Rotococcus

[runaway ranch]

My yearling filly's eyes very suddenly looked swollen and watery. When the vet came out, he said she more than likely had a Rotococcus infection and that it had to treated aggressively. He couldn't say how she got it, but that it wasn't contagious. Has anyone else had a horse with this?

I feel so badly for my little girl, she looks so uncomfortable.

 

[littlesteppers]

Hope she is doing better..what do you treat her with??

Rhodococcus

 

[conders]

My yearling filly's eyes very suddenly looked swollen and watery. When the vet came out, he said she more than likely had a Rotococcus infection and that it had to treated aggressively. He couldn't say how she got it, but that it wasn't contagious. Has anyone else had a horse with this? 

  I feel so badly for my little girl, she looks so uncomfortable.

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[conders]

this doesn't sound like it to me. Did the vet take a blood test to test the fibrinogen level? If he didn't, then he has no way of telling if that is what it is.

If the fibrinogen level is low, then they test for the actual disease. Usually it only effects weanlings, they get a very high tempature, have trouble breathing and cough alot. It is brought onto the farm by other babies, usually very young.

It doen'nt sound like you have it, hope you don't, it is very contagious for a very long time. Good luck!

 

[Ginny]

We have had Rhodococcus in a foal and it caused Pneumonia which did not respond to standard antibiotics. It causes abscesses (sp?) in the foals lungs and the foal will show labored breathing and listlessness, possibly also coughing and choking when nursing. Rhodococcus responds mainly to a combination of Rifampin and Erythromicin which have to be given several times a day orally, usually for about 1-2 months! You also have to give tagamet or something similar to prevent ulcers. I don't recall it affecting the eyes from what I've seen or heard about it. The way it is identified is via tracheal wash, fibrin levels in the bloodtest (although in our case our foal's fibrin levels were fine even though the lungs were almost gone) and an xray or ultrasound of the lungs.

Ginny Long

 

[walter]

We had a month old filly have Rhodococcus Pheumonia once and spent 19 days in OSU. Since this baby had not been off of our farm the vet said that another horse had to bring it to our farm...we had several mares and foals in that year for breeding. Needless to say we learned our lesson on that one. We do not breed outside mares anymore., it is supposedly spread through fecal matter, and we even pick up our poop.!!! Go figure. This little girl was known at OSU as the Miracle Baby as they did not believe she would pull through. She had 24 hour nurses as she had an IV all the time., she went into kidney failure, diarrea, it was just awful...BUT , the good news is she made it and seems to be fine now. We still have her and she is 2 years old, doing fine. Very spoiled but fine. This is a VERY serious thing.

Good luck to you and your horse.

Clara

 

[Ginny]

Walter... from what my vets told me and what I read about it.... it wasn't necessarily brought in by an outside horse as Rhodococcus is in the environment at all farms but it is opportunistic and once a foal gets it, it can reproduce in a foal's intestines and spreads in the fecal matter of the foal to other foals. It mostly spreads in environments that are dry and have sandlots with no grass where the foals are kept. The contaminants are kicked up by the mares and inhaled by the foals as they walk along beside the mares. It doesn't spread as easily in pastures that don't have the bare sandy/dirt areas.

Ginny Long

 

[Mulligans Run]

Thank you Ginny, this is the same thing that they think Hopey has, but they told us that it would take the culture from the tracheal wash to determine if it is.

I was also told that it's probably something that all horses have, it just comes out with stress and affects the weakest horses, like the foals.

I pray that your little one doesn't have this and that it will be healed quickly.

 

[runaway ranch]

The vet said that they usually present with a cough first, but she hasn't coughed at all and she is a yearling. He said it is most common in foals or aged horses. Priscilla has no respiratory symptoms. Whatever it is has only affected her eyes. We are treating it with Rifampin and Erythromicin, very aggressively. The biggest fear is blindness. Please send her your prayers.

Lisa

 

[qtrrae]

Oh Lisa,

Poor little Priscilla!! I know how worried you are about your precious little girl.

I'm keeping Priscilla in my prayers.

Did the vet give you the correct spelling for what he thinks this is?? Just wondering because it doesn't sound like Rhodococcus to me.

Hugs for you Lisa and for your precious little filly!!

 

[hairicane]

Sure hope she gets well fast!!!

 

[ClickMini]

Sending healing thoughts and prayers to your filly. I'm sorry you are having to go through this.

 

[stormy]

I had a colt with this about 4 years ago, his only symptom was swollen legs and a traveling lameness, would be lame on the left hind than the right front than a differant leg. We treated him very aggresively for almost 3 months, treatments 5 times a day, it is a tough thing to defeat. He recovered fine and is healthy and happy today.

 

[runaway ranch]

Thank you for all your support. My little Priscilla is doing much better already. Lisa