We will never where the infection was but 🤞been ok since x
 
I was just going to reply and say mine had something similar last year, spent 4 nights in the vets and 2k later it never came back with any results and we just assumed it to be viral. Glad you’ve got to the bottom of it and fingers crossed for a speedy recovery
 
Yes I had similar and sadly it developed into pneumonia. Horse was in hospital for three weeks and very nearly died. If the temp stays consistently high ask about ice boots, mine was in them 24/7 front and back for days and days to help stop him getting laminitis.
 
Michen said:
Yes I had similar and sadly it developed into pneumonia. Horse was in hospital for three weeks and very nearly died. If the temp stays consistently high ask about ice boots, mine was in them 24/7 front and back for days and days to help stop him getting laminitis.
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Sorry to hear that, must've been very scary. Did the pneumonia occur from the EHV? I have been checking my gelding's temperature most days and luckily it has remained in the normal range since returning home from hospital, so hoping he's out of the worst of it now.
 
Vet is coming back out today to check his SAA readings. Really hoping it's gone down, as it was still 1k the day he left the hospital (last Wednesday). I have also asked if they can swab his nostril to check if he's still positive for EHV, as it's 2 weeks + 1 day today since he became unwell. He's been really good on box rest but would rather allow him to go back out in the field instead of keeping him in for another week, if he's clear *fingers crossed*
 
Vet came back out Weds. SAA levels are now 0 - yippee! 🥳 He's finished his antibiotics and vet was happy for them to be stopped. Just waiting on results from nasal swab. Hoping to hear today or tomorrow. We're due a (rare) dry day tomorrow so it'd be lovely to turn him out and get some sun on his back after 3 weeks of being stuck in.
 
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