Mare with enteritis

[Carshon]

Our 22 yr old mare started showing signs of lethargy and a fever about 10 days ago. Had our local vet out and she was give Excede antibiotic and Dexx. Fever was gone for a day and came back (ranging at 104 down to 103) vet came out again 4 days later and gave another shot of Excede. (vet did not do blookwork because they do not have the in-house facilities to run it) No noticeable improvement. I called another vet that specialized more in horses and she came out yesterday. Ran a full panel of blood work and found elevated emalyn e - that leads her to believe mare has bacterial enteritis. She suggested U-Guard and is prescribing an oral antibiotic.
We have not switched hay or grain recently but have had a lot of fast weather changes. Has anyone else dealt with enteritis (infection of the intestinal lining) I understand that 22 is a SR horse - that being said this horse is in extremely good health (normally) and ridden extensively and in great shape. Other than her teeth the vet said she would not have guessed her at 22. The mare is not eating well and is starting lose weight and it is below zero here in NW IL>

I am looking at how others have treated their horses with this as there are no horse vets with in a 3 hour area and the nearest university is about 4 hours away.

[Scribbler]

If this were my horse I would have her in a vet clinic by now, to be rehydrated and monitored 24/7. It’s too bad you lost time with the first idiot vet. She’s been off her feed for ten days now and is showing signs of decline.

[2tempe]

My now retired mare and a case several years ago - after 2 colic surgeries and other issues, she was basically “if vet can fix it at the barn, fine, if not…no bus”. In addition to antibiotics, she was put on IV fluids for somewhere like 36 hours (not continuously but some schedule of bag every few hours. ). It wasn’t cheap but she did get better. Fluids critical as noted above.
Vet stitched in the IV thing, and rigged the fluid holder over the top bar of her stall. She could move around with the thing in and I spent the first night in the barn keeping an eye on her.

A rather humous aside, barn had a mare that would turn on her fan or lights from time to time - Scare the bejesus out of me at 3 am when all of a sudden lights went on…

[joiedevie99]

Enteritis isn’t something I would treat at home. 4 hours isn’t a hard trailer ride as long as she isn’t actively colicing. If you can’t, I’d want your vet to be consulting with someone at the university or clinic daily re: the drug protocol, IV fluid schedule, and progress.

[2tempe]

OP - one part that I forgot is that enteritis causes food to remain in stomach; cant move well thru the small intestine. So vet should have tubed the horse, mine got a bunch of gross reflux.
https://www.succeed-vet.com/equine-gi-disease-library/enteritis-in-horses/pe/

[Halt3]

Carshon, I don’t have anything to add from an experience perspective, but wanted to wish you best of luck with your mare. Years ago I had a mare who had a hernia post-surgery, and the advice I got from the vet who examined her was that there was nothing to worry about. It wasn’t until she took a turn for the worse and when I got a second opinion, that was when I got the proper diagnosis. To this day, I wonder whether a quicker diagnosis would have led to a better outcome. I also kick myself for not pushing back on the first vet or getting a second opinion sooner.

I hope your mare recovers back to full health soon.