Also, horses can ingest tetanus bacteria so cuts are not the only opportunity for it to enter their system.
That was the first thing I thought of, followed by botulism. The fact that it is on one side of the face though, makes me think more of a facial nerve damage.
Here is where we are…
Western Blot results slowly coming in. EPM came back “weak negative” and to repeat in 2-4 weeks.
no one is convinced it’s EPM, but obviously it could be. Vet is coming back Monday for more tests and to devise our UCD plan.
At this point I want the endoscopy, but with a weak positive on the EPM, I’m not sure the CSF and IFAT are going to be any different on the EPM results.
I wish the EPM had come back either super positive or negative. This feel like kinda pregnant…
Really sounds potentially like CN VII (Facial Nerve) damage manifested by lip droop, head tilt and eyelid paralysis. Also CN IX (Glossopharyneal- swallowing) damage. I agree with Ghazzu on the guttural pouch endoscopy to rule out damage there. I couldn’t tell if your vet did a spinal tap for the EPM test - please forgive if you were clear on that.
As some other have said, talk to your vet about temporohyoid osteoarthropathy. Your horse’s case is almost identical to my friend’s mare. Her eye developed an ulcer from being unable to blink properly and she couldn’t swollow. She had a guttural pouch scope that confirmed diagnosis and an old fracture, and then she had surgery to remove the bones. The prognosis is very good!
A friend’s mare recently underwent surgery to release/repair one or more of the hyoid bones that had somehow either broken or dislocated. It was affecting her trigeminal nerve and she’d had intermittent facial paralysis. She went through months of eye issues as a result of not being able to blink.
Trigeminal nerve shouldn’t affect blinking.
The update is temporohyoid osteoarthropathy. she is having her surgery tomorrow. Jingles for a good outcome.
sorry for two threads. The mods are welcome to combine them.
Jingles for your mare!
Jingles!!!
Jingling for a successful recovery! Hope you get off the roller coaster soon.
Any updates post-surgery? I hope she is doing well.
thanks for asking. Her surgery went very well and she just got moved to a layup facility. Time will tell with her nerve issues. Given COVID I’m not allowed to go see her at all. The surgeon thought her face was maybe a little better, but he also said he was also just hoping it was.
Her eye is the main concern. She has it sewn shut until we know if the facial nerve is or is not going to come back on line. She’s doing really well with it though. I’ve had reports she is not spooky, not jumpy, and is handling it really well. Hopefully she will be home in 2-3 weeks once the eye catheter is out and the corneal ulcer has healed. So, fingers crossed.
According to the surgeon at UC Davis, they see 3 or so of these a month. I think THO is a little more common than we may know as it can come on like epm and some others.
Same thing happened when the vet gelded my guy.🤬
Which is why I was taught to always remove the halter and put padding under the head.
Wish my FORMER vet knew that! We had a towel over his face even. Oh well.
Towel over the face does not seem weird at all.
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