Is it Lyme, EPM, or something else?

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

My 28-year old gelding, who has never had any major health issues, came through winter with flying colors. Easy keeper, fat as a tick. Until late February/early March, when he suddenly started to lose weight. Very rapidly, he went from being fat to being so skinny I could see his ribs through his winter coat. Vet came and drew blood; nothing showed up. Despite throwing senior feed into him (soaked into a drinkable mush) and fresh grass coming up, he didn’t gain a lot of the weight back.

Then, around the first of April, I noticed he was starting to show some hind end lameness. Not all the time; it came and went. Maybe one day out of ten, you’d see a bit of a head bobble. I checked the legs and hooves; nothing. Over April, the lameness got progressively a little worse, a little more often, and the bute seemed to help less and less. Began to worry about founder, but presented none of the classic signs.

Over the weekend, the lameness returned. He looks more lame on the right side (both front and back) than on the left side. The right hind has always been the worst, ever since the lameness started; he’s acted a bit wobbly on it for the past couple of weeks, as well.

The vet was finally able to meet me on Tuesday night to draw blood. She and I both think this is either Lyme or EPM. She tested all four hooves, pulled on his tail (he was pretty wobbly in the back end), and this week, he is lame constantly. He’s on a gram of bute per day, and it’s not helping at all - or if it is, I can’t imagine what he’d be like if he wasn’t on it.

While we wait for the lab results, is there anything else we should be thinking about? Anything that might alleviate his obvious discomfort, too, besides more bute?

[joiedevie99]

The only thing I would do, with your vet’s agreement of course, it start 10,000 iu of natural vitamin E per day. I’d also think about what gastric support you’re going to give him if he ends up on a course of antibiotics (to my knowledge, Marquis doesn’t have serious GI side effects).

Steroids can help with EPM, but hurt Lyme. DMSO is sometimes used as an adjunct therapy for both, but may or may not do much.

[Posting_Trot]

If it turns out to be Lyme, you could also add some oral HA to his diet. Conquer gel is a good option, which you can put on his feed.

In dealing with my previous horse who had several bouts of Lyme (or recurring bouts), I found that oral HA helped with the joint discomfort.

Good luck.

[candyappy]

I have no helpful advice, just wanted to say I am thinking of your guy and hope you can get a fast accurate diagnosis and that he responds well. How scary that it went wrong so fast.

[Marla_100]

I second the oral/gel HA for discomfort, I use 100X Equine. That stuff works fast and no gut problems like from Bute. I also take some of my horse’s HA and can tell you I get relief within
30 min. or so- just a much better feeling all over.

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

Vitamin E is a good thought. I hadn’t thought about needing gastric support for the antibiotics, so that’s also a good heads-up. Thanks! The vet offered to start treating him, but she’s leaning more towards EPM, and I’m leaning more towards Lyme, and the drugs are vastly different, so we decided to wait and see what the results say on his blood draw.

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

I will put that on the list, thanks! If you can add it to the feed, he’ll slurp it down, I’m sure.

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

Thanks. He really went off a cliff just almost overnight. And this is a horse who blows abscesses without ever taking a lame step - so if he’s showing pain, it’s got to be a LOT of pain he’s in, unless it’s all neuro and he’s not really in pain at all. That scares me, too.

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

The vet called today - the Lyme test was negative but the EPM was positive. So she’s ordering the meds to treat. In an older horse, anyone know what the prognosis is, or could be?

[joiedevie99]

@Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom

So she’s ordering the meds to treat. In an older horse, anyone know what the prognosis is, or could be?

In my experience, it has much more to do with how long the infection has been there and how severe the symptoms are than how old the horse is. My friend treated her retiree and he looked like a new horse within 10 days or so of starting meds.