Mowing is a good way to reduce ticks.
Routine testing for tick borne illnesses is a good habit, ideally
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so stressful! and yes frustrating. And you read up on salmonella and it’s everywhere anyway.
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Are you able to say what part of NC? PM me if you prefer. Thx!
North. Almost VA. But the vet desert up here means my vets serve a wide area and I don’t know/didn’t ask what barns are having issues.
FWIW, while these symptoms seem odd for tick illness, the ticks have been BAD already this year. Like ridiculous. We resorted to human grade repellents, which appear to be working. I don’t think the fly spray arsenal is going to touch this years crop, after the basically nonexistent winter
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I’m in Raleigh/Durham
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This article talks about the increase of a rare tick borne illness in humans. I don’t know what it would do to horses. Just a thought, I remember reading it and this thread reminded me.
Good luck, I hope someone will solve the puzzle and that the horses will recover.
Never mind, it’s another name for piroplasmosis.
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Thanks, texted it to friend. I’m leaving here in a little bit to take this horse to vet school for her. I am just sick for her. horse has 104.8 now.
we had this weird duck show up right before this all happened (not of this area, someone said real common in Florida. he’s still around) had asked vets about it and they said no. but definitely will get my friend to ask.
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What about something like hoary alyssum in the hay? It doesn’t quite fit—they often get fat legs and can become laminitic, but I was at a barn that had an episode like this and that was the culprit.
No ideas here ~ just sending Jingles & AO ~ for a diagnosis and a treatment plan to put an end to this outbreak ~
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Influenza, named or anonymous, is a respiratory virus.
I’d be more suspicious of an equine coronavirus in this case, though affected horses have apparently tested negative.
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we haven’t had any stocking up but I will ask. thanks!
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When I took horse #4 to vet school last night, I asked them about the Cornell panel they said they would do it but they rarely get a positive from it. And I asked about the Avian Flu and they were like I don’t know about that.
Now we have a horse #5 going to the vet school this AM. Ready for this to be over. We are locked up tight nobody in or out horses or professionals/other horse people.
My farrier had said something about something going through a Raleigh Horse Complex horse show but I don’t know anything about that.
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"Genomic analysis suggests that equine H3 viruses are of an avian lineage, likely originating in wild birds. "
Not that I’m saying this IS the flu, because as Ghazzu said, that’s a respiratory issue. But there is a link between horses and avian flu
Man, what an ordeal! I saw the Hoary Alyssum comment and wouldn’t suspect that, I’m not sure it’s in NC (it’s really not a “southern state” thing, though I know it’s in Va. And afaik a tell-tell of that is stocking up, with or without other symptoms, but I guess it would be good to rule it out
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Yikes. I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. Do keep us updated - and jingles for answers and speedy recovery. I texted my BO only a few times asking about the horses and about what they’ve heard through the grapevine
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Yes, I guess I should have said ‘sick’. Usually I call anything that a human gets that worse than the sniffles the flu, whether that’s respiratory or that unfortunate time when stuff starts coming out both ends…. Definitely not a medically correct term but it gets the point across. Something contagious that makes you ill.
Ah. I spend my days teaching vet techs correct terminology, amongst other things.
( and now I need to grit my teeth and go grade final exams…)
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I had a vet once who used to call this “grass sickness,” which is a misnomer because there is a recognized disorder commonly seen in the UK by the same name but different symptoms.
But basically, my horse had a fever + elevated heart rate + gastrointestinal symptoms, mainly decreased motility. Nondescript bloodwork.
This vet was a bit of an old timey fellow in Tennessee. He said the grass was causing her illness and to keep her off all grass. I was less than thrilled with the diagnosis of “grass sickness.” After consulting by phone with some vet friends, they figured it was probably coronavirus. I kept her in the field. She got better in about a week. None of my other horses in the same field fell ill.
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How/why are ducks worse than chickens?
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I would guess because they poop up the water? So it spreads? Canada Goose duck poop on park lawns is completely disgusting and huge.
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Sure, water vs not, but not all ducks are larger than chickens, and chickens poop on land too. We had a dog who love to snarf down a plop of chicken poop of we weren’t carefully watching, and absolutely he had intestinal issues 
There are countless horse farms with free range chickens, and most farms don’t have a natural water source as the drinking water, so I was curious why ducks were suddenly a problem.
