7 week old foal, lame behind

[somanyhorses]

Hi there, I have just signed up to this forum as whenever I google for information I always come across fantastic, informative threads here. What a wonderful community this appears to be! I am really hoping you can help me by sharing some of your experiences.

I have a lovely 7 week old colt that has been travelling fairly well until this last week. He did have some minor diarrhoea (not quite scours) at the usual time, ie around the mare’s foal heat cycle, other than that no problems. 5 days ago I noticed him sleeping more than often (he is out in a large paddock with two other mares and foals), and that his mother was often grazing further away than usual, however I stupidly did not think to take his temperature, even when he only walked over for his dinner, in fairness to myself his mother only walked (usually they take dinner time to mean play time and all 3 mares and foals have a good run and back), but she is a wise old lady of 18 and this is her 8th foal, so she was probably just looking after him and I didn’t pick up on that. 2 days after I first noticed him being a little “different” he was obviously unwell - lame behind when I went to feed them breakfast, and slightly depressed. No signs of trauma so I immediately assumed infection, particularly in light of the last few days’ behaviour. The vet came out 6 hours later (I live in a remote area) and by then he had a roaring temperature and was going down hill. The vet started administering ABs and that evening I was able to transport him in to the vet hospital.

The following morning his temperature had come down to a normal range, the colt is much brighter, and scans did not show any indication that the infection had settled in any joints from the stifle downwards, ie we do not seem to be working with a standard case of joint ill, however the white blood cell count is very high and the foal is still resting his off hind. He can bear weight on it, but generally chooses not to, and struggles to get up. He does not have swelling or heat in his joints. We were tentatively pleased with his progress yesterday, and pleasingly he has not lost his desire to eat or drink at any point. However, today my vet has expressed some concern that progress seems to have stalled. I share his concerns, and frustration at the lack of a specific diagnosis. Last night his temperature was up again, this morning it was down, and now at lunch time it was up again. He is on various antibiotics - sorry, I do not know their names, I know one is penicillin. He is also on ulcer medication due to the ABs.

My vet’s plan is as follows: continue on the same track until tomorrow morning (please note I am in the Southern Hemisphere so a different time zone!), then take bloods again to see how white blood cells are looking after 3 days on antibiotics. If he is still unchanged, on Friday he will go under general anaesthetic so he can xray the spine, hips and pelvis.

My vet said while he is not in the typical age range for joint ill, he is at an age where they will sometimes develop infection in the growth plates. At this point he has not taken any joint fluid samples as he did not see any point when he looked at the radiographs.

I am sending myself crazy googling, and I cannot find many stories of foals around the same age as mine presenting with these symptoms - most infections appear to be with younger foals and the infection in specific joints is quickly diagnosed and treated. I keep reading that aggressive, targeted treatment is necessary and that ABs alone will not suffice. It worries me that we have not found anything specific to target and treat. THis is such a special foal and I am prepared to do whatever I can financially to help him pull through. My vet is, in my opinion, the best in my area for these issues, and I don’t have a large selection to choose from due to living remotely so I have to stick with him and trust his plans. I guess I have come on here to hopefully hear some positive stories and some advice. My vet is a typical vet - happy to discuss things with clients and hear their ideas and suggestions, but not likely to appreciate being told to try something different! I am telling myself that maybe, just maybe, he has an infection that has not settled anywhere but has sort of manifested in a lame horse (am I dreaming?) and that in a few days the ABs will kick in - after all, when humans take antibiotics a few courses can be required before the situation is fixed. I am realistic that this is potentially life threatening, and/or the prognosis for future soundness and well being is poor and we will need to make some tough decisions. I hope to hear from any of you that can share some stories or ideas. Thank you in advance.

[pcwertb]

I haven’t experienced anything quite like this, but in the northern hemisphere they can get rhodococcus (which I probably spelled wrong). Usually they are 3-6 months, lethargy off feed and high fever and they can be very stiff. They develop coughing due to pneumonia in the lungs. It is treated with heavy antibiotics, no exposure to sun (they can cook themselves) and usually I understand they need to be weaned from their mom at this time. (It’s not something I have a ton of experience with, but I think the mom can’t be exposed to the antibiotics or the foals waste once medicated? Someone with more experience with this issue might weigh in to provide additional information.

[Highflyer]

I’ve never seen rhodococcus not present with upper respiratory symptoms, or have lameness as a symptom. The cases I’ve seen started off as a snotty nose/ cough that just did not clear up.

OP, was your foal’s IgG normal? Afaik it’s pretty rare to see joint ill in a foal that had normal IgG (or is older than a month), and while you can see it in older horses I believe it’s usually secondary to a puncture. I’ve only seen one actual case of joint ill and the foal had gone untreated for several weeks and had an obviously swollen fetlock-- she ended up having surgery and after an extensive layup did come sound and went on to race. We also had a week old foal with a swollen fetlock a couple of years ago and our vet immediately referred her to the vet hospital suspecting joint ill but when they shaved the area prior to flushing the joint they found a tiny puncture and it resolved with just IV antibiotics…

[pcwertb]

My one and only case presented as a high fever and walking ‘stiff-legged’. I thought he had contracted EPM, he was “unstable” behind. Lethargic, temp was 104. Apparently those symptoms can precede the respiratory issues, mine went on antibiotics right away and never had obvious respiratory symptoms. We did do a tracheal wash to confirm the presence of the rhodococcus…My vet was as surprised as I was. I only have a few foals, typically not every year, with plenty of grass pastures. He was used to seeing it where there were lots of mares and foals in close proximity and who were on dry lots.

[somanyhorses]

Thanks for commenting! Over here rhodococcus is commonly referred to as “rattles”. My vet does not think this is a possibility, as he has no cough or nasal discharge, and he is not in an over crowded environment (30 acre paddock with 2 other mares/foals). However it is something to keep in mind until we get a definite picture of what we are working with.

Not much has changed this morning, his temperature is 39 (that’s 102.2), so still high but not as high as it’s been. He continues to rest that hind leg and struggle a bit getting up and down, but he is eating and drinking. The vet is taking bloods soon.

Very unfortunately no igg levels were taken at birth, I wish they were and do regret this enormously. Due to living quite far from the vets he does not inspect/test our foals (we breed a few each year) unless there were difficulties or abnormalities with the birth or events around it, in this case there weren’t. I can’t help thinking that we may not be in this situation if bloods were taken as a newborn and feel awful that this may have been prevented. Vet says current protein levels at present are quite normal but there are of course other igGs that could be problematic.

[Manni01]

my advice would be to load him up and get him to the next vet hospital… Foals at that age are not lame unless it is something really serious… I had a colt some years ago who was lame at that age and I waited some days what would happen… It did not improve because it was a bacterial infection of the joints. I finally got him to the vet who put him on Antibiotics. He survived and grew up well, but the longer you wait the riskier it will become.

[somanyhorses]

The foal (and his mum) have been at the vet hospital since Monday and are in 24 hour care. Thank you for responding, and great to hear that your foal survived and grew well, hopefully my little guy is as fortunate. We seem to have caught it reasonably early, hopefully early enough.

[PeteyPie]

I have no advice, but please keep us posted. I am wishing your foal good health and you good luck!

[Doctracy]

I’m just wishing your little guy well.

[KIloBright]

I have had experience with joint ill, and what you describe, scans aside, make me think that is what you are dealing with
IM antibiotics are often not enough to clear up joint ill-the joint has to be flushed. Since he is lame on that joint, until ,proven otherwise, along with his temp spikes and falls, it sounds like classic joint ill to me
In my case, there was residual infection along the umbilical vein on one side, that required abdominal surgery to be cleared up, as my foal was on antibiotics for a month, with the temp being normal some days, and then up again.
I wish I had consulted my second vet in the beginning, because while we did save him, permanent damage was done to two joints

[EventerAJ]

Several years ago a TB farm I used to manage had a foal severely lame on one hock. I was spending most of my time at another farm so I wasn’t part of his full treatment plan, but I did help administer antibiotics occasionally and held him once for the vet. I don’t think the vet ever fully diagnosed the source of the problem, but the colt improved greatly after a course of IV antibiotics.

It happened at a young age-- I can’t remember exactly, anywhere between 3-6 weeks. His hock was swollen up to the size of a small melon and he was very lame. He had a fever, was lethargic but still nursing. The owner chose to treat him at the farm rather than send him to the clinic, though we weren’t sure how well he’d recover. Thankfully the strong antibiotics did the trick and the swelling went down slowly, it took several months for it to look normal.

He ended up being 100% sound and has had a modest racing career-- so there is hope!

[skydy]

Somanyhorses,
I cannot help , but send you and your foal my best healing wishes.

Please, keep us up to date.

[somanyhorses]

Thank you for sharing your experiences everyone, and for the messages of support and healing wishes.

I have just had a call from my vet and the news is not good. The white blood cell count has increased and he thinks the foal is a little more lame today and so this is quite frightening indeed. Fortunately, he has also recommended that we transport the foal to another vet surgery which is another 2 hours away but they have amazing equipment and a team of specialists who will be better placed to deal with this than he is. I am very upset but happy that my vet is being realistic about what could provide the best outcome.

[ticofuzzy]

A few experiences of mine that may offer some insight…

I had a foal present with very similar symptoms as yours and like yours, they could not find any evidence of joint ill and no matter what antibiotics were used, the foal did not improve. After the vet hospital had exhausted all their diagnostic options, the foal was sent to another hospital for a CT scan and further diagnostics. Turns out the foal did have “joint ill”, which had settled in the pelvic symphysis. This was the fist documented case of this and surgery was required to clear up the infection because there were large, thickly walled abscesses that antibiotics could not penetrate.

Another experience - I took a 3 month old foal to a show out of state and shortly after returning home, he developed a large swelling high up between his hind legs that continued to grow and was making him sore. Thankfully, my vet recommended he go to the clinic for surgery to have it removed as it was so large and when they sent the contents off for testing, it came back as Rhodococcus, much to everyone’s shock! Rhodococcus is basically unheard of in my state and he did NOT present with ANY respiratory symptoms and all xrays and ultrasounds were totally normal. I have never had a case of Rhodococcus before or after, so I am sure he picked it up at the show and it only presented as a lameness behind/slight fever that eventually revealed itself as an abscess.

Best of luck with your foal and hopefully my experiences can help them to think outside the box when trying to figure out what’s wrong.

[somanyhorses]

Eliza, thank you so much for sharing your experiences. The first foal in particular sounds very similar to my foal in terms of symptoms.

We are currently on the way to the second vet, my other half is driving. In good news the foal’s temp is normal this morning.

I didn’t realise until he mentioned it last night, my vet has been speaking to the second vet for several days about my foal. They are one of the best in Australia, huge team of specialists and in the heart of a racehorse breeding region, with all the best equipment. Fingers crossed we get a clear diagnosis.

Thanks again, I will post an update later

[somanyhorses]

Eliza, thank you so much for sharing your experiences. The first foal in particular sounds very similar to my foal in terms of symptoms.

We are currently on the way to the second vet, my other half is driving. In good news the foal’s temp is normal this morning.

I didn’t realise until he mentioned it last night, my vet has been speaking to the second vet for several days about my foal. They are one of the best in Australia, huge team of specialists and in the heart of a racehorse breeding region, with all the best equipment. Fingers crossed we get a clear diagnosis.

Thanks again, I will post an update later

[ticofuzzy]

I just re-read your initial post and I have to say that the symptoms and diagnostics done are identical to my foal. I strongly encourage you to have them look in places that they would not normally think an infection would settle.

[somanyhorses]

Very sadly the xrays were not good and we have let him go. A team of 3 top vets were involved and the infection was in the hip. Significant degradation of the bone had already occurred in and around the hip joint. As this area is so hard to specifically treat, flush etc, his prognosis was very poor. He was bred to event. While cost of treatment was not my concern, I made the tough decision to go with the vet’s recommendation to euthanase. I am devastated and very fortunate to have my partner with me, doing the driving. Now my priority is to get my poor mare home safely (she is currently sedated) and hope that she deals with the loss better than I am at present.

Thank you to everyone who has given advice, support and shared experiences. I hope this is of some value to someone in future with a lame foal. I acted as quickly as I could and didn’t waste time thinking it was a foot abscess or a muscle pull, but if he had gone straight to the second vet the outcome may have been different. No criticism of my current vet, he just didn’t have the equipment.

Hug your horses.

[pony4me]

So very sorry for your loss. RIP little guy.

[Laurierace]

So sorry for your loss. Godspeed little man.