Shetland with a horrible urinating habit

[HannahB]

Hiya,
My 16yo Shetland was incontinent and has been for the past few months. I've had her on nearly 40 days of antibiotics which have killed the infection in her kidneys but she has since developed a habit of not lifting her tail to urinate. This has unfortunately made quite a mess of her backend and although she occasionally rubs everything off it invariably comes back due to her not lifting her tail. I did wonder if she may have damaged it but she is perfectly happy raising it to pass everything else so I'm looking for a way to help her think to raise her tail more.
I have trimmed underneath it so its not completely touching her legs but that hasn't really done much to stop the scaling on her legs.
Any advice / tips greatly appreciated!
Thanks, Hannah

 

[TheMule]

My broodmare was incontinent for a few months after foaling and it's horrible so I feel for you.
Is she having proper wees now? Does she stand in the normal stance to wee?
I actually removed a large part of my mare's tail to save the worst bits, cleaned her everyday and smothered the whole thing in mud rash cream from the vets. That saved the scalding and luckily she recovered normal function after a while.

 

[HannahB]

She is urinating properly but doesn't always bother to stand as she should. I would try and clean her more only she tends to kick out at anything strange and hates baths. That was lucky for you, hopefully I'll be able to say the same in a few months!

 

[TheMule]

I would worry that she's still not sensing when her bladder is full then, it's such an innate behaviour. Do you know the reason for the original problem?

For me it was a big welfare issue and I would have had my mare put down if she hadn’t improved- she needed a couple of courses of steroids to help the horrid sores on her legs until I got the management routine right.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

It sounds like she is still incontinent. I would get the vets back in as the antibiotics she has been given might not be the right ones for the problems she has.

 

[HannahB]

I would worry that she's still not sensing when her bladder is full then, it's such an innate behaviour. Do you know the reason for the original problem?

For me it was a big welfare issue and I would have had my mare put down if she hadn’t improved- she needed a couple of courses of steroids to help the horrid sores on her legs until I got the management routine right.

I'm not certain how it started but her blood test came back pointing at a kidney infection with high protein and white blood cells

 

[HannahB]

It sounds like she is still incontinent. I would get the vets back in as the antibiotics she has been given might not be the right ones for the problems she has.

She is on trimediazine and as she's a shetland I've been told to give a quarter of a packet twice a day. I spoke to my vet earlier and he said to finish the course she's got at the moment then urine sample every day for at least 2 weeks (to allow medication to not influence results any more) to check if the infection has completely gone. She had 20 days first time then a two week gap where she was first improving then after first week started to go worse again so she's on another 20 days, with 6 days left to finish the course

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

TMPS is a good general antibiotic but given how long this has persisted for I would have asked for a different one after the first round failed. We use this on the racehorses for small infections such as small wounds. They are only on it for 5 days in total.

I would also question the dosage as although Shetlands are small they are dense and heavy little buggers.

 

[Getbackboys]

ask the vet about putting her on a course of baytril, wonderful antibiotic, something we tend to move on to after trimed or norodine, smother inside hocks and vack kegs with shires oil, kevin bacon oil, give tail a good wash with soapy water every few days, put for another blood test, urine testing seems a bit piintless to ne, ask for another vet, poor little thing. she could have a kidney stone, mares also get beans in uretha have you checked

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

ask the vet about putting her on a course of baytril, wonderful antibiotic, something we tend to move on to after trimed or norodine, smother inside hocks and vack kegs with shires oil, kevin bacon oil, give tail a good wash with soapy water every few days, put for another blood test, urine testing seems a bit piintless to ne, ask for another vet, poor little thing. she could have a kidney stone, mares also get beans in uretha have you checked

Baytril! That's the one I was thinking of but couldn't remember the name of!

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Re. raising the tail to urinate: it may well be worth getting a physio to check her over. On one of the FB sites I'm on someone was saying that a horse not raising its tail in this way could be a sign that there is a weakness in the back somewhere??

Just might be worth checking out.........

 

[HannahB]

Just a little update..
I gave her tail a good bath and plaited it. I didn't get a chance to bathe her fully as she started kicking -typical shetland
But she's completely back to normal, urinating properly and regularly and no signs of dribbling, she's just a bit mucky on her back legs but there's no scalding or scaring, and it all seems to be washing out in the rain!
Thank you all for the advice, if it comes back then baytril will be first

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Typical Shetlands don't kick. Not one of mine would ever, ever dream of it! Ever! A well mannered, well brought up shetland pony that has not been treated as a toy has the same manners and politeness as any other horse or pony. It's the humans that make them the way they are.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Typical Shetlands don't kick. Not one of mine would ever, ever dream of it! Ever! A well mannered, well brought up shetland pony that has not been treated as a toy has the same manners and politeness as any other horse or pony. It's the humans that make them the way they are.

Completely agree, had a very good number of std and miniature shetlands all impeccably behaved with people, the only 2 that had issues were ones I bought in that had been treated as naughty pets- and once boundaries were given they both learned very quickly.
OP, put some training in, no pony should kick and if one does is not 'a typical shetland' behaviour.

 

[Birker2020]

Typical Shetlands don't kick. Not one of mine would ever, ever dream

Completely agree, had a very good number of std and miniature shetlands all impeccably behaved with people, the only 2 that had issues were ones I bought in that had been treated as naughty pets- and once boundaries were given they both learned very quickly.
OP, put some training in, no pony should kick and if one does is not 'a typical shetland' behaviour.

Why are you both worrying about this?
It wasn't the question the OP asked, she asked about advice or tips on how/why her mare wasn't lifting her tail following her antibiotic treatment.
Everyone else managed to not only understand the question, but to answer it without putting the OP down by picking on something that is not relevant.

What is the matter with people??

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Why are you both worrying about this?
It wasn't the question the OP asked, she asked about advice or tips on how/why her mare wasn't lifting her tail following her antibiotic treatment.
Everyone else managed to not only understand the question, but to answer it without putting the OP down by picking on something that is not relevant.

What is the matter with people??

Because shetland pony breeders get really bloody annoyed when people try to keep up the "stereotypical" shetland types and try to explain away their bad management as "typical shetland behaviour". It gives perfectly good ponies a bad rep. Same as people trying to explain away their horses excitable/bad behaviour, bad condition etc because "it's an exracehorse".

And BTW I did read and understand her original post. I questioned the type of antibiotic being used twice in succession when the first round failed and also the dosage of it. 1/4 sachet for 20 days is daft.

 

[HannahB]

I completely agree that her behaviour isn't her fault. She was apparently ridden over 5 years ago but the owner didn't trust her with the kids as she's very strong willed so she was effectively retired for 3 years left in a field with a herd of other horses.
To be fair she is a lot better than when i first got her, she kicked the farrier the first time he came but I've got her used to being handled again and she is getting better at being ridden on the lead reign. She also refused to have a head collar when i first got her but she's fine with that now.

I do wonder sometimes whether she's had some trauma in the past as she was sold to me missing a passport for £200 with no details of previous vets or any other contact information, i took her on as i needed a companion for my cob and i felt sorry for her. I was also looking back at some pictures i got of her when i brought her home and i noticed she had a white tail at the top but that it faded to brownish black at the bottom. Barring in mind that her skin on her back end and tail is completely white, that does raise the question as to whether she already had some problem, possibly the kidney again, that had somehow been cleaned up and hidden for long enough that its been over a year since i bought her before the incontinence came back...

 

[BronsonNutter]

Glad your girl appears to be doing better. If the urine dribbling comes back I would be pushing for a bladder scope (sticking a thin flexible camera into her bladder) to check for any physical problems, such as stones, tumours etc that could be causing it, as they would also result in similar blood results as an infection. It's done under sedation and is usually very well tolerated.