Annie was down outside on Monday when I came out to clean stalls and then down again when I looked out, I brought her in since laying down to roll once is normal, twice not so much, and she lay down again immediately. Sometimes horses get gassy and it goes away quickly without the need for a vet so we left her in the arena and put her on the watch list.
Tuesday morning she didn't feel any better so the vet came out and found her with poor gut sounds, lots of gass on her tummy, and more alarmingly a fever. She got oiled, a rectal exam, banamine, blood pulled for tests, and Cathy kept a close eye on her overnight. The vet came out again on Wednesday morning as Annie wasn't any better with a scary temporary diagnosis of Potomac Horse Fever, a very scary illness. It runs a high fever, diarrhea, and can lead to laminitis and founder if it isn't caught fast. Without waiting for blood results Annie got hit with some powerful antibiotics via IV.
Luckily she came back negative for Potomac Horse Fever but blood results showed some sort of bacterial infection since we hadn't waited for a diagnosis she was already on antibiotics.
Friday was her last IV dose of antibiotics and her fever has stayed down without any banamine but we're still having trouble getting her to eat like normal. She's eating bits here and there but not nearly enough to make us happy.
This all means that instead of packing up for our horse trial this weekend I've been coaxing Annie to eat by hand feeding her and fussing over her. I've filled in the time by riding Penny and working with baby Al but it isn't the same as galloping XC on a good horse.
Poor baby. I wonder where she picked up the infection?
ReplyDeleteI hope that she's not down too long.