Mysterious illness at barn fevers any ideas?

[FatCatFarm]

Weird to pop on here after not being on for a week or so and find this. Last Thursday evening I had a 3 year old gelding come in for evening feed; start to eat and then said nah, and didn’t want the rest of his grain dinner when usually he slams it. Otherwise seemed normal. Drank when turned back out and ate a flake of hay. Next morning, same thing but seemed a little depressed, so I check his temp and it’s 1 0 freaking 5! So I started him on Meds as this was Friday morning and I had to go to work.

Everyone else was fine. No one has been in or out with any other horses for some time; no travel; no new horses coming in. Current on vaccs and worming. No change in routine. No poultry or ducks on the property. Ticks have not been a problem yet.

Temp stayed elevated and I was worried by Saturday night, no worse but no better with meds. Would still drink and pick at hay. Fever dropped a little to 104 on Saturday morning, but Sat night it was 106 when I checked it around midnight, so I spent some time cold hosing and gave electrolytes orally.

Other than being a little depressed and obviously the fever, he was very normal acting. Did not like being kept in a stall; would graze off and on, still eat hay and drank well. So I was less concerned than I would normally be with the presentation.

Sunday am it was 105 and I had already decided to load him up and take him to the vet clinic 1st thing Monday am if temp remained elevated. He ate better than he had been, though still depressed but picking at hay and drinking. Not happy about being stuck with twice daily meds, which I took as encouraging as on Saturday, he didn’t care about getting injections.

I made him stay in a stall with fan on since it was hot here on Sunday and took my Mom to lunch for Mother’s Day, came back and it was like a switch had been flipped. Either it was viral or Penni and Banamine finally kicked in. I continued meds thru Monday night as a precaution, but he is still fine and has been eating well since Sunday afternoon.

Now I have another gelding in a different pasture who is turning his nose up at grain. Started last evening. No fever but same: will eat hay and drinking well, but curls lip at grain.

I too have buttercups in spots and wondered if that were the culprit but also dismissed them as not matching the symptoms. Will continue watching the other gelding and hope that no one else pops with it. But yeah, seems like some virus causing a fever of unknown origin may be circulating, but how it got to my horses with a closed herd, I can only imagine mosquitoes?

[Angela_Freda]

@FatCatFarm

Either it was viral or Penni and Banamine finally kicked in. I continued meds thru Monday night as a precaution

What was he on, and for how long?

[Meshach1]

interesting! and that’s a high fever, I’m glad it resolved with some time and Banamine. You saved yourself a 5k ticket to the vet clinic.

Well, that is what this little trip to NC State cost me. Looking back I could have probably handled it at home but I’ve gotten burned in the past with waiting and see with this horse so I got him there within 24 hours. sigh.

All they did was antibiotics, supportive care (IV electrolytes, ice boots, etc) but it had to be in isolation.

So weird! It’s been helpful to hear of others stories on this, thanks!

[BigMama1]

For those of you who have experienced this virus, I’m curious where you are located. It seems to have made its way to Ontario, Canada. A friend’s horse had been under the weather for the past three days: high fever, a bit lethargic, off her feed. Bloodwork all good. Sounds like the same thing.

[BraveSC]

I am in Aiken and we had two with this virus in January and one a few weeks ago. All three of them are pasture mates.

[FatCatFarm]

Pennicillin and Banamine for 4 days, though I did add omeprazole towards the end as he seemed to have a sour stomach. Yes, I did read the comments above about not giving abx absent veterinarian intervention, but it’s what I felt comfortable doing given the presentation and that it was the weekend and I didn’t think it necessitated an emergency vet visit. The high fever had me concerned it was an infection but I am now certain this is viral.

Located in Newnan, GA which is South of Atlanta.

My other gelding who has been symptomatic, but to a lesser/milder degree, the only intervention I have made is omeprazole, again just for the what appears to be a sour stomach. He only picked at his grain, which I normally water down into cereal, the first couple of days. I had noticed that with my other guy, for some reason, he preferred it dry as he was recovering. And sure enough, the 2nd guy does as well. Still grazing, still quite willing to inhale some hay, still drinking and not depressed. Just not eating with gusto at present but I do think he is getting over it.

[Bogey2]

I am in MA
We just treated fever with banamine. The first horse we did pull bloodwork and nothing showed up so vet said treat the fever and keep hydrated on the rest of the horses.

[Scribbler]

We get odd viruses rolling through our barn even when there isn’t an obvious Patient Zero who went off property in the time frame for infection and transmission. We dont have birds in the barn or in the water supply, no pigeons or starlings or swallows or possums. We do have mice and rats.

It’s always a mystery. It’s possible 5 horses are asymptomatic and one gets a fever as the bug moves along the line of stalls.

Because we are self board, there is no oversight of all the horses. Individual owners give excellent care but there’s no one person privy to all the horses health on a daily basis. And no one person to think Fluffy seems a bit dopey today, is it connected to Boopsy having a runny nose and Ginger not eating all her hay last night?

[beowulf]

Now I seem to be dealing with something that is behaving an awful lot like OP’s situation. I’m in MA.

So far the other horses don’t seem affected, but Hank has been quarantined since first symptom. Behaves like a mishmash of colic and anaplasmosis - still waiting for the test to come back, should hear later on today.

[Ghazzu]

Hope whatever it is resolves quickly!

[JB]

Let us know what the test result is, hopefully it’s a random passing thing like the rest. Fever?

[FatCatFarm]

I keep hearing about this virus going around here in GA and a friend of mine lost her imported Friesian Ster mare who had just been rebred. Same symptoms as my 1st guy presented with lethargy, disinterest in food, gastric discomfort. Her mare only had a low grade fever.

Her vet evaluated her and bloodwork indicated the possibility of a low grade infection but vet suspected virus. The mare was sent to Auburn’s Large Animal Clinic where she worsened even with supportive therapy and the decision was made to euthanize. An autopsy is pending but they told my friend that it appears to have been an enteritis or colitis of unknown origin and could not rule out its origin as viral.

Seems to be hitting older horses hardest and I’ve heard reports of other geriatric horses lost. A friend is now saying that some are doing labs right off and reporting elevated liver enzymes. This is all second hand news, so who knows. But it does seem that something continues to circulate.

[Mardi1]

@Meshach1

My farrier had said something about something going through a Raleigh Horse Complex horse show but I don’t know anything about that.

“something about something”
With all due respect, find out !
Call around and ask questions. Call the farrier and ask for specifics. Was he at the show ? Was he around any of the sick horses ? Does he know another farrier that knows ?
If he can’t give you more info, post a thread on COTH asking if anyone knows about that show and what was going on.
Contact the show vet and tell him what’s happening with your horses and others. He/she may have some insight.

[Meshach1]

My vet who handled our barn said right after us, another barn in the area had the same thing (she didn’t disclose to me what barn), that after our barn’s horses vacated the isolation stalls at the vet school this other barn started going in.

I don’t want to apply for the job of NC State Virus Detection Officer , I’ll let the the local vets and vet school handle that. and dept of ag if it came to that (which I don’t think it did). Sounds like from this long thread Fevers of Unknown Origin are not that uncommon. And that is what one of the vets at the vet school told me – that they might not ever now.

Same when my horse was there for pneumonia in 2019. Suddenly I notice all these horses on nebulizers there when I’d visit. I asked a vet if it was “pneumonia season” she said it’s always pneumonia season …

[Mardi1]

@Meshach1

I don’t want to apply for the job of NC State Virus Detection Officer , I’ll let the the local vets and vet school handle that. and dept of ag if it came to that (which I don’t think it did).

I misunderstood your opening post when you asked “Anyone have any ideas ?” about the mysterious illness. You asked people here for input on causes, but you won’t pursue possible helpful leads yourself because you want to the vets to sort it out themselves, even as new cases pop up.
I understand now.

I hope a definitive cause is found, and if so, maybe you could post what the vets learned.
The info would certainly help other owners in the future.

[Meshach1]

ah yes, I get it. My opening post was when my horse first went to the vet school and my anxiety level was high, I have since learned through these posts and the veterinarians themselves that sometimes these things occur and we never find out why – which seems to be the case here. And I guess that might help anyone in the future who does a search.

My horse is now back in work, nobody else has gotten sick and it seems to be past us. When the vet told me another barn in the area appeared to have the same thing, she did not disclose to me what barn it was and I did not push her to tell me.

[Fiesta01]

Jingles heading Hank’s way.

[fivestrideline]

@Mardi1

I misunderstood your opening post when you asked “Anyone have any ideas ?” about the mysterious illness. You asked people here for input on causes, but you won’t pursue possible helpful leads yourself because you want to the vets to sort it out themselves, even as new cases pop up.
I understand now.

I hope a definitive cause is found, and if so, maybe you could post what the vets learned.
The info would certainly help other owners in the future.

The snark was unnecessary.

[beowulf]

Thank you for the jingles. Hank is still on stall watch and very annoyed by it, but the test for anaplasmosis came back negative. His initial presentation was identical to OP’s first post - plus an impaction “further down” than normal (vet’s words). He stopped presenting with a temp on day 4, but still isn’t keen on eating grain. I can’t tell if it’s because it’s beyond soupy or if it’s true inappetence. He is very interested in hay (which vet withheld for the first 4 days) and loves his grass, so there is an appetite there. If I give him a handful of non-soupy-soaked grain he will eat it, but the vet doesn’t want to return to regular rations just yet. The first 4 days he really would not pass manure, so every night at around 5 PM when I got out of work I hooked up the trailer and took him for a drive. That seemed to do the trick, but his manure had lots of ropy mucus in it. You know you’re a horse person when you’re trying to find the best lighting to take a photo of horse poop to send to your vet…

Vet has been out every day this week and we’re chalking it up to some sort of novel corona virus. I’m hoping he gets the all-clear to return to the herd today.

[JB]

@beowulf

That seemed to do the trick, but his manure had lots of ropy mucus in it.

That happens when the manure has been in there too long, so normal for that, but also very glad you were able to get it out!