So Indy caught the bug that is going through the barn. Her case got a little more complicated because Cowboy is still nursing a little, plus I have an extremely difficult time dosing her with anything. She is not a small mini and she rears up and strikes you when shes afraid or angry. No excuses here, because I certainly need to work with her (in my spare time), but although I am strong for my size, I am still only 53 and weigh only 115 lbs. It really is not a fair match sometimes. This medicating problem with Indy started when she had to take the calcium supplement. I had to give her a very large tube, every day, for 10 days. That stuff is the nastiest tasting stuff you could imagine. It burned...and I only tasted a drop of it. She had to take huge tubes of it. So now she believes that all tubes of wormer or medication are going to burn her mouth. I will fix this problem with her- because she needs to stay on the worming schedule, plus horses sometimes need medications. The way this bug is- they run a fever and get blisters/sores in their mouths. It lasts about 3 days, with or without antibiotic- so we discontinued that and decided to just let it run its course. Cain got the most sick. That is because I did not know he was sick. It was a rare occasion where I was home for the day (passing a kidney stone). Cain laid out in the field all night with a high fever (104) and quickly became dehydrated. Dangerously dehydrated. I called the vet as soon as I saw how ill he was and he got IV fluids. He bounced back like a champ after his mouth wasnt so sore. The others that picked up the bug didnt do too badly and I kept a close watch on them. I dosed them when their fevers got over 102. They will eat after taking the bute. None of them needed the vet because I was able to give them bute to reduce the fever, but it also gave them pain relief- so they ate and drank ok. Indys case was different because I could not get any bute down her. I tried, trust me. She flipped herself over backwards and I hit the dirt, too. She did not eat at all, today being day #3. Yesterday, she passed a small amount of manure twice, so I knew she was picking at her hay some- but she has refused grain altogether, even when I made it into a soft, warm mash. Today, she produced no manure at all, the weight loss became very visible, but most alarming was that she did not produce any urine either. She had no gut sounds whatsoever. That is extremely concerning regarding horses because their intestinal track is designed to move continuously. 75 of intestine...and it needs to keep moving. The biggest concern here is a serious and dangerous colic. I kept checking for dehydration and this morning I could pinch her skin up and it stayed that way. Her gums had gotten very pale, too. So I called the vet. Indy was very dehydrated, I could get no medicine down her, she refused food and water for 3 days because of the fever and soreness in her mouth. And to boot...her colt is not weaned yet. This made her more sick than the others and she needed vet care. I am not concerned about her weight loss. It is no secret that most of our minis are overweight. But this is not how you want them to lose it. Indy became very weak today, lethargic. I was not going to wait another day to see if she would bounce back. We had everything we needed in the office to help her (ringers iv solution). But a vet needs to start the IV. Not only that, Indy needed to be sedated before we could even start to work on her. A quick shot to relax her...2 jugs of ringers...a big dose on banamine...and she improved greatly. I was very happy to see her pee right after she got the fluids. She ate a little grain this evening and was eating some hay when I left. I will go back shortly and check on her again, get her temperature, and count poop piles. I will update again later. s.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:42:31 +0000
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