To be clear, Im not looking for veterinary advice online. My horse, Mouse, has something wrong with him and it stumped 2 experienced vets (neither had seen a case exactly like it). Im hopeful that someone on this forum has seen this and can tell me what it is (although it appears Mouse will recover it will bother me to no end to never know what it was). Hes 9 years old, very healthy, fit, and has a diet of top-notch 2nd-cut Timothy (cant get better Timothy), LMF Super Supplement. mineral supplement and daily pasture turnout. Hes up-to-date on dental and is vaccinated for rabies and tetanus. He had a recent fecal and has no parasites. On the night of the 9th he was perfectly normal. On the morning of the 10th I walked into the barn to find huge puddles of saliva all over Mouses area. There was zero discharge from his nose - it was all mouth and the saliva was perfectly clear (no blood, green, etc). The quantity was shocking - maybe 8+ puddles the size of large dinner plates. When I tried to look in his mouth it came out in long, foot-long tendrils. He was sort of dead-in-the-eyes, feet planted widely, clearly not feeling well. I gave him a little hay to see if he could or would eat so I could let the vet know. He barely picked at it. I discovered my vet was out of town so called another place. They said to take his hay away. They came out and found he didnt have a temperature, respiration was slightly elevated (could have been due to stress). Normal heart and gut sounds. They sedated him and did a very thorough inspection of his mouth and throat for splinters, abscesses, etc. They filed off a few sharp edges which were nowhere near serious enough to cause issues. They put a tube up his nose and all the way into the stomach to make sure there was no blockage. They pumped him full of an electrolyte liquid because of all the fluid he had lost via the saliva. They noted he seemed a little tender in the throat latch area but his jaw and all the associated moving parts / joints were fine. They put him on pain meds and said we should watch him for a few days and if he didnt improve, they would put a scope (camera) down his throat. Strangles (this is actually going around now), rabies, flu, cold were ruled out. They told me to soak his hay and give him Bute for the next 2 days. On the 11th he looked much better (just a few small puddles of saliva) and had enough energy (50% of normal) that I turned him out in the pasture. On the morning of the 12th he was back to as bad as he had been on the 10th - clearly very sick and huge quantities of saliva. My normal vet was now back in town. I had him out and he reviewed everything the other vet had done and said. He also thought the throat latch area was tender - maybe lymph nodes, not the thyroid. He recommended 4 days of strong antibiotics (even though Mouse still did not have a temperature) and to re-evaluate on Tuesday the 16th. If it has not resolved by then he recommended perhaps an ulcer treatment and some x-rays (there are tons of bones in the horses head). He didnt mention scoping like the first vet had. My experience with antibiotics (dogs, horses, cats, people) is that when theres an infection, they have an almost instant positive effect (you dont have to wait for days to see a difference). So when there were still puddles (not as bad as the 10th and 12th) of saliva 3 days into the antibiotics (15th) I was disheartened. Throughout this ordeal he had very little appetite (or maybe he had an appetite but it hurt to eat) and was getting half his normal calories. Also on the 15th my boarder had her farrier out and the farrier said he would eliminate roughage and put Mouse on a mash diet (soaked beet pulp and timothy pellets) so I did that. On the 4th day of antibiotics (Tuesday the 16th) rolled around there was finally no saliva. I watched him carefully yesterday (Weds) and still no saliva but definitely not bright-eyed and not feeling 100%. Now its Thursday and he actually galloped in the pasture and bucked a little, and no saliva puddles, so I feel he is going in the right direction and Im going to hold off on x-rays and scoping unless he starts going downhill again. He is still on a mash and I introduced a little soaked (very soaked) hay this morning. His appetite is definitely back. I dont feel I can credit the antibiotics because it seems it took too long to see an improvement from them. If he goes downhill again I will get the x-rays / scoping / ulcer treatment going right away and maybe finally find out what it is but if he continues to improve then Ill never know, which bothers me. So Im wondering if this scenario sounds familiar to anyone and if you figured out what it was. Thank you!
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 19:55:51 +0000
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