Vet coming out again :(

The_snoopster

The_snoopster

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My 2 year old appy x cob had what I thought were nasty fly bites during the summer, then last week this "bites" became hives of the things. Her face swelled up ans she developed a lump under her neck where loads of hives joined up together, had the vet out immediately who said it looked like a allergy to something. She had a steriod injection and the next day the lump went down by half and the hives seemed to get smaller, the next day the hives came back but the although not gone stayed smaller and the swelling on the face went. I rugged her up with a full fly sheet which was not easy as she had never worned a rug untill that day, hoping maybe they were an allergic reaction to gnat bite, althought she is not itchy or scratching.
After wearing the rug for 24 hours the lump was nearly gone and the hives were much better although still lots of them but smaller. Hoping that we had turned the corner, I breathed a bit easier. Then this morning I went to check her and the lump of hives under the neck is coming back and she has a what look like bites on her face. Vet is coming out again at 4pm, the last vet only gave her a 24 hour steriod injection although would of like to give her a longer lasting one but was worried about laminitus so erred on caution and said if it does not work would need to come out and do a blood test and possibly put her on a 5 day course of powdered steriods ?. I am getting worried now, as this filly has been in this field since birth and has never had a alleric reaction to anything in there before. Does anyone have any words of wisdom to make me feel better, I waited a long time to breed this filly as I wanted to be in a position to have time and money to breed the best I could from my wonderful mare and feel its all going wrong at the moment. :confused::(
 
A similar thing happened to my horse a few years ago, he had little lumps on his neck that merged into one big one, turned out to be nettle rash. He had been leaning over a fence that was lined with them to get to the grass on the other side. I bathed it with hibiscrib moved him away from the nettles and it went down within a couple of days.
 
I am really hoping its midges or flys or some form of insect. I can hopefully prevent it earlier next year before it explodes like it has, by rugging early and plenty of spray and cream. So far I have eliminated sprays and fly creams as she started getting them before I started using them, cut out all carrots and apples incase its sugar intolerance. She is not having any buckets yet as she is a good weight and still growing so did not want a fat youngster, she has access to a good salt mineral lick and has had one of those in the field since birth and never reated before to them. God I am going out of my mind thinking what on earth it could be causing it
 
Just thinking outside the box & worth discussing the following with your vet, as I've had 'horrible hives' and allergic swellings in various horses & ponies over the years (I used to but, sell & also produce so turnover during spring & autumn was busy) to the following:

Changes of washing liquid/powder for rugs/headcollars/ saddle cloths etc
Mineral lick in a metal container (around 25 yrs ago)
Plants in general
Plants/trees coming into bloom
Seeds & nuts from trees & plants
Insects
Plant sprays drifting over fence
Airplane fuel (we are very close to small but busy airfield, 1 year I had all 4 who were out in the far field come in with horrible-hives & it turned out fuel had been dumped before landing - this sprays out over a distance!)
Changes in chemical make up of fly treatments
Reaction to fly treatments on open sore, which then produced a reaction all over.
Creosote & the modern day similar stuff
and any other number of off things can set them off.. hope you find out what it is!
 
Thankyou for your advice, I am off to the field again. The field does have a wooded area all the way around. No air fields colse by and no farm land near me for miles, did not use any fly spray before the hives appeared so cannot be them. So its either flies of some type or herbage she is eating which is reacting with her, if anyone does think of something please feel free to post as I am open to all suggestions and will get back on here quite late tonight as once the vet as been I have to go and fetch 100 bales of hay so going to be a very busy and tiring day
 
Cedars horses all had the same kind of thing recently. One reacted extremely badly and had problems breathing.
Not sure they got to the bottom of it, but I know she moved them all for a while.
 
Hi darling,

I have 4 horses, 3 reacted badly to SOMETHING - still don't know what. Your fields sound similar to mine - established paddocks with woodland around the outside.

Good that the vet is coming out, Dotty's bumps (ALL over her body) went away after a steroid injection. However, they came back once I turned them out again - but only for half a day as as soon as I put a fly rug on, they went away. The ones who had scabby noses - even the one who I was pulling strips of skin off of - have totally healed and they're fine now.

Investigations are still ongoing (and the one who started to struggle breathing has been moved to a different yard and is 100% better there) but the other two (plus the one who wasn't harmed) are out in the field full time and are both fine.

I'll PM you my facebook name if you want to talk more.

Don't panic! x
 
Vet has been and given her a 5 day steroid injection, hopefully this will sort her out. He said it was an allergic reation to something she has proberly eaten. He said it was quite a bad case but he had seen worse and they usually clear up and never come back and never find out the source. However he has said to give it a week (unless it gets worse) and if they have not gone or come back after the steroid injection we will have to investigate the cause. He was sure it was not an reaction to anything toxic as she was too bright in herself and is fit and well in every other way, I will move her if I have to but it would be such a shame as all her young play mates are there and the only other field I have is set up for two older equines who have cushings and she will be fenced off in the back field as there is no grass in the front where the other two live as they are not allowed very much grass due to lami.
Problem is this field is set up exactly the same as her current field as it used to be 1 big field which the motorway cut in half and is surrounded by the same type of trees and is the same type of grass etc. Just hoping its sorts itself out, although it more upsetting for me than the filly :(
 
Mine had this - just on both sides of his neck...nothing changed to cause it...left it a couple of days and they went so far - never to re-appear - no idea! :confused:

Good luck with your investigation - keep us updated :)
 
Cedars I am struggling find you on facebook but will keep trying, I may just be tired but I am struggling to even reply to your message the laptop sends it but then I cannot see its gone and it states I have no sent messages in my box ?
My poor girl has huge hard lumps which when you touch and feel them feel like she has bags of dried peas under the skin, there are literally hundreds on her neck alone. Nothing on her bum or legs and just a few under her belly, and to top it all off I went to fetch my hay and its so loosely been tied that ot practiaclly fell apart in my hands so instead of neatly packed piles of hay I have one huge stack in my shed. Beautiful hay just not in tight bales, too tired to think about it now as its all in so its a kind of bugger it day. I have not eaten all day as I have been rushing between work and vets then fetching 100 bales, just sat down and have no appetite now as I have gone past wanting to eat.
 
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