Salmonella in horses

[minimule]

I've heard of it but I can't find anything on it. All the sites I've found you have to be a vet to get into. That doesn't help much

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How do horses get it? What are the symptoms? I know diarrhea is one the symptoms but what else? I also know it can be very contagious. I'm just curious.

 

[SunQuest]

minimule,

I found this article on the web, no account needed. I have never had to deal with it, so I am not sure how accurate this article is. Chat with your vet about it as they are the ones that know. But, I do know that birds can be a big source of it if bird droppings contaminate the food and water.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art47137.asp

 

[JewelsOK]

I'm the one with the little yearling in the hospital that might have salmonella and they told me the some horses can be "silent" carriers and not have symptoms, but pass it to others. They also said that many horses just have it lying dormant in their intestines and then when something causes the horse stress the bacterial balance in the gut can become out of whack and they can end up with illness from it.

Almost all animals (and humans) can become infected and spread it. What scares me is that it has become resistant to antibiotics so it is difficult to treat. Vet said Image wouldn't even get antibiotics if he does indeed have it. They will just keep him hydrated and hope for the best.

Good barn/personal hygiene is very important to prevent the spread.

 

[kaykay]

When our mare got it the hospital said it could be a small dead animal in the hay or something they pick up in the pasture.

 

[Jill]

From what I understand, salmonella in horses is usually caused by other animals pooping in what the horses eat. I think it's actually botulism that is caused by a dead animal in the hay, etc. Not to debate anyone, but it's important information for people looking to prevent the spread and trying to learn from this discussion.

I'd actually previously discussed with my vet when I bought a mare who had been used to getting botulism vaccine and my vet explained to me he would not recommend I continue, since it's usually caused by a dead animal in the hay, and we're not feeding round bales, etc. (and the vaccine was not without side effects). From what he told me and I have since read, it's other sick animals defecating in the feed that spreads the Salmonella in most cases.

Here is an easy to follow article: http://www.addl.purdue.edu/newsletters/200...r/equine-es.htm

PS it is easy to confuse Salmonella and Botulism, with both being types of food poisoning

 

[kaykay]

minimule another "symptom" is the smell of the diarhea is a smell you will never forget. Its not at all like the normal smell of manure. Our mare also had colic symptoms with it and the diarhea is explosive.

You can get dead animals in square bales as its being baled in the field. I do not use round bales. Also stored hay no matter how careful you are can get bird droppings, raccoon droppings etc.

 

[JewelsOK]

Ugh! The more I read about it the more freaked out I get. Having two human kids with Inflamatory Bowel Disease and on Immuno-suppressives, I tend to be a bit of a germaphobe anyway and this is not helping. We are at a boarding facility so although I can do my best to control my cleanliness, there is not much I can do to control the others.

If Image does turn out to have salmonella, I hope the other boarders don't get mad at us if their horses get it. I am probably the cleanest person that boards out there.

It just seems like fighting a thing like this is like fighting an invisible enemy.

 

[jleonard]

I really don't know much about it, but I have been riding with a vet lately and he is treating a foal he suspects has salmonella. From what he has said, in this scenario, either the foals dam, or one of the other brood mares he was pastured with may have been a silent carrier who "sheds" salmonella without showing symptoms themselves, however when the foal came in contact with the mares manure, his weaker immune system could not handle it, so he showed symptoms. So this is one way it can be contracted.

 

[ckmini]

I had a 4 month old filly get samonilla, she had bad diarrhea, wasn't eating, was colicy, and very lethargic.

She died two weeks after showing symptoms. But the vets believe her case was different than the norm, that she may have had something else going on, however colic was ruled out.

 

[Jill]

What I do to limit the chance of botulism, which again is the food poisoning spread by dead animals in the hay -- salmonella is from dropping of infected animals in the hay/feed -- is to fluff out the hay and let it fall loosely like rain towards where they eat it. If there were even a small dead mouse, I would find it. But, again, this is regarding botulism, not salmonella.

 

[minimule]

Interesting. I'm not dealing with it, I was just curious about how they get it. Hopefully with me asking, someone out there might get some info they need too. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Sun Runner Stables]

It's nasty and can be spread by contact as well. Not just poo water so to speak. (In school, it seemed that almost everything really really nasty that was an enterobacter (sp*) was thanks to poo water contact.

The problem with salmonella is that every horse carries it, just like us people. So they will test positive, and really the worst thing is they can't do a thing about it asides support as someone else already noted.

If a horse gets the infectious type of it, it's almost a death sentence. At UF vet school, where a friend of mine works, she gets a few in every once in awhile- and it's a few days/weeks of heck.

It's an almost 3% survival rate in certain types of disease that they believe can be considered salmonella. Often it's just classified as contagious diarrhea- and who ever mentioned the smell was dead on btw-

It's utterly disgusting, but the worst part is the recovery after. It takes a Long time for the horses guts to get normal again, and often only with Very costly meds.

I am really sorry for the gal who has the sick filly, but the Can and will pull through, it's just very very very tedious and heart wrenching.

 

[yankngo]

I KNOW OF SONE ONE THAT HAD A SIMILAR PROBLEM AND THEY USED A PRODUCT CALLED BIO SPONGE

JUST SOMETHING YOU COULD TRY