Strange health issues with my horse

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spamiad

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Hi

Joined the forum in hope that someone might be able to shed some light on the situation.

Please find below a diary of her illness and pics att, I have tried to get the best pictures i could but scabs are all stuck to the hair, the area is about 3" to 4" on the pastern and fetlock, mouth was difficult to photo, the bars are inflamed and her saliva seems thicker and stringier than normal, dropping are normal.


12/8/13 approx stopped riding her as she wasn’t right would not take a contact. Lost weight over summer. started to refuse to eat haylage, changed to hay
21/8/13 back man came out found some soreness in her poll
23/8/13 Still not right so booked dentist
28/8/13 dentist said mouth and bars were very inflamed and swollen prescribed bute to remove inflammation at 1 per day
01/9/13 started riding her again in hackamore back to normal but still on the bute until dentist sees her again
Kept in 18/19/20[SUP]th[/SUP] Sept
20/9/13 dentist came and vet to sedate teeth done no problem, mouth back to normal with no issues,stopped bute.
22/9/13 lame in trot and canter only on left hind. No swelling or heat just sign of kick near stifle and slight nick on pastern but no sign of pain anywhere. Feed cut to ad lib hay and small feed of alpha a and pony nuts
23/9/13 fetlock swollen and some heat treated with movelat gel cold hosing, bute and box rest. No sign of pain to touch walking in hand, confined 15min turnout. No running or bucking just walking and standing
Started to go down slowly
28/9/13 leg went down to normal overnight, just slight heat on inside of pastern where nick was. Stopped bute still on box rest with cold hosing and whichhazle and arnica gel.
29/9/13 leg slightly swollen again today
01/10/13 leg slightly more swollen today and signs of a mudfever type scabbing appearing put udder cream and sulphur on. Put her back on haylage.
Has put weight back on since mouth treated.
2/12/13 both rear legs are swollen heat in both. Mouth now swollen again. Booked vet visit.
3/10/13 vet Jenny Alsop came out, prescribed trimethoprim (I think) antibiotic for 1 week, Steroids 10 tablets a day for 10 days then 5 a day for 10 days and fuciderm gel to put on the scabs. Started to turn out during day and put back on hay as advised
7/10 13 The swelling has gone down on her rear legs and sound, but mouth still swollen with excessive saliva.


22/10/13 treatment finished, legs down and cool but still just as scabby and mouth still swollen and inflamed. Lost weight again during the course of treatment. Sound
24/10/13 put back on bute , legs have come up a bit all the time and start to fill within 1 hour of being stabled, exercise improves them but doesn’t completely go, both hind legs are warmer than the front
27/10/13 mouth returned to normal. Stopped bute legs the same
29/10/13 mouth swollen and inflamed again with excessive saliva, and her glands are swollen and quite hard and warm to touch in her jowl /throatlatch area.
30/10/13 everything the same but some scab came off and there was bleeding underneath but does not appear sore to her as no reaction when touched or rubbed
31/10/13 off her feed, appears depressed and in pain. Still sound. Put back on bute and awaiting diagnosis

As of Saturday morning most of the glands around her face have gone down, but hard nodules still remain, her legs are not going down with excersies as they were and there is a lot of heat in both back feet, also her tongue seems ever more swollen and is not finishing her feed, im guessing its due to her not been able to lick the corners of the bucket as she usualy would


The vet has sent pictures to Liverpool and is coming out to do some blood tests this week

any ideas would be welcome as were all a bit stumped at the moment

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What are her urine and dung like, have you had them tested?
Have you painted any surfaces she can reach recently and what with?
Is she on different field, have you checked plants in it?
It does sound like something she's ingested that has possibly burnt her mouth, I would be thinking along the buttercup, St John's Wort lines and it's causing photo sensitivity. I knew a cob with this, it burnt the hair away and any mucous areas, eventually was on prednisolone tablets (100 a day at first) and was also given a Hilton Herbs thing for skin conditions.

Be interested in other suggestions too.
 
HI

Dung is normal, I have re painted the stable but this had started 2 months before, her grazing has remained the same all year, and again its been difficult due the length of time this has been going on. originally we thought the mouth swelling was due to the haylage which we took her off and placed her on hay, but at the last visit the vet did think it was been caused by some sort of stomach ulcer been an ex race horse ect.
I think the vet is going to test for liver function, she is coming tomorrow to do the blood tests, whats concerning me most is the fact that her back legs aren't going down as normal, and this along with the mouth swelling, lymph glands been up is a bit concerning
 
spamiad said:
HI

Dung is normal, I have re painted the stable but this had started 2 months before, her grazing has remained the same all year, and again its been difficult due the length of time this has been going on. originally we thought the mouth swelling was due to the haylage which we took her off and placed her on hay, but at the last visit the vet did think it was been caused by some sort of stomach ulcer been an ex race horse ect.
I think the vet is going to test for liver function, she is coming tomorrow to do the blood tests, whats concerning me most is the fact that her back legs aren't going down as normal, and this along with the mouth swelling, lymph glands been up is a bit concerning
Click to expand...

The leg and mouth swelling plus lymph glands sounds very much like this cob and it took over a year to recover but it did and went on to win show cob classes after, you'd never have known how poorly she had been but it was a long haul.
 
hi

she has had some form which I cant remember the name the vet said to me but it was some sort of lymph node infection, which is were the antibiotics and steroids were administered

3/10/13 vet Jenny Alsop came out, prescribed trimethoprim (I think) antibiotic for 1 week, Steroids 10 tablets a day for 10 days then 5 a day for 10 days and fuciderm gel to put on the scabs. Started to turn out during day and put back on hay as advised
7/10 13 The swelling has gone down on her rear legs and sound, but mouth still swollen with excessive saliva.
 
Not exactly no but she had been turned away on some land which had a damp boggy place in one corner which she loved to roll in and they put it down to that, it had all manner of different natural plants in it, buttercup and St John's Wort among them and it's been found since that they can sometimes cause that sort of reaction; there was little known about it back then, some 15 years ago.
 
I had a horse with lymphangitis that moved on to all four legs, poor thing. It did go away eventually, but they are forever susceptible thereafter. He had industrial quantities of antibiotics/steriods and I had to keep him bandaged for a long time and movement is crucial - lots of turnout and walking in hand to stimulate the movement of the fluid. He didn't have the scabs, but I was told they are quite common as the fluid has to find a way out somewhere and that might well be through the skin. I don't know about the other symptoms though.

What about EPH? http://www1.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/horse/health/purpura-hemorrhagica/
 
the other symptoms are strange, it could more than one problem going on, but I will speak to the vet about that tomorrow, think I had already read that link there are so many things that show the symptoms she has its difficult to rule out any including any allergies.

I expected her legs to fill more after that bout of lymph infection, but what's concerning me is as the days progress the swelling is increasing and not de creasing as much as it would have done a week to ten days ago after exercise. she is turned out early morning around 6 am and brought in about 7 pm that's as much turn out that is available at the yard im at.

I know that lymphatic cancer has been mentioned by my vet which is why she sent pictures to Liverpool last week, but I don't know much about that either.
 
Are you keeping her legs bandaged when she is in overnight? In my case I was told it was crucial. I did think for a while that my horse might just explode, a bit like a balloon, he was that swollen. It did go eventually but it took ages and at times if felt like there was no sign of improvement. I also found that turnout didn't shift the fluid as well as being on the walker or walking out in hand did. Perhaps it needs to be more 'brisk' movement, rather than mooching.

I know how frustrating it can be when you don't know what the problem is. Every theory seems to take so long to eliminate and then you are no further forward!

Good luck.
 
I would want to get bloods done urgently. Your vet isn't being very proactive with this, given it has gone on since August, I might want a 2nd opinion. Could be liver damage, maybe an auto immune disease or an allergy, but I would be wanting a more rigorous investigation in your place.
 
In all fairness we were all unaware of the mouth been inflamed again until the lameness issue was resolved I had ridden once realising it was still not right then the other problems appeared, vet is coming tomorrow to take bloods, hopefully this will show where we need to be going with this.

I have looked into many allergies and have came up stumped so far but maybe an allergy test might be a good idea?

sam
 
Christ op, I've no pearls of wisdom to help you, but I just read this, what a nightmare for you both, I really hope you manage to get to the bottom of it and things get better.
 
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