Sorry that you have lost the donkeys and hope that the horse pulls through. That is a lot to deal with: stay strong
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How awful. You don’t feed alfalfa hay do you? Is blister beetle poisoning a possibility?
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Do you feed Himalayan salt? I know someone who lost a horse under similar mysterious circumstances. The horse had diarrhea and she tried every feed/hay she could think of. Finally euthanized. Bought another horse and that horse became sick as well. She believes it was impurities/toxic chemicals in the salt. I theorized it could have been infectious or bacterial related and the new horse caught the bacteria from the environment. The new horse did recover…
It is possible the sicker burro had something infectious and somehow exposed the others. Unfortunately sometimes you have unexplained illness and death - my dog died of acute kidney failure and endocarditis. The vet school did a necropsy and found he had somehow gotten sepsis. Never found out what bacteria it was or how he was exposed. He was perfectly healthy 3 days prior.
I really hope they determine the cause of the illness. It about drives you crazy not knowing how or why this has happened. I hope Bitsey makes a fast recovery.
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Get your water tested!
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Thank you for your thoughts.
My BO said to check the shavings for wood that may be poisonous to them. She said that she knew of a case and several horses were lost. Hope your mare is doing well.
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I have a friend that lives on a property with a well. The well water for the house, and the lawn, and the horse troughs smells and tastes of sulphur.
She lost a horse to colic a couple of years ago. And then, about a year later, lost another horse that was new since the previous colic. Her other horses were ok.
She ended up buying an expensive filter and softener system for the well. The horses were drinking just the bare minimum of water… until they didn’t drink enough and got badly dehydrated and didn’t survive the subsequent colic.
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Sorry for your loss. Sending Jingles for your horse.
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Latest update is that they are looking at salmonella. The burros made a lot of stops because of Covid and could have picked it up somewhere and then shed it under stress. I kept Bitsey in the stall across from them and did share brushes a few times. Plus, the horses went out into the pasture the day after the burros. They are keeping Bitsey at least one more day. We’re watching the other horse and pony carefully and waiting to see if the tests can confirm the diagnosis. Meanwhile, I have some serious cleaning to do, just in case.
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The source of contamination was NOT the BLM. It was probably the burro that was adopted, went home with someone, and then returned a week later. We bought him and notified the BLM.
Next year, we’ll try again, but we’ll adopt directly from the BLM.
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How awful, I am so sorry about your burros. I hope your horse recovers.
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I can finally pick up my horse today. Her fever stayed low, so no signs of laminitis. We’ll get the salmonella test results back. It could be something else. She never had diarrhea. Neither did the burros. They all stopped eating and drinking, then colicked. All became very dehydrated. It took days on fluids to get Bitsey to poop normally at the hospital. The burros were caught too late to stop the bloating and rupture of their bowels. The necropsy on the second burro did not show any obvious reasons for colic. Histopathology on the burro will take over a month. It was contagious, that’s for certain.
We spent most of the weekend sanitizing the barn with bleach. We stripped the stalls and sprayed down the mats and walls. We threw out the salt licks. Sprayed down buckets, feeders, and the entire trailer. All the brushes were either thrown out or soaked in bleach solution. we moved the other horse, Cutter, and pony out for all of this. Once the cleaning was finished yesterday, we moved them back in. We’ll be monitoring their temperatures and watching them carefully. When Bitsey comes home, she has to live in the round pen for a month.
We haven’t had any horse come to our farm for over a year, and that was our son’s horse, Cutter, who we bought last fall.
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I’m glad that your mare can come home today- I’ve been thinking of you. Thank you for continuing to update what you’ve learned. Fingers crossed that everything here on out is uncomplicated and you have healthy horses.
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Oh no! I’m so sorry for the loss of your two new donks.
I have never heard of a horse not drinking because of sulfer. Our town is full of it and a lot of friends have barns with sulfur water and no issues?
Okay, this is funny. For some reason, the site reverted to my old user name. I created MLOaks when I lost the original password. I’m so sorry if it caused any confusion. I’m not trying to do an alter, or anything. Maybe I can put the other name in the signature. Maybe I should change and write down the password before I lose it again, lol.
It’s so nice to have Bitsey home. She has a couple of strange shaved spots from the IV and the ultrasound. Her mane is flipped to the other side, so her BLM brand is showing proudly (maybe she thought having a tattoo would impress the other horses?). I think her mane was flipped because of the IV. She did get in trouble at first. She gets grumpy with people she doesn’t know trying to handle her. She acts like they’re naughty foals in need of correction. She pinned her ears and nipped at the vets and students! Poor girl had to wear a muzzle for a day or two.
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I’m so sorry this must be so devastating. I’m glad the mare seems to be doing well.
I know you said it was cold. Did you have a tank heater? If so was everything working right? I’ve heard stories of them shorting out and the horses getting zapped when they go to drink. Could something like that have happened and that’s why everyone stopped drinking causing colics all around?
I know that’s probably a long shot but I thought I’d throw it out there. Keep us posted.
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I’m so glad your mare is ok.
Why will the lab work for the burro’s necropsy take so long? I thought salmonella was fairly easily identifiable? Can they let you know when they rule it out anyway?
I understand that looking for an unknown can take a very long time…
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sounds like equine coronavirus - did they test for that?
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Jealoushe, the water has several minerals in it besides sulfur…it tastes bad. You’d have to be really thirsty to drink it. Anyway, her other horses are all drinking more since she put the filter/softener system on her well.
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