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  Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
   
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | Friday night, my horse presented with what appeared to be colic - not drinking, not eating, and laying down a lot but not rolling and no distress. Just uncomfortable.
We called the vet Sat morning and he came and tubed him and a little while later he was eating and drinking. Then a few hours later, he spiked a temp of 106.2 and was distressed but no rolling.
The vet came back out and did IV, antibiotics and within 24 hours he was normal and has been since.
This horse had a similar episode within a couple of months of each other back 6 years ago but his temp only went to 104.5. Hadn't made any changes and it was winter, hadn't been hauled.
This time the only change was that he had been out on a new pasture for about 4 days at night. We had given the pasture a break to grow back and we didn't have any trouble last year. He had an abscess blow out about 6 weeks ago and it's grown out.
Any idea what could cause something like this?
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 Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | What feed is he on? |
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Expert
Posts: 1611
| I'd get blood pulled on him ASAP only because of the cases of EAI from West TN that just happened.
edited to add: the infected horses were supposedly at UT and I just don't trust them to keep sterile procedures. They don't need to go anywhere. Equine infectious anemia virus is transmitted by any biting insect.
Edited by astreakinchic 2015-05-06 12:34 PM
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Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | rachellyn80 - 2015-05-06 11:57 AM What feed is he on?
He was on Strategy original. All the others are on the same feed, same bag without issues.
We're having coggins pulled next week, but this horse hasn't been anywhere since last fall. |
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Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | Fairweather - 2015-05-06 12:24 PM rachellyn80 - 2015-05-06 11:57 AM What feed is he on? He was on Strategy original. All the others are on the same feed, same bag without issues.
We're having coggins pulled next week, but this horse hasn't been anywhere since last fall.
You can't rely on the fact that only one horse got sick when considering feed as the possible source of the problem. Some horses are much more sensitive to some substances than others. I'll never have another horse get sick like this that I don't test the feed. Come to find out all of my random issues where only one horse got sick at a time were all tied to my feed over the course of a few years. |
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Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | rachellyn80 - 2015-05-06 12:32 PM Fairweather - 2015-05-06 12:24 PM rachellyn80 - 2015-05-06 11:57 AM What feed is he on? He was on Strategy original. All the others are on the same feed, same bag without issues.
We're having coggins pulled next week, but this horse hasn't been anywhere since last fall.
Would sensitivity to feed cause that high of a fever? |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 317
Location: MS | I had this happen to one a few years ago.
Never determined what caused it. Took a week to get him over it.
Mine never laid down. Labs were normal. We checked them twice. He'd stretch out like he wanted to pee and rock
back and forth.
I think it was renal colic. The vet wanted to call it a regular colic.
A fever that high is so scary. Mine happened in the middle of summer. It was a job keeping him cool.
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Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | 1paintedjewel - 2015-05-06 12:43 PM I had this happen to one a few years ago.
Never determined what caused it. Took a week to get him over it.
Mine never laid down. Labs were normal. We checked them twice. He'd stretch out like he wanted to pee and rock
back and forth.
I think it was renal colic. The vet wanted to call it a regular colic.
A fever that high is so scary. Mine happened in the middle of summer. It was a job keeping him cool.
Interesting....
When he would stand he would stretch out for periods of time. Didn't seem like he had trouble with peeing, but he took his time and it seemed more foamy. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 317
Location: MS | I guess it could have been a kidney infection. Just strange that his labs were normal.
Even after the fever stopped he wasn't himself.
We ended up having a couple acupuncture treatments and he was back to normal.
The vet that did the acupuncture felt like it was a kidney issue too. She based that on
how he reacted to certain acupuncture points. He had swollen spots on the inside of his right leg.
After acupuncture they were gone. They were kidney points. |
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Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | Fairweather - 2015-05-06 12:37 PM rachellyn80 - 2015-05-06 12:32 PM Fairweather - 2015-05-06 12:24 PM rachellyn80 - 2015-05-06 11:57 AM What feed is he on? He was on Strategy original. All the others are on the same feed, same bag without issues.
We're having coggins pulled next week, but this horse hasn't been anywhere since last fall.
Sensitivity to something in the feed can cause all kinds of issues. I had one that ended up with peritonitis that showed no bacteria in his peritoneal fluid. It looked like an extreme immunoallergic reaction and started out with colic symptoms. It's a huge long story, but with this particular issue was saw everything from bellyaches where they walked away from their feed and laid down, to ulcer symptoms, to full blown colic. One spiked a fever and quit eating for three days, he even quit cribbing...then started feeling better.
If you're having to add a supplements to your feed, it's more economical and nutritionally balanced to pay a little more for a feed that doesn't need supplementation. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Had a yearling do a similar thing, his turned out to be a bladder/kidney infection caused by a sebaceous cyst causing him pain when he dropped to urinate. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1094
Location: Idahome | In my experience, horses that show a lot of colic signs, but have gut sounds and lay down without rolling are having kidney issues. This would be the first place I would look. |
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Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | All good food.for thought. Thank you guys! |
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