Coccidiosis in filly, very sick

[hhpminis]

Earlier this summer and fall my friends filly had a bout with severe diarhea and colic type symptoms, weight loss, depression, lethargic, you name it she had it. Seriously thought about putting her down at one point it was so bad.

After 3 different vets and a bunch of money she found it to be Coccidiosis. It is a micro parasite common in small animals, dogs, cats, goats and even cattle but not very common at all in horses and is always symptematic in horses where as other animals can carry it and not be effected so much.

Anyway she was put on high powered antibiotics, gastroguard, tummy meds and after several weeks it seemed to clear up and even had several clean fecals. Thought it was bad history and she was over it.

This filly has been gaining weight and getting energy and spunk and all of a sudden last night the diarhea started again. Did a fecal this AM and found Coccidiosis again. Only 1 though, usually many are found. She has been started on the antibiotic again for a 7 day stretch and treating with pepto and banamine to control the diarhea and pain.

Is this something she will have to deal with her entire life? Was it just not completely gone the first round and now is coming back? My friend is at wits end and very upset over this. I told her I would pose the question to the forum and see if anybody had any answers. I know several of you raise other animals and may be more familiar with this.

Thanks for any insight you can give.

 

[zacharyfarms]

This is a fungal infection that can appear to be in remission and then reappear. Some school of thoughts that it is in remission only until it does not reappear for several years. Coccidiomycosis is a fungal infection. In East Tennessee we see it where there are lots of birds..chickens..pigeons.

 

[Shari]

Wild birds, rats, mice and etc.. all can carry that.

It is all around us.

All animals can be affected as bad as that filly has.

I have seen many, many goats die of it because the owners didn't know better and the Vet didn't think to check for that.

Every year, my lambs once they started eating, where given medicated pellets to treat for any Coccidiosis.

Once they got older they never had problems with the thing.

I test my chickens every six months for it. And in 8 years.. I have not one test postive. Have had my Vet do it to make sure.

I think foals have this problem more than we think.

A few years ago I had a colt,, that had the same problem your filly has. Spent large amounts of money with the Vet doing every test under the sun.

Couldn't find anything. But then, niether of us thought to test for Coccidiosis.

I am glad you found out what she has,, and are able to treat it.

Here are some good links.. like they said,,, even bugs can carry it.

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_coccidia.html

http://www.bobmckee.com/Client%20Info/Para...occidiosis.html

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.js...tm/bc/21000.htm

 

[hhpminis]

Sounds like she needs to discover the source for the coccidio....Does she have chickens???pigeons???where this horse eats?

She had goats there this year, they have been moved away from the horses and it can remain in the dirt for a year so she has built a 4 foot barrier around where the goats were so no horses can get near that pen. She does have many barn cats that are wild, she has eliminated several of them and has caught the ones to keep and had them spade. he also had miniature angus this summer eating down her pasture but the babies are not where they were either. She realizes there could be several sources and has done pretty good cleaning possible sources. No chickens or pigeons.

 

[hhpminis]

Every year, my lambs once they started eating, where given medicated pellets to treat for any Coccidiosis.

Once they got older they never had problems with the thing.

Do your remember what kind of pellets they are?

 

[Narrow Way Farm]

Shew we had this bad in our goats and sheep this year, because it is so high in the east Tennessee area. We have actually decided to sell all our goats and sheep except my 2 angoras and Lord willing we won't have trouble with them. We lost 5 goats and 2 sheep to this very toxic virus!! I still have alot to learn about it too.. it is rare in horses though.

 

[Barbie]

I had a problem with it from time to time when I was breeding and showing Persian cats. It was awful. Will certainly keep my eyes open and be on alert for it when we move to Cleveland, TN (hopefully later this year as we just closed on the property). At this time we don't have any outside animals except the horses and intend to keep it that way - for a lot of reasons.

I remember my vet telling me it doesn't always show up in the stool - sometimes we just treated them for it as they had the smelly diarrhea. YUK!!!!!

Good luck!

Barbie

 

[hhpminis]

Thanks all for your advice. I do feel very bad for this friend and her filly but am not sure what to do to help. I dont want to take a chance of bringing it to my barn. In your experince, how is it transmitted to other animals. Can it be on clothes and shoes or is it direct contact with manure or what?

 

[CLC Stables]

Annette

Talk to the vet see if you can give Corid to the horses. This is what I would treat the sheep and chickens with, and it works very well.

Not sure you can give it to horses. If you can give it, I can get it for you.

ROB

 

[Marty]

We had a forum member here a few years ago who was loosing all her horses to it. It was discovered way too late. Vets were baffled. It was in the ground, on her property.

It also effects and kills people too and I do not believe it is contageous like that.

It's highly dangerous and your friend must have a great vet for being able to diagnose this. I sure hope he comes up with a cure and effective treatment for the little filly soon.

 

[hhpminis]

Rob, thank you, they have her on Albon which is a similar drug I believe. Antibiotic was sort of a blanket statement, Albon is a drug that inhibits the reproduction of the protozoa. This give the immune system of the animal time to refurbish as fight what is there. Do you feel that the drug you used was more effective Rob?

I am thinking after reading the links that Shari provided, that immuno boosters would be a good thing to aid in the treatment.

Marty, thank you, I do believe that people can get it as well but it is usually a different strain that people get. It is most dangerous to the young, old, or immune deficient.

We really thought this filly was over it and it was very diturbing to see it back. The links Shari provided explained more about that. They said that many vets do not consider it gone for several years of clean fecal tests.

I should add too that she thought the source might have been goats at the place she boards. The goats have been moved and barriers to keep the horses well away from the area where the goats were have been put up. She does have several feral (sp) cats at the barn too which she has slowly been reducing the number of.

Not so many birds but probably mice as we all do in our barns. Except me, I have very wonderful mousers for cats. They get regular treatment with Drontal for parasites for all their hard work too.

 

[Narrow Way Farm]

Yes Albon is wonderful, very potent..! We used it this summer when we finally figured out what was going on. Praying for your friend

 

[HJF]

Shew we had this bad in our goats and sheep this year, because it is so high in the east Tennessee area. We have actually decided to sell all our goats and sheep except my 2 angoras and Lord willing we won't have trouble with them. We lost 5 goats and 2 sheep to this very toxic virus!! I still have alot to learn about it too.. it is rare in horses though.

We had one case this year in our 1 month old doeling dairy goat. A lot of the goat farms around have had it pretty bad this year. I have never had a horse with it, though.

 

[Michelle@wescofarms]

Annette,

I'm so sorry for your friend - that is rough, especially when things come back! Can you keep us updated on what she does to help her foal?

I hadn't realized horses could get this, and wonder if I didn't have a colt in 2005 with that - he spent a week in ICU, but I don't think they tested him for this specifically. He has had diarrhea a couple of times since then, and we finally put him on Equimune (Chamisa Ridge), and Equine Essentials (TahitianNoni) it seems to have gone away permanently finally!

Equimune is an immune booster, and we started giving it to show horses last summer - the vet thinks this is why our stallion had such a mild case of WNV.

 

[Getitia]

We have not had any experience personally - we know of one case of coccidiosis that a friend had with a weanling miniature filly -

Although he had other mares/foals in the same dry lot/pasture/barn area, only the one weanling ended up with Coccidiosis.

I'm unsure what medications he used - but he spent months dealing with the symptoms - and it was approximately 7 months, before she was considered cured. He said it was very frustrating because he would finish the treatment - filly would then seem "fine" and then a few weeks later - the symptoms returned - more treatment and the cycle continued. I also recall that it was a very, very wet spring and summer that year.

When we raised rabbits, you would end up from time to time with coccidiosis issues (normally transmitted through the droppings from mice and birds in the barn such as sparrows/starlings). - we treated the rabbits with Corid and albon with good success. If I recall correctly, we used the albon (thick yellow liquid medicine) and gave it via a dropper by mouth - and the Corid was mixed in the water. Although we did not medicate with both at the same time.

Good luck - I know that my friend was very frustrated, although the filly recovered.

 

[Margaret]

At this point it would not hurt to consider any contributing environmental factors, that set her up for reinfection.... Moldy hay, bran or oats all which may contain certain fungi that can cause acute entereritis.-(inflamation of the bowel or intestional lining) Possible chemical- like lead from chewing paint..or certain poisonous plants that may have been eaten durring grazing..

 

[Bess Kelly]

I had a few hundred goats and the minis at the same time. This issue was one we delt with -- preventatively. Corid and Albon were used. BUT, what I found worked wonderfully was SMZs. When a young goat had "that" diarrhea, I'd pop an SMZ in them (1 or 1/2, 2X day) and within a couple days...done.

Now, it can live in the soil and some animals have better immune than others. Certain weather factors make it more/less apparent. It never "went through the herd" type thing. But, when I first started with goats I saw it some. Got THAT under control fast!!!

:

I swear, the SMZ's worked so well I never went back to that once a month, for a week, in the water mess.

I also noted that my mares would occassionally eat the 24/7 supply of baking soda kept out for the goats.

Watch their consistancy of feed....keep their flora in tune...try the SMZ's.

 

[hhpminis]

I also noted that my mares would occassionally eat the 24/7 supply of baking soda kept out for the goats.

?????? What did the baking soda do??????????????

 

[Bess Kelly]

Goats are animals that get bloat, on occassion. An old goat farmer told me to always keep the baking soda out for them and they'd almost never have a bloat problem. So, I did. She was correct....never had another case. It gets rid of sour stomach, heartburn, etc. A goat will actually blow up like a balloon and you must either puncture to release the gas or they can die in horrible pain....goats often eat crap another animal wouldn't consider.

:

Anyway, besides the salty taste, they seemed to know to eat the stuff. Heck, I bought it in 10# boxes at Costco and kept it out free choice, along side the vit/min. So, I can only guess that the mares liked the taste and had a "sweet" stomach.

:

 

[hhpminis]

Well that makes sense, my mom would give me baking soda and water when I had tummy troubles. Not sure if that would do anything for the coccidia though. But good to put in the back of the memory bank.