Thought he was lame again

[happy appy]

Do you have any pictures of the spots?

 

[AnnaC]

Could the areas on his hips and elbows be the result of him laying down more over the past two/three weeks? Many dogs who spend time laying on concrete/hard surfaces suffer from flakey hairless areas on their elbows. Also he may be feeling bruised in these areas too - are these the only places affected or does he have this problem elsewhere on his body as well? Could the meds that he has had be affecting his skin in general on a tempory basis?

Just throwing out ideas!

 

[chandab]

Max seems to be doing extremely well over the last few days, I have started just doing banamine every other day to see what his tollerance is/see how much he really still needs. I went three days without it and he came up extremely stiff; my vet did say he may need to be kept on banamine just to keep him happy and moving around.

You might want to look into something like B-L pellets, an herbal anti-inflammatory, and see if it would keep him comfortable. Banamine, like most NSAIDs can cause gastric ulcers. If the vet insists on banamine or its the only thing that works for him, then you might want to consider putting him on ulcer prevention meds.

 

[MiniNHF]

I was going to try and get some yesterday but he was being his pain in the butt self and didnt want to stand still but there was a lot of action going on in the barn with the farrier being there, I will try and get some tomorrow

Do you have any pictures of the spots?

I was thinking the hip points, hocks and elbows were from him laying down. He does have rain rot on his front legs, which isnt typical but it has been such a wet summer here. Mostly on his top points like his back and rump seems that his skin is really flakey and he is losing hair like he is shedding out. The few spots I found on the sides of his rump I actually shaved so I could see better and treat started losing the hair and then had chunks of flakes that he did not like that I was pulling them off.

Could the areas on his hips and elbows be the result of him laying down more over the past two/three weeks? Many dogs who spend time laying on concrete/hard surfaces suffer from flakey hairless areas on their elbows. Also he may be feeling bruised in these areas too - are these the only places affected or does he have this problem elsewhere on his body as well? Could the meds that he has had be affecting his skin in general on a tempory basis?

Just throwing out ideas!

I actually started him on stomach stuff since day one we started the banamine so his stomach wouldnt get messed up. He hasnt shown any signs of discomfort or anything. I have backed him off to ever other day now instead of every day like he was on.

You might want to look into something like B-L pellets, an herbal anti-inflammatory, and see if it would keep him comfortable. Banamine, like most NSAIDs can cause gastric ulcers. If the vet insists on banamine or its the only thing that works for him, then you might want to consider putting him on ulcer prevention meds.

 

[Carolyn R]

Just wondering how your boy is doing? Wondering how his weight gain is goin. Has your vet ever discussed PSSM with you? Continued thoughts and prayers.

 

[MiniNHF]

Thought I had put this update in but I guess I forgot :/ been kinda busy.

But the farrier did come on Monday and he did his hooves successfully with no balance issues etc. He said if he had any kind of pain going on he would have never even attempted to pick his feet up and he didnt feel any unbalanced moments when he was doing the hooves, which is an excellent sign!

I think friday I wil attempt to turn him out with his girls while I work my mini boy and then put him back in his paddock over night just as baby steps to getting him full time out in the field. Just want to make sure he is stable enough to handle the others.

I dont know what PSSM is can you elaborate?

Just wondering how your boy is doing? Wondering how his weight gain is goin. Has your vet ever discussed PSSM with you? Continued thoughts and prayers.

 

[MiniNHF]

Well he went out with his girls and little buddy on saturday and I pulled him out of the field when I got there and he seemed to be doing really well with the transition. I am not sure if they are just turning him out for a few hours then back into the paddock at night or what yet, I should know by today what the schedule is for him since the owners of the barn will be leaving for worlds today and will have a fill in to take care of the farm while they are gone.

 

[Carolyn R]

Sorry it took to so long to respond, PSSM is found in multiple breeds but is more common in quarter horses and draft breeds. No expert here, just one of the medical issues that came to light when I was researching for a gypsy vanner. The muscles can't store the sugar energy, while it is often associated with tying up, symptoms can present themselves as the horse drastically losing weight very quickly, and looking as if it has an off gait or a very unsteady back end. Testing can be done by doing a core sample of the muscle, but when caught early, and it is suspected, many vets forgo the testing due to the cost and invasive procedure and reccomend a diet very high in fats, as in adding powdered fat, or oil to the diet of a base like a forage based pellet feed or alfalfa pellets (high in fatty substances or oils as in a bare min of 2 cups up to 4+ cups a day).

I did see a QH that a young lady saved up for, then less than a month after she got him, he was literally losing weight right before her eyes. His back end was all over the place. Vet had reccomended keeping him in a narrow stall so the walls could offer support and I believe they were thinking it was PSSM. It was close to ten years ago, so I am not sure how things worked out, but it was heartbreaking to see.

The philosophy, from what I have read, is that if it is suspected and other health issues are ruled out, the high in fats/oil diet is the go to plan and the animal should at the very least, stop losing weight and with any luck, stabilize and begin to gain weight and muscle back. The key is catching it early enough before the animal becomes so thin weak that it can not bounce back.

 

[MiniNHF]

That is interesting, ive never heard of that before; thank you for that information. His rear seems to be getting more and more steady ever week. I think at this point his only issue is turning in a tight spot. If he turns to quick or to tight he seems to loose his balance quickly. I was hoping once he is back into his field routine that I might start an excercise program of walking up and down hill with him by hand to try to strengthen his back end up. Honestly I do not think he will be able to carry me any more and I dont want to risk a collapse while I am on him. He is a big boy at 16:2 hands.

Sorry it took to so long to respond, PSSM is found in multiple breeds but is more common in quarter horses and draft breeds. No expert here, just one of the medical issues that came to light when I was researching for a gypsy vanner. The muscles can't store the sugar energy, while it is often associated with tying up, symptoms can present themselves as the horse drastically losing weight very quickly, and looking as if it has an off gait or a very unsteady back end. Testing can be done by doing a core sample of the muscle, but when caught early, and it is suspected, many vets forgo the testing due to the cost and invasive procedure and reccomend a diet very high in fats, as in adding powdered fat, or oil to the diet of a base like a forage based pellet feed or alfalfa pellets (high in fatty substances or oils as in a bare min of 2 cups up to 4+ cups a day).
I did see a QH that a young lady saved up for, then less than a month after she got him, he was literally losing weight right before her eyes. His back end was all over the place. Vet had reccomended keeping him in a narrow stall so the walls could offer support and I believe they were thinking it was PSSM. It was close to ten years ago, so I am not sure how things worked out, but it was heartbreaking to see.
The philosophy, from what I have read, is that if it is suspected and other health issues are ruled out, the high in fats/oil diet is the go to plan and the animal should at the very least, stop losing weight and with any luck, stabilize and begin to gain weight and muscle back. The key is catching it early enough before the animal becomes so thin weak that it can not bounce back.

 

[Mustang13]

sorry to hear everything you are going through. our old gelding Bert had heart problems he would just drop like someone flicked a switch and turned him off. then he would stagger and look like he didint know where he was when he came to. we bought him some time with some pills the vet gave us but only a few months he dropped so much weight during that time. he was 36 when we had to put him down from it

 

[MiniNHF]

I got an update from the farm owner right before she left for Worlds and said he has been doing extremely well out in the field but we are still concerned about his weight, its a slow process to get it to stick on him, but he has gained a good amount from what he was when this all happened. So we are going to continue to give him beet pulp and corn oil with his grain and Im probably going to look into a weight builder as well. Our main concern is packing on the pounds before the grass goes away for the winter time

 

[MiniNHF]

Well max is doing extremely well out in the field with all his buddies and he isnt crossing in the front any more from what I observe when he is walking across the field. He still seems to be cautious though when he is going down hills and such almost like he doesnt want something to happen. His rear end is getting better still is a little unsure when he has to turn tightly in a small area but I think he is doing wonderful.

Here is a picture of him mid bath yesterday, he was not a happy camper at all and never is when he is soaked lol. But we are still working on the weight, I am going to introduce some weight builder supplements to him soon because it doesnt look like the grass has put alot of weight on him in the past week he has been on it

 

[Marty]

I'm so happy to hear Max continues to improve. He has a long ways to go but seems his spirit is pushing him forward to live. This is so exciting to see him on the road to recovery. He's a lovely gent. I must admit, he is a mystery that is making me crazy.

I don't have a clue what is wrong with Max but I'm going to throw something out there from left field: Sounds to me like he's an outside kept horse. You mentioned there was a lot of rain so there any chance at all he was struck by lightning?

I ask this because my son's horse was. And he was not outside in the storm. At the time we had our stalls in a shed row, and lightning ricosheyed from a tree and hit him in his stall. He lost his motor skills in the highquarters from it among other things. He didn't make it.

Only other thing I came up with is wondering if Max could have had a stroke or seizure.

Have you ever considered acupuncture?

Hope to hear more good things about Max.

Best wishes.

 

[MiniNHF]

Thank you for your comment. We eventually ruled out the seizure and/or stroke. We ended out bringing a Chiropractor out and she said he was either partially paralyzed or he has a fracture that is still trying to heal (if that was the case I will see improvements in the next 4 weeks, which I have).

Now how he got himself into such a bad state, we have no idea at all. He could have been running around and bucking carrying on like he usually does (because he thinks he is still 4 yrs old) and may have slipped or tripped and hurt himself. The Chiropractor said he could of had back injuries that healed when he was younger when we did exstensive eventing and show jumping that as age hit weakened and then an accident happened causing the fracture now he is older.

All I know is what happened to him, happened suddenly. The vets did say that because he was such an athlete in his prime that he has the strength to pull through this unlike other horses they have seen with these types of back injuries. He is also extremely smart and babied himself through this whole thing so not to cause more problems to his injuries which I think helped him in success of his recovery because I say every one who looked at him thought he was not going to recover enough to be able to have a good life going forward.

I was thinking about having acupuncture done and they are few and far between in my area. I left messages for a couple that are least an hour from me almost a month ago and still have not gotten any responses back. So I am not sure if I will be able to have anything done. Maybe as he gets stronger I will have the chiropractor some back and work on him, at the time she was there she was afraid to do anything without an x-ray due to how bad he was doing she didnt want to further worsen the problem.

It pains me to see him so thin, because before this whole ordeal he looked great for a 26 year old with his weight everything and it has just been a struggle to get him to even get the weight you see in that picture on him. I guess the trauma got to him and the amount of energy he was using during the recovery process was just taking a toll on his weight.

I'm so happy to hear Max continues to improve. He has a long ways to go but seems his spirit is pushing him forward to live. This is so exciting to see him on the road to recovery. He's a lovely gent. I must admit, he is a mystery that is making me crazy.

I don't have a clue what is wrong with Max but I'm going to throw something out there from left field: Sounds to me like he's an outside kept horse. You mentioned there was a lot of rain so there any chance at all he was struck by lightning?

I ask this because my son's horse was. And he was not outside in the storm. At the time we had our stalls in a shed row, and lightning ricosheyed from a tree and hit him in his stall. He lost his motor skills in the highquarters from it among other things. He didn't make it.

Only other thing I came up with is wondering if Max could have had a stroke or seizure.

Have you ever considered acupuncture?

Hope to hear more good things about Max.

Best wishes.

 

[MiniNHF]

I saw the most exciting thing from Max yesterday when I went to see him.. He actually did his QH jog up to me with little to no effort. I was so excited to see this since I have not seem him trot in well over a month or more. Also his skin is slowly starting to clear up as well, slowly but looks so much better.

 

[AnnaC]

That must have been such a heartwarming sight - well done Max!!