Unlimited access >

UPDATE: Horse can’t reach to ground

I put all my current info in another post and got no replies, but I’ve been getting good responses to my questions when I broke them out separately, so figured I keep asking. :slight_smile:

My Danny is 3 months into a horrible salmonellosis recovery. I’ve got separate posts about his ulcer treatment issues. But this one is related to his not being able to reach the ground to graze/eat.

This started about a month ago. I noticed it by seeing that while grazing he was only eating the tall grass. Then he started kicking over any food in a pan.
The presumption by the hospital vet and my vet is a thrombophlebitis from his thrombosed jugular IV. There has been no ultrasound.
Initial treatment was Banamine 10mL twice a day. But after he became crazy syringe intolerant I went to Bute. We’re down to 1/3 G twice a day and that has kept the overall seeming discomfort at bay. But he’s still unable to reach to ground. I’m planning to try even less this weekend after the storms stop. Because obviously this is not helping with ulcers/colitis/salmonella recovery.

His jugular lymph nodes are also sorta “full” bilaterally. He had strangles as a foal and they get full after vaccines or last year on a weird whim (allergies? :woman_shrugging: )
He’s also very shallow breathing when we hand walk. Exercise intolerant is the official term. But since he’s not exercising….

So any thoughts? Any suggestions? Similar experiences?

I should add I’m an human and equine massage therapist so I’ve been doing near daily bodywork, and have also started cold laser therapy on his shoulders, traps, and whithers.

1 Like

I think I would talk to the vet about x-rays and/or ultrasound to see if that’s actually what’s going on and what recovery should look like.

5 Likes

I think you’ll need more vet work. That’s surely not good if he can’t lower his head to a grazing position.

1 Like

Yikes! The bodywork is probably good overall but I wouldn’t do too much until more diagnostics have been done. X-rays and/or ultrasound seems like a must at this point. If those are clear then you might be able to up the intensity of the bodywork as well as add in some physical therapy type stretches and manual manipulation of his head, neck, joints, etc… but get the imaging done first. How awful for your guy! He sounds like he’s been through it.

1 Like

One o f my old men gets something similar when his leg flares up. I raise his feed pan by putting it on a block or stool and put hay in a large hole hay net for him about standing nose height when I can see reaching hurts him. He appreciates it. It does seem to pass after a day or two here but managing the environment to help hasn’t been that hard here.

1 Like

Two questions:
Does he cough at all?
Were his feet ever xrayed when he was hospitalized?

No coughing. He blows his nose when we walk. I mentioned his breathing is fast when walking. He coughed a bit the very first week after discharge. Gradually disappeared over the first week and likely due to all the tubing.

No feet xrays. They were iced and digital pulses checked the entire time. Even when he was slightly endotoxins feet remained fine.

Maybe scope his airway and guttural pouches?

3 Likes

Hospital vet (co-chair of Internal Med at OSU Equine) and my vet are coming out next Wednesday.

I think the plan is to ultrasound him stem to stern.

Hospital vet is the one who was mostly in chair his case during two weeks hospitalized and whom I’ve had endless phone calls with (I finally decided to give him a break and left him alone for the last two weeks).

1 Like

This happened to my guy. My chiropractor said he whiplashed himself. He recovered after one treatment, however he was treated on Day 1.

So I’ve been really trying to think outside the box in preparation for having the hospital vet being on site next week.

What if
-his neck discomfort assumed to be thrombophlebitis (lymph nodes feel enlarged to me, mostly because I sort of have always obsess on them since I knew he had strangles as a foal and they seem to enlarge in the spring and whenever he gets vaccinated),
-his just barely low albumin on his CBC but spiked SAA (this has been attributed to left over from Salmonella crisis),
-his breathing issues,
-gas colicky issues (not discussed here previously but has been on going and is now much better since treating for ulcers with GG/sucralfate/misoprostol),…

What if it something as simple as the grass in the isolation paddock? The colicky symptoms started after I had (quickly) built him up to 20 minutes. That was when I noticed he couldn’t graze down and was eating the tops of the MUCH OVERGROWN paddock. And that was when vet team assumed it was thrombophlebitis.
But what if it’s like strongyles or some other parasite?

1 Like

The excellent news about animal medicine is that they will test for anything you ask for.

1 Like

Does he have any gaps in his deworming history? Has he had high fecal counts?

I have never heard of SAA being elevated in response to parasites.

My bet is on some sort of thoracic pain, such as pneumonia. Or foot pain. Either way, or even if it’s nothing like that at all, the internist will figure it out.

I forget…did you say if you’ve still been temping him?

And, please, let us know what the outcome of the vet visit is.

I temp him at least once a day. Sometimes twice. I do it prior to giving him bute JIC

No gaps - my normal home BO worms on a regular basis. Honestly I don’t know if she pulls fecals but I will ask. He was last wormed late March/early April. He went into OSU on April 21 and has not been wormed since. Nor did he have spring vaccines/coggins as that was planned for early May.
His GI system is still so fragile I/my vet haven’t wanted to do anything to upset it that is not part of current TX plan (GG, Sucralfate, misoprostol, psyllium)

I hope so. My “primary care” vet is great but she is literally just that. She is very factual and direct. Works well for me as someone who has worked in healthcare and research. But she doesn’t like, think outside the box or aggressively go down rabbit holes :rofl:

His muscle atrophy has me concerned too. He had lost weight with the salmonellosis for sure. But over the last two months his longisimus and topline glutes are gone. Granted he’s not doing any work or even turn out. But where I am now has 4 retired 20+ year old horses with better topline than him. Makes me so sad since four months ago we were doing Second Level work :disappointed_relieved:

1 Like

UPDATE:
Okay - co-chair of OSU equine internal med out to meet with my vet and guide her through an ultrasound basically neck to flanks. Plus exam and palpitation everywhere.

Long story short: ruled out a bunch of things but still no answers about not willing to graze, and grunting with movement. Feels possibly all related to GI pain. As in goes to stretch down and it pulls on belly.

No bute tonight. We are switching to paste banamine tomorrow for 3 days. If improvement then may switch to Previcox or Equiox.
May do a round of steroids but waiting for next salmonella results (2 weeks).

I am adding Vitamin E supplement, possible new Purina Omega (targeted to horses not able to graze).
Keeping on current meds (1/2 tube GastroGuard first thing AM, hour later sucralfate and misoprostol, plus those two at night)

My vet returns next week to do core vaccine, acupuncture, and chiro.
They want me to do a QuestPlus wormer just in case. I may wait for after vaccines next week. I’m nervous about all of this - talk me into it if you think I should go for it!
OSU vet may return to do a rectal.

More details:
Ruled out thrombophlebitis (vein still clotted but is recanulating; no phlebitis -yay!)
Ruled out heart blood clot or murmer (yay!); no evidence of myocarditis or endocarditis.
Lungs - right lung showed some small amount of fluid but not enough to “get excited” and not enough to warrant just treatment with antibiotics (given his still delicate GI)
Colon and GI that can be seen on US looked “as normal as can be expected for a horse who nearly died from salmonellosis” - still some evidence of inflammation but everything working as it should.
Jugular lymph nodes are normal - what I’ve been feeling is thyroid. Possible adenoma on right.
Discussed gutteral sacs and feels not causation.
No signs of diaphragmatic hernia.
Duodenum normal.

Suspects grunting groaning and inability to put gear down are all related to belly pain and some abdominal lesions secondary to salmonella crisis.

4 Likes

UPDATE:
Two days on banamine BID and he’s like a different horse. Still not reaching ground but no grunting, breathing has almost normalized, he’s eating and super perky.
So now the plan is (I think) switch to Equioxx and see if that offers the same degree of comfort. If so, he’ll stay on that through next round of salmonella tests. If those are negative or at least only 1of 5 positive, then we may do a round of steroids to see if we can kick it out.

By that time he’ll be done with one “normal” round of treatment for ulcers/hind gut (GastroGuard, sucralfate, misoprostol) (basically a month). So we may scope him as well.

If he declines on the Equioxx then back to banamine, and I’m not sure if steroids are still the plan, or if maybe some more diagnostics.

9 Likes

You’re a wonderful horse mom, and you’re doing everything anyone could do. It’s really heartwarming to see your love and dedication to your guy. Sending prayers and hugs to you both that things continue to improve.

8 Likes