Anyone deal with joint ill before?

[h2t99]

I have a foal that will be 2 weeks Saturday and he has it!! Just wanting to know if anyone has dealt with it before and what I should expect!! We went to vet yesterday and he had his hocks drained and is on antibiotics, and had a shot of banamine. I gave him his meds today and another shot of banamine, he is miserable

and I feel so bad for him!!

Thanks for any input or experiences.

Heidi

 

[srpwildrose]

I am not totally sure my colt had it, but I suspected it, so called the vet and got antiobiotics.

He is about 3 weeks old and came out of the barn stiff one morning. 103 temp. He was better after the 1st day of antiobiotics. Not sure what it is since its "generic", but its a powder that I mix with applesauce and give orally once daily for 5 days.

So, in my case he responded quickly. Thank goodness.

 

[Karin - NaKar Miniatures]

I had a filly born with joint ill about 4 yrs ago. I had no idea that they could be born with it. I don't want to sound discouraging, I spent a lot of time and money trying to save this little filly and she still died. Joint ill usually is a result of a blood-borne infection (septicemia) and can spread from one joint to the others and the foal itself can become systemically ill. it requires real aggressive treatment. It takes a lot of work and medical attention.

Saying prayers for your little one. I sure hope that you have better luck.

 

[Becky]

I had a premature foal born last year that developed joint ill at around 2 weeks of age. My vet put him on Naxcel, however, after 2 days and I was seeing no improvement, I switched him to SMZ's and Penicillin as well as Banamine. Within 24 hours, the fever went down and his lameness disappeared. I kept him on the Pen for a few days and the SMZ's for 10 days. He got well and never looked back.

 

[h2t99]

I had a premature foal born last year that developed joint ill at around 2 weeks of age. My vet put him on Naxcel, however, after 2 days and I was seeing no improvement, I switched him to SMZ's and Penicillin as well as Banamine. Within 24 hours, the fever went down and his lameness disappeared. I kept him on the Pen for a few days and the SMZ's for 10 days. He got well and never looked back.

Did you keep your foal in a stall? The vet told me to leave him out on the pasture and I wonder if that is right. He is on Tribrissen 400 oral paste, one hock looks ok but the other is swollen again. I just wonder if I need to do more!!

Heidi

 

[Becky]

I did keep my foal stall confined as much as possible. The joint(s) will heal better that way when not stressed. I kept mine in until he no longer ran a fever and was no longer lame. Tribrissen is basically the same thing as SMZ's so that's good but if you are not seeing improvement, you might add penicillin too. They both target the same bacteria, but do it in a different way, so they can actually be used together. I would also keep him on banamine to reduce inflammation. And of course, if using banamine daily, you might want to use something as an ulcer preventative.

Certainly run all of this by your vet, but aggressive treatment is essential with joint infections in young foals.

 

[kaykay]

we had one and my vet said to use smz's first as most joint ill is caused by ecoli and smz's will get rid of it. If that hadnt worked we would have switched antibiotics. We caught ours as soon as he went off so after 10 days of smz liquid he was fine.

Usually if its so bad they have to be drained they test the fluid to be sure which bacteria it is so you can use the right antibiotic

Sending prayers for your foal

 

[wildoak]

We had a few joint ill babies years back, never knew what caused it but they recovered with no lasting effects. I know we had them on Naxcel and maybe something else along with it for a couple of weeks. There was a big horse colt at the clinic at about the same time that she had been treating for months.

Jan

 

[Hill Haven Farms]

Here are a couple links to articles for you. Please disregard if you have already read them.

Joint Ill

SEPTIC ARTHRITIS IN THE FOAL - OSU

Thanks...

 

[Jill]

Prayers for your baby!!!

I second Kay's recommendation to have the fluid cultured / tested to be sure the right antibiotic is what's being used. I think that's key because with foals and this situation, the baby cannot afford the extra time if you go on with the wrong antibiotic for a couple-few days!

Best of luck and prayers!!!

 

[shorthorsemom]

I have more experience with newborn calves then horses, but joint ill in calves is also called naval ill by our vet. It can also happen if the umbilical cord breaks off short and/or if it gets contaminated even if we iodine the cord we can occasionally get that infection and swelling and arthritic symptoms of a newborn calf. Not sure if it is the case with your foal but we have seen higher incidence of joint ill in the calves that the umbilical cord breaks off short near the body. As a preventative measure we started giving those calves with ultra short cords antibiotics after birth and we have not seen a joint ill calf since (knock on wood).. In the calves that the swelling in the joint has burst open to the outside at the joint, we have not been able to save them, but on the calves where we spotted the swelling and treated aggressively and everything stayed closed we have had decent luck. Best wishes and hope your baby heals fast. Keep an eye on the temperature and swelling.

 

[Mona]

Sending prayers for your little one's full recovery.

ray

 

[albahurst]

I would recommend using E Coli Endotox within the first 12 hrs of birth to help prevent infection by e coli.

This is a preventive for e coli infection, not a cure if the foal has it.

Ask your vets about it. Great product.