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  Discussion on Mystry illness
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Member:
Mlody

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 17, 2003 - 12:35 am:

I have a 2 1/2 year old gelding that was raised in a stall since he was weaned I recently had a fried by a nice ranch and she had some wonderful mini pastures that are weed free and seemed safe so I decided to turn this guy out until next year to let him finish his growing. Well he did not seem to make the adjustment very well he went through a stage where he was a little down but he was eating drinking and passing good manure. the secound week I went to go see him and he had one hind leg swollen and the others were normal he seemed quite but we have had a heat wave with temps over 100 so I thought it was heat related. The next day I took my supplies with me to do a better check and when I got there both hind legs are swollen from the hock down, Temp is 103, and has a cow pie manure with brown fluid that dribbles out from time to time. He seem a little gassy and uncomfortable he was started per my vets advice on 35 cc Pen, Banamine. Probiocin and bis-musol. I had given him 2 grams of bute and his temp went down to 101. but 12 hours later it was back to 103. He is depressed but still eating. My vet said to give it a couple days she thinks he has a virus and it just needs to run it's course she said she would be back out on Thursday to pull blood if there is no improvement. She told be to discontinue the bute because of the stomach upset. Does this sound like reasonable treatment to you? I feel like I should be doing more. I am worried about the temp, and the swelling does not seem to go down with wraps or exercise.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 17, 2003 - 6:00 am:

Without seeing the horse Melody, there is no way I can know if this is reasonable treatment. There are some inconsistancies: if it is a virus why the antibiotic? To address your 2 specific concerns: fevers are a common occurence in horses with self-limiting disease, it is the cause of the fever that determines whether you have a serious problem on not, for more on this see the article » Equine Diseases » Fever of Unknown Origin. Bilateral limb swelling is a common complication of many diseases including viruses, for more see » Equine Diseases » Skin Diseases » Diagnosing and Assessing Swellings in Horses.
DrO
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 17, 2003 - 7:40 am:

Limb swelling, esp. around the joints, diarrea, depression, stiffness, and if I remember right,also fever can be symptoms of poisoning fr. some plants. And, with some plants it doesn't take a lg. dose. These symptoms are esp. related to Hoary Alysium (sp.) which grows in much of the US. You might want to check the list of plants at such sites as Colorado State U and Minnasota State U. Both have comprehensive poison plant lists. If left untreated in some cases the horse will develope laminitis, neurological damage, or even death. Dr. O. probably knows if testing can determine if horse has eaten such things. I'd print out a list with pictures and walk the pasture to rule out poison.
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 17, 2003 - 7:47 am:

I haven't had my coffe yet ths a.m. (It's early yet here in UT) Just realized poisonous plants, inc. Hoary Allysium, are covered on this site. And...good morning!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Sep 18, 2003 - 8:52 am:

Hello Sara,
We did have an interesting report recently on Hoary Alysium but we can remove it from our list of possiblities on melody's problem because she states the pastures are weed free.
DrO
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Thursday, Sep 18, 2003 - 11:15 am:

RE: Hoary Alysium-are there lingering effects such a arthritis? We've had a cold snap & I notice this gelding seems to be moving very stiffly. To me it appears he doesn't want to bend his joints. As the day warms up and he moves around it seems to be better. I just noticed this yesterday.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Sep 19, 2003 - 6:50 am:

I have not seen that reported.
DrO
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