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Discussion on Use of Metronidazole and Cimetidine in 7 Month Old Colt
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New Member:
Dlynn225
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Posted on Sunday, Feb 15, 2004 - 11:04 pm:
My 7 month old colt came to me about 6 weeks ago. We bought him from a breeder and he shipped here with his half sister at the end of December. They both had diarrhea but his did not clear up and his sisters did. I called my vet after 2 weeks of waiting on change of diet issues and the stress of transport. My vet had me try several different things. She finally came out last week to take a stool sample and she put him on metronidazole and cimetidine (tagament) 600 mg twice a day. I crush them all up in a paste and use a syringe. He is on a hay and water diet, no grain. She also has him on a daily wormer, strongid. I was reading an article on this site about Metronidazole Use in Horses and it says that cimetidine may decrease the metabolism of metronidazole and increase the likelihood of dose-related side effects occurring. He just seems more lethargic and depressed but his stool is tightening up. The watery diarrhea has slowed way down. I see no other side effects. Is there any reason for concern with these drugs being administered together? I've never had a colt before and I've been so worried about him. I have other adult horses and have never experienced anything like this. With our little one, Rastus, we've tried everything from probios to yogurt. He's continued to have a good appetite but his tummy is bloated, he's dulled eyed and just not the bushy tailed thing he should be. Of course not, he feels bad. He's not been dehydrated, no fever and he drinks plenty. Those things we are thankful for. If anyone has any suggestions about anything, I'd appreciate them. Thanks.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Feb 16, 2004 - 8:33 am:
Deborah there are no clinical studies to let us know how safe it is to use these drugs together, just the knowledge that this might be a problem. Best is to take the adverse effects list from the article and present them to your vet so he can assess the foal directly. The article speaks at length about undiagnosed diarrhea, review it and decide what your next best steop is but without a clear indication to treat anything and only 2 weeks of diarrhea, I am unsure you should not be just iving it time to improve or at most, treat it symptomatically. If you throw specific therapy at the wrong problem you can make it worse.
DrO
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Member:
Dlynn225
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Posted on Wednesday, Feb 18, 2004 - 6:00 pm:
I'm sorry, I didn't make myself clear. When he came here at the end of December, he had diarrhea. He came with his half sister and she also had it but hers cleared up. His never has. So it was actually over six weeks before the vet tried meds and did a culture. The vet didn't see him and start giving him meds until we tried waiting and other things like probios, yogurt, pellets, no pellets with hay diet only. Since I wrote last we've discovered another thing that we really hadn't before. Both Daphne and Rastus have very thick wooly winter coats and they really don't look thin. We felt of them around their rib cages and you can feel their ribs. They have both DrOpped weight since they've gotten here. Daphne doesn't have the diarrhea and she seems more energetic than Rastus. Poor Rastus doesn't act like a normal energetic little colt. The culture that our vet did came back negative for Salmonella. The meds that Rastus is taking have made a difference. His poop is more normal than it's ever been since he's been here. He still seems bloated to me and the poop is not always firm. There is actually form now and he's rear end has dried up. I'm not seeing the watery episodes anymore. I hope that one of these days I have a chipper little colt. I hate to see him this way. We have other horses and I've never experienced anything like this and not many other people that I know have.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Thursday, Feb 19, 2004 - 7:31 am:
Got it. Gastric ulcers are high on the list of possiblilities. One suggestion I would make is to switch off the cimetidine it is not very effective for ulcers in horses. See the article Equine Diseases » Colic and GI Diseases » Gastric Ulcers >> Gastric Ulcers in Foals for better suggestions.
DrO
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Member:
Dlynn225
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 10, 2004 - 12:57 am:
We finally found out what was wrong with Rastus. We took him to A&M University in Texas. 4 out of 5 Salmonella cultures came back positive and we found that out after he had come back home and started getting better. His feces are still not what I would call normal but they found nothing else wrong with him except an enlarged large colon which would have been caused by the salmonella. They did an ultrasound on his belly. The bad diarrhea and bloating stopped the day we got him to A&M...figures. He's been with his sister and a couple of other horses so we are culturing them all. We had all been around him for at least two months and took no precautions at all. I've never dealt with anything like this. He's finally acting like a normal colt (kicking up,running & playing), he's growing and finally looking healthy. They told us to culture until we get 5 negatives in a row. My first vet did only one culture for salmonella that came out negative. I wish she had done more than that but she didn't know and neither did I. I've learned a lot. I don't know where he got it except that he was transported from a breeder in PA. She says they've had no salmonella on her farm. Anyway, he came here with it. Yet another lesson to be learned. I guess we will have to wait and see if there will be any permanent damage to his colon. He had diarrhea for quite a while. If anyone else has had any experience with this, please advise. The mystery is solved and I remain hopeful and positive. 
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Member:
Dlynn225
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 10, 2004 - 1:07 am:
I also wanted to ask, specifically, if anyone had ever had a weanling that had a pretty bad case of salmonella without having permanent damage? Rastus is smaller than he should be right now and has abnormal feces, like cow patties most of the time.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Thursday, Apr 15, 2004 - 7:23 am:
Hello Deborah,
I think he is likely to recover completely as he has always had a appetite.
DrO
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