What would you do??

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Elle1085

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Ok so vet blood tested my horse, results show a bacterial infection BUT because he's had quite a few virusy type things the vets suspect he may have something underlying. At the moment he's supposed to be having antibiotics twice a day for 3 weeks then following further blood test he will be scoped to look for gastric ulcers.

I lost a horse couple years ago from a tumour in his intestine, we'd struggled with his weight for a couple years and the vets basically did very little until it was too late and the only option was to have him pts. Now this horse is just starting to lose condition and i'm terrified that he's going to have the same thing.

My question is would you wait the three weeks or have him scoped sooner? I can't stand waiting around looking at him and worrying myself quite possibly unnecessarily. I know i'm being completely over the top about it but i just want to know what's wrong with him so he can get treated asap.

Also i'm fairly sure he's going to stop eating his feed soon cos he hates the powder and thinks i'm trying to poison him and he's only been in it a couple of days
 
Can you not talk to your vet about your concerns and see if it can be done sooner? With his feed try putting something tasty in it or some garlic to mask the powder and maybe try wetting it if you aren't doing already. When my 1st lad was on medication I was paranoid he wasn't eating all of it so would hand feed him the last few scraps from his bucket!
 
You have to wait for the antibiotics to work I think as there is no point in having him scoped if the antibiotics pick him up. If he wont eat them you may have to mix with a little water and syringe into him but at least he will eat his food. Ask your vet how long it will take to see a difference in him and maybe in a few days speak to your vet about scoping sooner. A tumour is pretty rare and you would be so unlucky to have it again so you need to try and force it to the back of your mind and concentrate on getting the antibiotics in. Good luck
 
Yeah i think i'll give them a ring on monday i don't think it will do me much good to hang on for three weeks.

He has garlic and water added but i can see him leaving a bit more each time, he's a fussy eater anyway but obviously with him losing condition the last thing i want is for him to stop eating. He wont have syringes either he's one of those horses
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Ok, mix it with icing sugar (this gets messy!!) then hollow out several carrots and push it in there. If you use small carrots that he can fit in his mouth whole then you have a good chance he will swallow most of it and the icing sugar should mask it. Be prepared to turn white though!! Or mix with lots of mollases, sugar beet, garlic and mint before his tea but depends if he goes yehaa on molassed.
 
haha thanks i'll try it. The things we do for horses
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You're right about the tumour thing too it's so unlikely to happen twice i've got to be a bit more positive. thanks
 
If he really gets suspicious of his food I find the simplest thing is to buy the biggest syringe (sp?) you can find. Mix the antibiotics in some water and just syringe it down like you would a wormer.

I would give the antibiotics a chance before taking additional action. Fingers crossed he will be fine
 
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