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 Crazy Doggy Mommy
Posts: 1419
 
Location: Where Governor's make the liscense plates | Just went down and found my horse has either smacked his head or got kicked between the ear and eye so he's swollen and now has either a bruised nerve or just damage in general from the injury- he's eating very sloppy and cant keep his right lower lip tight to keep grain in his mouth. The vet came out and gave banamine and said bute twice a day. and follow up with him in a few days---- He said that the nerve can regenerate but may take a while.... Anyone deal with something similar before????
Edited by FirstFirewater 2015-10-26 8:03 PM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1118
Location: The South | I don't have any experience with that but maybe check with SG about the PHT fly mask? It's the only thing I can think of off the top of my head. I hope your horse gets better soon  |
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 Coyote Country Queen
Posts: 5666
  
| We had a donkey with facial nerve damage. He came to us like that, so I don't know what happened to him. That side of his face was partially paralyzed. We kept a fly mask on him when the flies were out because he didn't blink that eye very well, his mouth was kind of curved up and didn't move, and his ear had limited movement. |
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Crazy Doggy Mommy
Posts: 1419
Location: Where Governor's make the liscense plates | It's only his right nostril and upper and lower lip including the right side of his tongue. His eye is blinking and reacting. So maybe the magnets will help stimulate some nerve growth? |
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 Expert
Posts: 2258
| We had a mare that had pretty bad nerve damage on her face. She had an ear that flopped, her lip twisted and tongue hung out. I kept a magnet on her halter at that time we didn't have any fancy products to use but had a friend who dealt in them for people so we taped one on . It helped a bunch and hers was old damage by the time we tried it so the quicker you start the better I would think. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| FirstFirewater - 2015-10-25 6:43 PM
It's only his right nostril and upper and lower lip including the right side of his tongue. His eye is blinking and reacting. So maybe the magnets will help stimulate some nerve growth?
I would be asking the vet about a steroid to reduce the inflammation. I would think the bigs guns would be in order, instead of a NSAID |
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Crazy Doggy Mommy
Posts: 1419
Location: Where Governor's make the liscense plates | cheryl makofka - 2015-10-25 8:07 PM FirstFirewater - 2015-10-25 6:43 PM It's only his right nostril and upper and lower lip including the right side of his tongue. His eye is blinking and reacting. So maybe the magnets will help stimulate some nerve growth? I would be asking the vet about a steroid to reduce the inflammation. I would think the bigs guns would be in order, instead of a NSAID
Steroid injections? I was wondering if I put him on the theraplate too if it would help to stimulate healing? Unfortunately the vet I had out is more old school and I typically use his daughter who had the day off. Cheryl you have such great knowledge so I'll be running this by my normal vet tomorrow |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| FirstFirewater - 2015-10-25 8:22 PM
cheryl makofka - 2015-10-25 8:07 PM FirstFirewater - 2015-10-25 6:43 PM It's only his right nostril and upper and lower lip including the right side of his tongue. His eye is blinking and reacting. So maybe the magnets will help stimulate some nerve growth? I would be asking the vet about a steroid to reduce the inflammation. I would think the bigs guns would be in order, instead of a NSAID
Lol the knowledge comes from experience,lol and this is one I know little of, thankfully, but my dog had trauma to his eye, the vets put him on oral prednisone to prevent swelling of the optic nerve.
I also know for spinal injuries in people steroids are used as a first line drug to prevent swelling.
So I am making the jump
I have also learned with dogs, if you give them a NSAID first you cannot give them a steroid for 2 weeks, so when you speak to your vet, ask if horses are the same. |
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Expert
Posts: 2685
| my filly got her head stuck last year and paralyzed her mouth (lips only- tongue worked). I spoon and syringe fed her soup feed and alfalfa and beet pulp 4 times a day for 4-5 days until she could lop it up herself. I gave her dex and banamine IV per the vet everyday for 3 days and half dose banamine IV morning and night for the following 4 days. It just took time but she came out of it 100% |
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Expert
Posts: 3147
| I had a mare that had a slight facial paralysis. If you really looked her upper lip was slightly drooped on one side. Occasionally she would get short pieces of grass stuck in that side of her mouth and i would have to clean it out. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 231
| This happened to one of my horses, he looked like he had a stroke. He could blink his inner eye lid but not his outer, after about 7-8 months he regained his nerves in his eye lid and for the most part in his lips and nose. You can still tell if you look closely that his lip droops on that side a little bit. I used magnets on him and I don't know if it helped or not but it made me feel like I was doing something. The vet told me once the swelling from the initial injury went down if he didn't regain function of the nerves fairly soon after he had a 50/50 chance of ever reversing that nerve damage, it took so long to notice any improvement I had given up all hope and when he finally did I bawled my eyes out the first time I saw him blink. With all that being said it never affected his performance, we actually had some of our best runs that year. |
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Industrial Srength Barrel Racer
Posts: 7268
| One of my friends' horses had this all of the sudden and tested postive for EPM. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1096
| This happened to my daughters horse a year ago. It looked like he had a stroke. After a head x-ray we were able to see a teeny tiny bone chip that had broken loose near the inner part of the skull near his ear. It was causing nerve pressure/damage.
We gave him anti inflammatory meds. Blanketed him and I put on a PHT hood/slinky and poll pack. We also used Vitamin E. The human kind. I would pop the inside so the juice would go on the feed. Kept this up for a month and he has made a full recovery. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 669
Location: Central Texas | We had a mare that got her head caught in the gate at the trainers. She had facial paralysis all along the side of her face, lip hung way down, she could still blink and move her eye. By the time we picked her up from the trainers to take her to the vet, there was no swelling, only the paralysis. She could eat and drink, although she had a little difficulty doing it, it was a sloppy mess and she actually tilted her head to the normal side to eat. She drooled as well. We left her alone and in about 5 months she was perfectly fine with no lasting damage. Our vet told us most times, given time, the nerve will regenerate. |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | right side of tongue is more than facial nerve. Facial nerve explains the lips. Is the right side of his tongue shrunken yet... that can take 7-10 days. |
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You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | TENS units are said to be helpful too. may want to try that. |
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 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| Happened to a friend's horse. Eye and down on one side of her face didnt work. She used a feed bag which helped her and time, she healed up just fine and you would never know now looking at her. |
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Regular
Posts: 50
| Yes! I had a barrel horse who got his head stuck in a round bale feeder and by the time we got him out he had completely detached the nerve in the right side of his face. It didn't affect him a huge amount. His right side drooped and had no feeling, the vet had also told us it may come back and regenerate or it may not. It took about 2 years, but it eventually did, his face turned up really funny one day and then he was normal after that. i didn't do much with him until it was completely healed, mostly just ranch riding, and I goat tied off of him. Then after he was better I continued to run him on barrels. |
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Regular
Posts: 85
| My horse did this about a month ago. What worked for him is putting rocks that are to big to eat inside his food bucket which messages the nerves while is eating around the rocks. This was told to me by a vet. The other thing we did for him is acupuncture on his face and then hook the needles up to a tense unit(that is the human name for it but they use a different name for it) Three treatments late he has full use of his face and no more paralysis! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 610
Location: MN | I have had a couple. One from a accident which we treatedwith DMSO tubed and lots of Dex. etc...the other was more recent she was good one morning then the next bad...flopping left ear, left eye would not blink, left side of her face drooped, and could not swallow. she had EPM..we treated her with double dose marquis for one tube then followed whit 4 tubes . shes almost 100% well . her lower lip still droops but not with a buit in her mouth |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 851
Location: West Texas | I have had 3 do this as well. Various reasons. All recovered. We would message the face. there is a nerve that runs down right where a halter would go. In fact the first time it happened was to a horse that the vet left the halter on in surgery and that pinched the nerve. Takes a couple of weeks for sure, and then maybe longer for it to really go away. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 683
Location: Ohio | I had a colt gelded this spring that had the circulation cut off to his facial nerves by the halter (even though his head was padded when he was laying down). Droopy lip, nostril and eye (could still fully blink) and some loss of tongue movement... even the skin was cool feeling on that side. Very slow healing but he has gained control of his lip and tongue even though it is still slightly droopy. I was told it is a very slow healing process and can take up to a year for everything to tighten back up (if it ever fully heals). I did a lot of massaging to the area and ordered magnets for his halter. I never thought about it at the time but my equine chiro has done some amazing things with laser therapy and I wonder if that could have helped speed up the healing process?
Edited by GrittyCowgirl 2015-10-26 5:43 PM
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Crazy Doggy Mommy
Posts: 1419
Location: Where Governor's make the liscense plates | Oh thank you all for the responses! I am glad to read they have all recovered whether it be time or medication in addition to time. I took my guy to a different vet tonight for a second opinion. It's only his nostril and lips on right side so she said he's lucky his eye and ears aren't involved. She gave dex and Iv dmso/fluids. Said we should hopefully see improvements in 12-24hrs otherwise we will continue with dex and hope it helps. Im going to have to contact a separate vet for acupuncture now....
ETA--- vet said his tongue was not numb or should I say less strong? She said it felt normal and seemed to be functioning well
Edited by FirstFirewater 2015-10-26 8:08 PM
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You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | FirstFirewater - 2015-10-26 8:02 PM
Oh thank you all for the responses! I am glad to read they have all recovered whether it be time or medication in addition to time. I took my guy to a different vet tonight for a second opinion. It's only his nostril and lips on right side so she said he's lucky his eye and ears aren't involved. She gave dex and Iv dmso/fluids. Said we should hopefully see improvements in 12-24hrs otherwise we will continue with dex and hope it helps. Im going to have to contact a separate vet for acupuncture now....
ETA--- vet said his tongue was not numb or should I say less strong? She said it felt normal and seemed to be functioning well
yes, we feel for "plumpness" of the tongue, and strength. When you grab the tongue, a normal horse with normal function has a strong enough tongue to try and pull out of your hand grip. A tongue with nerve damage looks like it deflates and is all wrinkled on the side that's damaged and they don't have the strength to pull away. |
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Member
Posts: 33
| check into microcurrent (similar to TENS previously mentioned). stimulation to cells to facilitate regeneration/ healing & reduce inflammation. awesome alternative therapy, I think it would be worth researching. |
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Crazy Doggy Mommy
Posts: 1419
Location: Where Governor's make the liscense plates | acee06 - 2015-10-28 12:23 AM
check into microcurrent (similar to TENS previously mentioned). stimulation to cells to facilitate regeneration/ healing & reduce inflammation. awesome alternative therapy, I think it would be worth researching.
I called a vet who should be in my area on Friday. I think she's going to come out and do some type of acupuncture. |
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Facial Nerve damage in horses ****Update pg2