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Discussion on Botulism
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New Member:
catnip
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Posted on Wednesday, Mar 28, 2007 - 1:26 am:
Dear All, my pony became ill with some strange symptoms about 6 weeks ago. At first I thought it was colic as he was depressed and just 'not right'. But he appeared to be hungry and not suffering colicy pain but when offered food seemed unable to eat. I thought for a while there might have been a splinter or similar stuck in his mouth but not so. Shortly afterward he displayed muscle tremors and weakness in his hind legs. I had already contacted my vet, who was several hours away, and he suggested maybe snakebite. We started treatment with large doses of vitamin C and B complex which resulted in immediate improvement of the tremors. However the snake bite theory didn't seem right to me as I had discovered the pony ill in his box in the morning (he was fine the night before), where it was very unlikely he would have been bitten by a snake. The Vet finally arrived but was unable to make a definate diagnosis (please be aware we live in the middle of no-where without access to lab facilities). He did suggest it may be botulism, I had accidently give the pony some mouldy hay which he had partly eaten before I realised, but couldn't be sure. We continued the Vitamin treatment, which was the only treatment we had, for the next 10 days. Gradually the pony improved till now 6 weeks later he is completely fine but we still don't know what caused the symptoms. Do you think it could of been botulism?
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Wednesday, Mar 28, 2007 - 8:42 am:
Welcome catnip,
Was the hay simply moldy or did it look rotted? Muscle tremors, weakness, dysphagia, following the feeding of rotten material makes botulism a possible explanation for others see, Diseases of Horses » Nervous System » Incoordination, Weakness, Spasticity, Tremors » Diagnosing Incoordination, Ataxia and Weakness.
For more on the evils of moldy hay see Horse Care » Equine Nutrition, Horse Feeds, Feeding » Moldy Hay, Heaves, and Horses.
DrO
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