Recovery time after nasty virus?

[Hovis_and_SidsMum]

As some of you will know Hovis is not well.
I had a "gut" instinct that something wasn't right last weekend and got the vets out.
The vets did a full MOT and said he seemed clinically fine. Hubby in fairness stuck to his guns and told the vet how well i know Hovis and therefore how certain i was something was wrong.
They took bloods but to be honest i suspect they thought they were just appeasing me.
They rang back straight away as soon as the bloods came in and said that Hovis had a v v low white cell count and ditto a very low red cell count. All of which pointed to a virus or infection of a fairly nasty nature. Apparently low is considered under 14 and hovis' counts were 5.8 and 6 respectively.
Hovis had an injection to boost his red cell count that day plus an injection for his white count. He has since had another two injections to help his white cell count.
They are now finished and he will have his blood re-tested next week.
So the question - have any of your horses had something similar? How long did they take to recover? How long before you started to work them again?
Hovis has had all last week and this week off so i was thinking about giving him a walk around the field this coming friday if he looks a bit brighter? I was then intending to see how he is after that then start slowly building him back up?
What do you think?

PS the vet said we have been very lucky so i guess theres a message there about trusting your own instinct where your horses are concerned.

 

[Flicker]

Poor Hovis! I had an identical scenario with my boy in the summer.
I gave him a full week off completely then brought him back in very gently with 20 - 30 minute hacks really slow and gentle for about another 2 weeks. The vet came back 4 weeks after the initial bloods and did repeats and said that, while my boy was much better, there were still viral markers in his bloods so to give him another 2 weeks at least.
She did say he would 'let me know' when he felt better, and he actually did - I watched him perk up day by day and one day on a hack he behaved like a 2-year old. We haven't looked back.
Well done for trusting your gut - my boy was just 'not himself' and I pressed for bloods too and that's when I got the result.
Hope he's back to himself soon. My boy milked it with his granny and got lots of brushes and apples!

 

[Theresa_F]

Miss Delia had a virus that caused the low cell count. Being Miss D, she then had to do the works, lost a lot of weight and muscle and it is possible as I rode her at first - finally though we had the jumping fixed, that she went on to have a heart murmur.

She took about 6 months to recover fully - but she was a blue blood TB and a real drama queen if anything was not right.

Another pony had a similar thing, ok tough native and 10 years younger, but she was fine and back to normal within 2 months. She also didn't loose the weight etc and was just very quiet and under the weather for about 3 weeks.

Miss D had vit injections and then red cell plus plenty of pampering to get her back to full health.

You may need to face no jumping etc until after Christmas. If you really miss jumping a huge hairy sabino, come and ride Farra - you will love her - nice and steady in a little snaffle and the best safe hack you will ever swing your leg over.

Give him a big kiss from me.

 

[Hovis_and_SidsMum]

We've got some red cell as we also asked for omar to be tested and whilst he hasn't got a low white cell count his red was a little low. Hence a trip to chandlers to get him some red cell.
Anything else i could give him to aid his recovery? I just want my baby back - i don't like this quiet well behaved mouse - i want the naughty, mischievous, highly oppinionated Destroyer back

 

[Theresa_F]

If he is having red cell, plenty of fresh air, rest and good food then it is time that will put him back to his little perky self.

You could try some recharge from Feedmark - I used to give this to Cairo after his eye operations as it is also a boost to the immune system - can't do him any harm.

He will come back - and if he is anything like that naughty Stinky was when he had one, even more pesty than usual when he perks up.

Sounds like Omar may have had a touch of what Hovis has if he were low too - brewers yeast can help keep them with the B vits if they are lacking them long term and is not as "rocket fuel" as Red Cell can be.

 

[scally]

As a rough rule our vet used to say one week off for every one day ill with something nasty or one week for every day they have a raised temperature. So three days = three weeks off to recover.

I think it is down to how well you know your horse, and knowing when they are ready and how they respond.

 

[joy]

In the case of my boy, a healthy strapping 4 yo when he went down with this particular virus 18 BLOODY MONTHS!!!!!
Now a healthy strapping 6yo and all is well. Touch wood.

 

[rocketdog69]

A couple of years ago my old ID had something very similar. The vet advised me to rest him for 3 weeks before starting to ride him out at walk again to start with. Other people and vets have told me since then that 2-3 weeks rest after a similar infection is recommended.