Better information makes for healthier horses,
Horseadvice.com is where equine science and horse sense intersect.

Discussion on Neurological problems

Use the navigation bar above to access articles and more discussions on this topic.
Author Message
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

nori shaw
New Member
Username: nori

Post Number: 1
Registered: 7-2009
Posted on Wednesday, Jul 15, 2009 - 11:24 pm:   Edit PostPrint Post
I am new to this site. Any feedback to my situation would be very welcome. My horse started having some problems the day after he was vaccinated. He has never had any reactions to vaccinations before. I have two vet opinions. One is that he has epm and the other is that he had a severe reaction to the shots. I know the symptoms are similar.
The day after shots, he developed what was diagnosed as cellulitis.It was treated and looked like it was clearing but a week later he began "crab-walking" and stumbling around, looking very neurological. He was treated with dex for 3 days and started looking better but seemed to plateau. His left hind swelled and has remained swollen. He leans on the wall and sticks his left leg out to the side (like an epm stance) but epm is not that common in this area. He is now on EPM meds and has shown slight improvement. He does not seem to be in great pain. Has anyone heard of such a severe reaction from shots? It has been 2 1/2 months of struggling to find answers and wondering if he will heal. The problem is it seems that the treatment for shot reaction vs the treatment for epm are diametrically opposed. I cannot get a spinal tap for epm. His epm titer was positive 1:16 which I understand is not really high. I am planning on continuing the epm treatment but if it is a reaction to the shots and he should be on steroids, am I risking long term damage by not doing something now or is it already too late to treat this reaction?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: dro

Post Number: 23415
Registered: 1-1997
Posted on Thursday, Jul 16, 2009 - 7:37 am:   Edit PostPrint Post
Welcome nori,
Let me start by correcting two ideas you present above:
1) Vaccine reactions do not look like EPM.
2) There is no typical "EPM stance". All neurological diseases that effect the spinal cord will produce the same symptoms.

So let's back up a bit and fill in some holes:
1) What vaccines were give?
2) Where were the vaccines given?
2) Were any other procedures done?
3) What were the symptoms of the cellulitis?
4) What does crab walking mean?
5) Under what circumstances and which legs does your horse stumble on?
DrO
Post a Message to this Discussion
Posting
Instructions: 		Full Service Members may post to this discussion and should address the orignial poster's concerns or other information posted here. New questions about your horse should be started in a new discussion. Use the navigation bar at the top of this page to return to the parent article and review the article and existing discussions. If your question remains unanswered "Start a New Discussion", the link is under the list of discussions at the bottom of the article.
Post:
Bold text Italics Underline Create a hyperlink Insert a clipart image

Username:
Password:
Options: Enable HTML code in message
Automatically activate URLs in message
Action:
Home Page | Todays Discussions | Search | Top of Page Administration
  http://www.horseadvice.com
is The Horseman's Advisor
Helping Thousands of Equestrians, Farriers, and Veterinarians Every Day
All rights reserved, © 2009 		BBB Reliability Seal