Please Help!

[Bonnie_RBsLil]

Hi everybody,

It's been a long time since I've posted. Just busy with stuff, I guess. I have a dilemna with one of my mares and the vet is stumped.

She went off her feed yesterday afternoon. Was fine in that morning, eating as usual and no signs of anything wrong. By evening feeding, she wouldn't touch her food, very lethargic but no signs of blindness. My thermometer was all over the place so not working right but I don't think she had a temperature, no outward signs. She wasn't presenting a typical colic. No ground pawing or laying down to roll, etc. Just hanging her head and not interested in food. Thinking it was a mild colic, I treated with Banamine and watched her the rest of the evening checking her before bedtime. She was eating some so I thought she would be ok.

This morning she was back to the same lethargic, no eating symptoms except she was totally blind. Very non-reactive to every kind of stimuli except when I tried to halter her, she wasn't very cooperative because (I think) she didn't know what was going onto her nose since she couldn't see it. Once I got it on her, she went back to being non-reactive to stimuli. This mare has never been trailered, but she went right in with me. She was trusting me to take her safely to wherever. I rode with her to the vet hospital because I had to help keep her on her feet. She had no reaction to all the noise of the trailer and traffic.

Vet work has been unremarkable for the most part. Blood work doesn't indicate anything definitive. The vet is more concerened with the acute blindness than the non-eating and the Banamine helps as she is in some kind of pain even if not gut pain. Her breath is acidy and gums too bright a pink color. Cap refill a bit slow.

This mare has always had popeyes and that was an immediate concern to the vets but that is corneal only and shouldn't have anything to do with going suddenly blind. Vets think retinal or optic nerve involvement but can't come up with a diagnosis why, therefore don't know how to treat. They seem to think she stopped eating because of eye pain but that doesn't explain the acidy breath.

Does anyone out there have any experince with this? Any suggestions? The vets here are not very experienced with Minis and don't understand that there can be differences between them and the big breeds. Any info will be helpful. Thanks in advance and hi to everyone!

Bonnie

R&Bs Lil Rascals

 

[Whitestar]

I hate to scare you, but one of the Vets I work with described the same symptoms in a horse that later was found to have rabies. I would mention it to your vet as a precaution to anyone handling this animal.

 

[Miniv]

Bonnie,

How old is your mare? Is she favoring (such as leaning or turning toward) one side over another? Is she staying away from her group/herd? What do her eyes look like? Do the pupils have a blueish look to them?

What little I know about blindness is from other breeders and then from just one mare we have owned. Most of the time blindness comes on gradually and there are several causes for it.

The one mare we had was older and she went blind very quickly, but also developed other physical symptoms as well, over a matter of a couple of days. For her, it ended up being a stroke -- which is supposed to be rather rare.

Wish I had some answers for you........but you are on the right track having your vet start investigating. He may not know a lot about minis, but I suspect that most problems that cause blindness in equine would be the same or related.

Please keep us informed.....

MA

 

[Bonnie_RBsLil]

I hate to scare you, but one of the Vets I work with described the same symptoms in a horse that later was found to have rabies.  I would mention it to your vet as a precaution to anyone handling this animal.

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Thanks White Star. We haven't had a case of rabies here in Pagosa for many years. I will mention it to the vet just in case. Thanks! --Bonnie

 

[wewindwalker]

Could she have ran into something or been kicked?

Most horses will rub thier head or grind thier teeth when they are in pain.

 

[Bonnie_RBsLil]

Bonnie,
How old is your mare?  Is she favoring (such as leaning or turning toward) one side over another?  Is she staying away from her group/herd? What do her eyes look like? Do the pupils have a blueish look to them?

What little I know about blindness is from other breeders and then from just one mare we have owned.  Most of the time blindness comes on gradually and there are several causes for it.

The one mare we had was older and she went blind very quickly, but also developed other physical symptoms as well,  over a matter of a couple of days.  For her, it ended up being a stroke -- which is supposed to be rather rare.

Wish I had some answers for you........but you are on the right track having your vet start investigating.  He may not know a lot about minis, but I suspect that most problems that cause blindness in equine would be the same or related.

Please keep us informed.....

MA

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She is 7 years old. She is not favoring one side or other but does shake her head quite a bit. The vet didn't comment on pupil color but her pupils are not reacting to light. The most common cause of sudden blindness is uveitis (moon blindness) but they ruled that out. I asked about stroke and the vet didn't comment. Thanks for your imput! --Bonnie

 

[Bonnie_RBsLil]

Could she have ran into something or been kicked?Most horses will rub thier head or grind thier teeth when they are in pain.

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The vet did mention trauma. Since I didn't see her do anything "stupid" and there is no outward sign of head injury we can't say for sure. It is one possibility but still doesn't answer the "acidy breath" question. She wasn't head pressing and not grinding her teeth. Thanks! --Bonnie

 

[Shaladar]

Is she in foal? If so, how far along?

Sue

 

[wewindwalker]

Could she be diabetic ?

 

[Bonnie_RBsLil]

Could she be diabetic ?

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Well, her bloodwork showed a slighly elevated blood glucose but the vet said it wasn't enough to cause concern or be definitive. But a good thought. Thanks! --Bonnie

 

[Relic]

One of our mares a few years back went completely blind and after many tests it was found she had very little of her liver left.

 

[wewindwalker]

Well I'm stumped but I think I would check deeper into the head trauma, diabetic [it can cause acidic breath ] or maybe west nile????

 

[Bonnie_RBsLil]

Well I'm stumped but I think I would check deeper into the head trauma, diabetic [it can cause acidic breath ] or maybe west nile????

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"Stumped" is pretty much the word the vets used. They could treat her for head trauma with steroids but if it's inflamatory that would make her worse. We are way past mosquito season. I will mention diabetes to the vets. Thanks!

 

[virginia]

Possibly her blood glucose showed low because she hasn't eaten much. I definately would check into that a little more. She also may be depressed because of not being able to see and is scared. How is she now>??

Ginny StP

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Sending prayers for your lady.

 

[qtrrae]

Bonnie,

How scary!!

I have recently had an experience with a foal that was born blind, within 2 weeks she could see and my vet felt she had some brain swelling when she was born which caused her blindness. I know this is just a "guess" but would it have been possible for her to have some sort of head trauma causing that part of her brain to swell?

I will certainly keep you and your little mare in my prayers, hoping and praying for some answers resulting in a complete recovery.

 

[Bonnie_RBsLil]

Possibly her blood glucose showed low because she hasn't eaten much.  I definately would check into that a little more.  She also may be depressed because of not being able to see and is scared.  How is she now>??
Ginny StP

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Her glucose was slighly high. At first I thought the vet said it was low as she used the term "hypo" but she had mis-stated and said it was actually elevated a little. The vet called a few hours ago and said that she had been given Banamine (she is in the hospital overnight for observation) and she didn't pay any attention to the hay they had put in with her until the vet put it right up to her nose. Then she said she tucked right into eating it. That was the last word I had on her condition. Will know more tomorrow after they watch her tonight. They want to refer her to an eye specialist in Denver. Thanks! --Bonnie

 

[Dream]

The elevated blood glucose (especially since it is only slightly elevated) is due to stress. If this was liver failure there should be abnormal liver values on the bloodwork. Diabetes mellitus is very rare in the horse. Was she drinking/urinating more than usual? Rabies is also rare in the horse. Is she showing any neurologic signs other than depression and blindness?

 

[Triggy&Blue&Daisy Too]

She is 7 years old.  She is not favoring one side or other but does shake her head quite a bit.  The vet didn't comment on pupil color but her pupils are not reacting to light.  The most common cause of sudden blindness is uveitis (moon blindness) but they ruled that out.  I asked about stroke and the vet didn't comment.  Thanks for your imput!  --Bonnie

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I have come across this similar set of symptoms before on a veterinary site. As I recall the problem mentioned in that case was photic head shake syndrome. Not much treatment for it but the shaking can eventually cause blindness due to the trauma it produces. The depression might be due to the sight loss as horses tend to shut down when any of their senses are disturbed. Not definative on the original cause but I think it was exposure to EEV and light reactivates the virus causing head shake when the animal is exposed to strong light. Very hard to diagnose as it comes and goes throughout the year. Anyway just tossing out a thought since it sounded so familiar.

Hope your vet comes to a conclusion soon.

 

[Bonnie_RBsLil]

The elevated blood glucose (especially since it is only slightly elevated) is due to stress.  If this was liver failure there should be abnormal liver values on the bloodwork.  Diabetes mellitus is very rare in the horse.  Was she drinking/urinating more than usual?  Rabies is also rare in the horse.  Is she showing any neurologic signs other than depression and blindness?

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Her biliruben (spelling) was "slightly elevated" as well also due to stress. Her white count was "slightly low". But nothing stood out that would point to anything. She urinated this afternoon but I have no idea how much water she's been drinking. She shares a tank with 4 other horses. Her walking was stilted but could have been due to pain and not knowing where she was stepping. The vet and I took her to a roundpen and the vet snapped a whip around her. She didn't react to it. Was planted where I had left her. Vet said sudden blindness causes them to not want to walk anywhere because of uncertainty. She (the vet) was proving the blindness with that demonstration more than anything else. Thanks! --Bonnie