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Discussion on Mystery Illness
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Member:
rhondahi
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Posted on Saturday, Jan 5, 2008 - 8:28 pm:
I have a 10 year old mare that I have had nearly all her life. At 4 months her and her mother were sent to a pasture to stay until the owner could find a home. While they were there the mare became extremely emaciated due to no feed and a baby on her side. I took the filly and the mare went home with the owner and eventually had to be put down because they could not get her to come back up.
This filly seemed to be fine but after a while I became aware of a problem with her stomach. It seemed like when she got too much protein she would get a belly ache. I had her on alfalfa but when this problem started I took her off and put her on coastal. She has done really well but I have had to watch her, when she doesn't feel good, she will gag and stretch way out. She will find a small hill to put her front feet on and stretch her back legs way out. She has done this many times all throughout her life. She will also act like she is gagging, by opening her mouth really wide - looks a lot like yawning but she will chomp a little bit afterwards too. I have had her checked by 2 vets at 2 different times in her life - no one ever found anything that they could diagnose. I have always felt that there was a coalition with the health of her momma at the time she was nursing. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? She never really colics so far as rolling or anything but I know its painful, I can see it in her eyes. We are going to another vet Monday to see if he can find anything. I just thought I would check here to see if anyone had any experiance like this before. I love her so much and she looks like she feels bad right now and I am worried, this time seems different. If anyone has any info I would greatly appreciate it. 
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Member:
rhondahi
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Posted on Saturday, Jan 5, 2008 - 8:32 pm:
The Picture is of her when she feels REALY GOOD!
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Sunday, Jan 6, 2008 - 6:13 am:
Hi Rhonda, it almost sounds as if your mare is choking. I have 2 that are prone to it and that is kind of how they act. 1 even chokes on long grass if I don't have his teeth floated every year. I also soak their " hard feed" Have you had her teeth checked?
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, Jan 6, 2008 - 8:41 am:
Hello Rhondda,
The parking out is a consistent symptom of colic seen in foals and adults. Can you tell us what diagnostics were done by the veterinarian? Did they scope the foal? This would be an important step to rule in or out probable diseases like gastric ulceration and complications of chronic ulceration. For more on this see, Diseases of Horses » Colic, Diarrhea, GI Tract » Gastric Ulcers » Gastric Ulcers in Foals.
Two complications of gastric ulceration in foals can be esophageal ulceration and pyloric hypertrophy. The gagging is consistent with esophageal ulceration. But I cannot rule out Diane's suggestion of swallowing difficulties and/or esophageal obstruction.
Note that protein does not cause upset stomachs in any traditional sense it actually helps buffer acid and raise gastric ph. If I had to guess at a reason for the problems on alfalfa is it's increased palatability and so was consumed quicker.
DrO
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Member:
rhondahi
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Posted on Sunday, Jan 6, 2008 - 11:12 am:
Yes I have had her teeth floated and as far as the vets diagnostics, they couldn't see her doing it so they just guessed. I will have her tubed when I go to the Monday appt. Its so weird cuz all her life its just been an on and off thing. She is fine for long periods and then all of sudden you'll see her out there standing on a hill all stretched out and sometimes its just the gagging thing and sometimes its just the stretching thing and then sometimes its both. But I thank you both for your input and I will definately keep it in mind while I am listenting to my vets diagnosis. I will also let you know what the outcome is, thanks again.
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Member:
rhondahi
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Posted on Sunday, Jan 13, 2008 - 9:21 pm:
Sorry it took me so long to get back to you all. I did not have her tubed at the vet and the reason is, I found out that the feed my husband had been giving her was a sweet feed. I immediatly changed her to a 12% pellet and she is much much better. I still cannot figure out why she gets sick when she gets rich food, hay or feed. I guess she just has a week stomach. Of course once again, by the time I got her to the vet there were no more symptoms, he just gave me some alternative ideas to put a little weight on her. He said all her vitals were good. I just have to watch my husband now and make sure he doesn't change anything without talking to me first.
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Member:
paul303
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Posted on Monday, Jan 14, 2008 - 12:43 am:
It's good to hear your favorable outcome!
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Member:
frances
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Posted on Monday, Jan 14, 2008 - 3:50 am:
Great! It's so good when you find the cause of a problem and it's something really easy to fix. Keep an eagle eye on that husband!
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