My horse was diagnosed with EPM in March. Three treatments later- two Marquis, one Protazil- he is feeling better but still symptomatic. At his worst he was head hanging down and tongue hanging out. ( He did not get to the point of overt weakness behind.) That all disappeared after treatment, only to start up again 4-10 days after the meds ended. He is now just a bit mouthy- licking lips, yawning but his head is hanging down more again. He is now on ReBalance, Glorify, and other immune system supplements.
He is eating great, looks to be in good condition, is perky, and is being ridden at the walk/trot a few days a week.
He has a recent negative Lyme titer, just pulled blood for a CBC and EPM titer.
Just can’t seem to get rid of this disease. Has anyone treated a horse 4 times with Marquis/Protazil?
Ugh…hugs to you and your horse! This is a horrid disease, isn’t it? Your success rate will depend alot on how bad the protozoa infection was, where it was on the brain and how quickly treatment started. The age of the horse and other health factors are also to be considered. Some come back fairly quickly and it just depends on what area of the body was affected. In the very beginning, my guy showed the head shaking, licking, head tilting and spinning in place. He lost a lot of what little muscle he had left at 30yo, but is doing really well, all things considered. We only did one round of Marquis, since the change was pretty remarkable in the first week on. We followed up with one month of Protazil and is now beginning a maintenance program on the same. He gets 10k units of vitamin E per day as well as his Prascend for cushings. His appetite is great, attitude is great and he’s bright and happy.
From what I’ve read and researched, they may never come back 100% to full work and the best you can hope for is what you have described above.
Sending you blessings of strength and health!
Thank you for the response! It is a horrible disease.
My guy is like yours, he does feel better.
I’m grateful for that!
My horse was diagnosed after she fell while riding. She turned very spooky and lost almost all of her muscle along her topline and hind quarters. My vet who has treated a lot of horses for EPM recommended against Marquis due to the high rate of relapse along with the high cost. Instead we treated with a Levamisole/ Dequocinate mix. She had 10 days of Dequoquinate paste and either 60-120 days of the Levamisole (I can’t remember). The total cost for treatment was around $250. The vet said this was a newer treatment and he preferred to start with this one then move to the Marquis/ Protazil if necessary. He also said that my horse could be on it for the rest of her life with no adverse effect (two horses in that barn were on the same medication indefinitely). My horse made a complete recovery, thankfully. I created a custom supplement for her with high, high levels of natural vitamin E and what was essentially a triple dose of Tri Amino to help build the muscles back. I also put her on Smart Immune and Smart Antioxidant for the 2-3 months of treatment. It took almost a full year for her to build her muscles back up to where they were before, but we were thrown off track by other things this summer. I hope your pony starts to feel better soon!
We did Orogin (decoquinate/levamisole), Neuroquel (levamisole), Protazil, then more Neuroquel. My horse has been normal since the Orogin, but the titers were very slow to go down. I think repeated courses of medications are not uncommon.
Thanks for the great info, this is all super- helpful.
