As some may know, my grey mare was diagnosed with EPM in November after she fell with me while riding. The vet came out two days later and did a full neurological exam, flexions in her hind end (which he said were fine), and pulled blood to run a titer test. Her titer came back at 35 I believe and her CRP was elevated as well so we began treatment with Levamisole and Dequocinate (sp?). She seems to be doing better, although I have not had her blood pulled again yet but I do plan on having that done soon when the vet comes for Coggins and spring vaccinations. I have suspected that this mare may also have PSSM type 2 as she seems to show several symptoms: moodiness about being saddled/ girthed (has been treated for ulcers, seen by Chiro, etc), constantly rubs her haunches on things despite having a clean fecal and doing a 1.5 dose of Anthelicide, stiffness on one side (left), sensitive to grooming (blown off as thin skinned tb), staying camped out for a long period after urinating, holding tail stiffly, drags toes while being ridden (EPM?), lack of impulsion, difficulty picking up canter or maintaining a lead (attributed to muscle loss from EPM), stall walking, muscle tremors (left foreleg), difficult to put topline on/ keep despite being in good work and being worked well (not in a lot of work at the moment due to my schedule), pinning ears while cantering, does not like to have hind legs lifted a decent height for shoeing/ cleaning hooves, sweats a LOT (like sweating while standing when its 80 degrees), and difficulty bending/ collecting. I am sending in a blood sample to Equiseq for testing. She is currently on a PSSM (almost) diet she gets:
2 scoops (1 serving) California Trace Plus
2 scoops (1 serving/ 8,000 IU) Natural Vit E pellets from Santa Cruz Animal health
2 scoops (1 serving) Quiessence
4 cups Alfalfa pellets
All of the above is split equally between two meals - She does still get her EPM medicine once a day
I purchased Canola oil last night and will be adding it to her diet. She has been on it before at a cup a day and was doing well, but I didn’t think she needed it to maintain weight (she is at a good weight, but has no topline). She is also on pasture board and is out 24/7 but has been blanketed all winter (she is not clipped). She does seem to need a longer warm up on the colder days, but I attributed that to being almost 13 and having a few previous injuries.
So my questions are: What else can I do (besides more regular work) or give her to help her (change her diet)?
and most importantly
Could the suspected EPM really have been PSSM?
I know in our area (Missouri) almost every horse will have something show up on their titer, and 35 didn’t seem that high to me, but EPM seems to be stupid common around here (like 50% HAVE to be misdiagnosed - there were 5 horses in a 14 stall barn that were diagnosed with it).
