Sorry, in advance, for the long post. This is not to villify my vet but to inform others.
I posted a month or so back about my filly (then 7 mo) having a bad reaction to bute. Well, hindsite is wonderful! I have had horses over the years and never had big problems but I'm new at minis especially babies. I do all my own barn work and pay very close attention to the horses as far as input, output, attitude, etc. or I would have missed some of the signs and been too late. All that said, I still messed up big time and am hoping by posting that other newbies (not derogatory) will benefit.
I purchased this little girl at 4 1/2 mo. in the fall. The breeders are reliable people and always helpful. They said they had her on daily wormer. I figured ok so it's just a month until my "regular" worming. I'll get her then. I was waiting for that "first freeze"! With the holiday rush, worming slipped by and I am forgetful too. She had a little cough for a few days but that cleared up.
At Christmas, a vet was called to treat her for an eye problem. Vet noticed she was grinding her teeth so gave her .5 mg bute and said give it once a day (I heard 2x a day). She got that dose for 3 days and the vet was called again as she stopped eating and drinking (colic right? -hmmm). By the time the vet saw her and tubed her she hadn't eaten for 9 hours. Besides tubing and a pain shot, the vet guessed at ulcers and started Gastroguard. We were told to walk her and "not feed" until she passed something. We "older" and this was a 7 mo. old filly; after 5 hours we gave up. We were almost dragging her around at this point. She wanted water and food so we gave her a little and prayed for the best. She passed manure overnight.
A few days later she was eating grain but now no hay. Called vet again. Her temperature was 105 and her nose was starting to snot. We were scheduled to leave on a "no refund" vacation so the vet took her to her place. She said in the next few days that her nose and inside and outside of her mouth ulcered . She lost 10 pounds. They had her on antibiotics and an I V. When we returned she was only on the Gastroguard and appeared better. The vet was concerned about her blood protein being low and was giving her (?colustrum) substitue. Never did a fecal count.
A week or two later. It was the "normal" time to worm again and I consulted the vet who said to wait until the Gastroguard was done. I used Safeguard and got a pile of really big round worms !
Right after that her spirits picked up. She eats better but has a lot of weight loss to recover. I didn't know that foals should be wormed more often!!
Now look at the underlined phrases in this message. They are all signs of worms. I have since learned coughing, rolling and colic, snotty nose, blood protein low, even mouth sores are signs of worm infestation.
There are a lot of good posts on this forum about worms. Just do a search. I could have easily lost this little girl if she hadn't already been at the vets.
After all this I have one question. Taking into account that she had a lot of worms the vet asked me to worm in a month with ivermectin. Does anyone have an opinion - Is this the best / safe approach? I would have thought maybe 5 day fenbendazole.
I posted a month or so back about my filly (then 7 mo) having a bad reaction to bute. Well, hindsite is wonderful! I have had horses over the years and never had big problems but I'm new at minis especially babies. I do all my own barn work and pay very close attention to the horses as far as input, output, attitude, etc. or I would have missed some of the signs and been too late. All that said, I still messed up big time and am hoping by posting that other newbies (not derogatory) will benefit.
I purchased this little girl at 4 1/2 mo. in the fall. The breeders are reliable people and always helpful. They said they had her on daily wormer. I figured ok so it's just a month until my "regular" worming. I'll get her then. I was waiting for that "first freeze"! With the holiday rush, worming slipped by and I am forgetful too. She had a little cough for a few days but that cleared up.
At Christmas, a vet was called to treat her for an eye problem. Vet noticed she was grinding her teeth so gave her .5 mg bute and said give it once a day (I heard 2x a day). She got that dose for 3 days and the vet was called again as she stopped eating and drinking (colic right? -hmmm). By the time the vet saw her and tubed her she hadn't eaten for 9 hours. Besides tubing and a pain shot, the vet guessed at ulcers and started Gastroguard. We were told to walk her and "not feed" until she passed something. We "older" and this was a 7 mo. old filly; after 5 hours we gave up. We were almost dragging her around at this point. She wanted water and food so we gave her a little and prayed for the best. She passed manure overnight.
A few days later she was eating grain but now no hay. Called vet again. Her temperature was 105 and her nose was starting to snot. We were scheduled to leave on a "no refund" vacation so the vet took her to her place. She said in the next few days that her nose and inside and outside of her mouth ulcered . She lost 10 pounds. They had her on antibiotics and an I V. When we returned she was only on the Gastroguard and appeared better. The vet was concerned about her blood protein being low and was giving her (?colustrum) substitue. Never did a fecal count.
A week or two later. It was the "normal" time to worm again and I consulted the vet who said to wait until the Gastroguard was done. I used Safeguard and got a pile of really big round worms !
Right after that her spirits picked up. She eats better but has a lot of weight loss to recover. I didn't know that foals should be wormed more often!!
Now look at the underlined phrases in this message. They are all signs of worms. I have since learned coughing, rolling and colic, snotty nose, blood protein low, even mouth sores are signs of worm infestation.
There are a lot of good posts on this forum about worms. Just do a search. I could have easily lost this little girl if she hadn't already been at the vets.
After all this I have one question. Taking into account that she had a lot of worms the vet asked me to worm in a month with ivermectin. Does anyone have an opinion - Is this the best / safe approach? I would have thought maybe 5 day fenbendazole.
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