Something odd happening.

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

I think her general body language looks a bit happier from clipping. Her feet are quite long and I would have the farrier out anyway to do them, he can look for issues at the same time but I would be asking a vet for advise. Have you called one just to talk on the phone?

Runny poo is also a sign of being too warm.

 

[always learning]

I believe, if she were mine, I'd have had the farrier out sooner. That would have taken the feet out of the list of possibles. It's been my experience that when an animal that's usually stand-offish suddenly combines not feeling well with wanting attention, it usually means they recognize that they need help. I would definitely have the teeth checked, if she doesn't have points, maybe she's got something else bothering her part of the time. $500 for a vet check-up! Ours charges $65 for the trip out, then it depends on what's needed. When I got the colt castrated it was less than $300. They don't do x-rays or blood work unless needed (like coggins). I hope you had a lot done for the money.

 

[Carly Rae]

I am going to call the vets today, she looks no better, still laying down and is sluggish.

We are going to get onto a farrier today or tomorrow. Yeah our last vet check up was when Toby had colic, the vet only gave him two needles and put a pipe down his nose and pumped everything out of his stomach. Thats all really. The vet bill was a huge shock and I my dad was very unhappy with me.

 

[Carly Rae]

We called the vets...

My dads cousin suggested that it was a plant called fire weed and its very toxic and can make horses very very sick. We went to see if there was any and we have a fair bit of the weed. We told the vets and they said If she is sick from the fire weed (they think it sounds like the symptoms) They said she will either get over it... or she wont. I am hoping like heck it isn't, I am not ready to loose her.

 

[chandab]

Do whatever you can to keep her eating, it'll help flush any toxins out of her system and stave off hyperlipidemia (which is also deadly, it can occur when horses lose weight too rapidly). Anything she might like to entice her to eat; treats what ever. When one of my mares got sick and pretty much quit eating, I kept her going with her favorite treat, I crumbled them and top dressed every meal with them, gave her a couple several times a day. I wasn't worried about the side effects of too many treats as much as her not eating.

Did the vet suggest any supportive care for her?

 

[AngC]

Good luck Carly Rae. Please let us know how it goes.

 

[Carly Rae]

The vet recommended to lock her up away from grass and offer her hay, they also told us to go to a chemist and buy Charcoal tablets and crush them up to give to her, We gave her the tablets and gave her Berg Oil which helps with colicy horses, the lady at the store relies on it she says its amazing so we gave her a dose of that too.

We went and bought her a digital thermometer as well, the vet said to check it and it should be around 37.5 Degrees C, we measured hers and it was 38.7 Degrees C.

Right now she is slowly picking at the hay. I looked up about Fireweed here are some symptoms

-Some gradual weight loss

-Jaundice

-Fluid on the lungs

-Blindness may occur

-May cause severe liver damage

-Aimless wandering

-Diarrohoea

-Temperature

-Loss of condition

-No interest in eating or drinking

-Sudden Death without other indications.

The symptoms that match hers are

Weight loss, Temperature, Aimless wandering, Diarrohoea, She kind of eats and drinks but its very minimal.

Our other thought is colic.

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

Comic won't go on this long it would have got worse or better.

If it's poisoning she needs to be flushed so lots of water and fluids, soak her gay and soak any food. Add flavor to water if she will drink more of it. 38.7 is only .2 higher than it should be and that might be just her normal range. Take it every day though at about the same time.

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

At the min getting her to eat and Drink is most important. Get lost of really tasty food for her, apples and carrots and sweet feed and get lots of fluid into it all.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

How is she this morning Carly ?

 

[maplehollow]

Just saw this thread and wanted to say that I would have a vet run her blood work and make sure she doesn't have any liver or kidney problems. Your descriptions remind me of how my mare with kidney failure was acting. Hope that isn't it but if caught early enough could hopefully be able to treat her for it.

Melinda

 

[Carly Rae]

Just saw this thread and wanted to say that I would have a vet run her blood work and make sure she doesn't have any liver or kidney problems. Your descriptions remind me of how my mare with kidney failure was acting. Hope that isn't it but if caught early enough could hopefully be able to treat her for it.

Melinda

Oh I hope not,

She is looking fantastic this morning, shes been grazing all day happily, shes been drinking, taking my treats and her poo isn't runny anymore. She has been responding to her name now and looks so much happier and healthier. Her temperature was 1.2 Degrees over yesterday and she was 0.1 over today, so her temperature has settled.

Now we just need to get her hooves done and hopefully she continues on her recovery.

 

[chandab]

With that quick of a recovery or at least headed in the right direction, perhaps it was something like heat stress causing her issues.

 

[Carly Rae]

I find it odd to be heat though, She has been living here for 4 years now and we have never had a single problem, that was actually the first time I had actually clipped her normally she would still be fluffy and I would just let her shed naturally. I just wonder why If it was heat, would it be causing her problems now?

 

[always learning]

I suppose it could have been a combination of factors. One discomfort by itself she'd barely notice, gets piled onto another, and next thing you know it's just too much for the body to handle at one time. (Like catching a cold when you're still recovering from surgery.)

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

Like i said, the older the horse the less able they are to regulate their temperature. They change every year. Maybe her coat was thicker this year, maybe it was warmer than last year etc etc

At least she is on the right path again now. Just to point out 37.5-38.5 is a normal temperature range, her temp was not over 1 degree high (that would mean a very high temp and she would have needed vet) it was .2 high, so she did have a high temp but not dangerously so like 1.2 would have been.

 

[chandab]

Why would only one in a herd suffer from heat issues? I don't know, but one of mine did a few years ago. Sometimes it just happens.

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

Why would only one in a herd suffer from heat issues? I don't know, but one of mine did a few years ago. Sometimes it just happens.

Every horse is an individual. Im usually freezing when everyone else is warm and warm when everyone else is freezing.

 

[AngC]

Why would only one in a herd suffer from heat issues? I don't know, but one of mine did a few years ago. Sometimes it just happens.

Perhaps if they're different colors? Nicky and Baby who have much more white hair (ER-reflective) will stay in the sun on a hot day a lot longer than Coco will (dark hair) and they will also get less sweaty if they run in the sunshine on a hot day.

It's good you had a vet out, CarlyRae. I'd give a lot more weight to what the vet recommends vice what you read here, simply because he/she was able to view the horse in person. I'm also glad that he told you to yank her off the grass. That would have been my first move, if a horse was acting colic-y (unless that was the only food source.) Isn't it spring there? ...i.e., grass loaded with sugars?

I have a comment on "poisonous plants." One I've seen on horse poisonous plants lists is buttercups. If I spent every single waking hour, I wouldn't be able to eradicate buttercups from our property. But our horses don't generally eat them. ...although, they will occasionally dig up buttercup roots and nibble on them. If they're well-fed, which ours definitely are, they don't seem to eat such plants? I'm not familiar with fireweed. But when a prior poster mentioned things stuck in teeth/gums, one thought that came to my mind was foxtail and cocklebur. I'm totally relying on memory here because those two weeds are not a problem in my area. I vaguely recollect reading that one and/or the other can be problematic in Bermuda grass hay. I think (still relying on my foggy memory) that it's more a problem in the southern/southeastern US and totally not sure if a problem in Australia.)???

That's all my thinking for today; it exhausted me. ;-} I'm glad she's feeling better. She is awfully cute.

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

I think the vet gave advise over the phone angc

Very good point about the color of the cost though!