Depressed/Lethargic weanling...

[Kitty]

Do you have Zantac over the counter there?? It is no longer a prescription drug and works great with horses. My vet recommends one tablet a day for miniatures- foals to adults with abdominal problems. I put mine on it when stressed.

 

[Carolyn R]

Do you have Zantac over the counter there?? It is no longer a prescription drug and works great with horses. My vet recommends one tablet a day for miniatures- foals to adults with abdominal problems. I put mine on it when stressed.

My vet prescibes the same thing I think the max. tablet mg available is 150mg (1 tablet a day for an adult mini), You can also buy tablets in lower doses, the generic name is ranitidine, maybe you will have some better luck looking under that name in your pharmacy.

Carolyn

 

[Hosscrazy]

Ditto on the Zantac - I use 2 tablets of Zantac 75 (150 mg. total).

Liz R.

 

[Calekio]

We get zantac over here, so i will try him on that. Give him one 150mg tablet a day yer? Or lower amount?

Oh and vet also agreed putting him back on mum proberly wouldn't help and would make things harder for next time around when i have to wean him again.

He seems to be hanging around with my mare and 3 week old foal a lot... Locket is insistant that Prince MUST play with him... or he'll become a climbing frame for him!

So hopefully.. he can perky him up once he starts feeling a bit better as well. Fingers crossed.

 

[Calekio]

UPDATED:

Well the ulcer medicine has had no effect.... and starting to go off his feed a little bit (will pick at it more than eat it)

Last resort.. we have put mum back with him, she won't let him suckle with will spend time with it.

However this still doesn't seem to be working... i thought i'd leave him out last night.... but he wanted to be with his stable mate... then he wanted to go out.... then he wanted back in the stable... he just doesn't know what he wants and in the end i put him and his stable mate out, unfortantly i can't stable him with his friend AND have him with mum.... and mum would kick the heck out of my yearling....

And when out..... still didn't know what he wanted...

Vet is puzzled as no physically signs to go on except he seems really depressed, could do more tests but don't know what to test for that hasn't come back normal.....

I'm going to try him on herbal stuff for depression... but if that doesn't work.... i'm stumped...

 

[mizbeth]

Has the VET ran his Igg? Also I would try gastroguard. I think gastroguard will work quicker on him.

Good luck,

Beth

 

[Calekio]

Yup vet has ran a number of blood tests including that. He's currently on Gastrogaurd with no affect...

Have just brought a herbal remedy that i for depression.... so am going to try that with him and see if that has any change...

 

[mizbeth]

Hi

What are you feeding him? Perhaps a change in feed, babies love sweet feed. Maybe some omelene or something similar will encourage him to eat. You may also try giving him about 3 cc's of Kayro Syrup, that will help stimulate his appetite and also give him some energy.

Good luck,

Beth

 

[Carolyn R]

How are his gut sounds and manure output?

Carolyn

 

[MountainMeadows]

I would really look into getting him on Lixotinic - apart from the iron that it contains, it also has a lot of B vitamins and often B vitamins will help stimulate the appetite. You could ask you vet for a B vitamin complex injection, and then get him started on the Lixotinic, I would bet that along with Gastroguard that you would see a big difference in less than a week, but you are probably on at least 2 months before he is really back to being a happy, playful baby. Just my opinion, having been thru it in the past -- I'm really not trying to scare you.

Stacy

 

[mizbeth]

Lixotinic - I was reading somewhere, where this is the prescription "red cell"?

I have also heard that horses with ulcers should not be getting red cell? I believe my CA., vet told me that. He was very good, but this information could be old now as this was in the 1999-2000 when he told me that.

I have always had very good luck with gastroguard. They actually perk up and start acting themselves again within 24-48 hours.

I hope you find the answer for you baby...it is so sad when they are sick, they cannot tell us what is wrong.

Beth

 

[MountainMeadows]

Hi Beth,

Lixotinic is a lot like Red Cell - and used to be only available by prescription, but now it looks like you can buy it on-line without an Rx. However, Lixotinic seems to have far better & faster results that Red Cell - it has a lot more vitamins & minerals in it than Red Cell and for some reason seems to metabolize in the system far better. In talking to several vets over the years, they all seem to kind of "poo poo" the results of RedCell as compared to Lixotinic and from my personal experience I have never found Red Cell to work anywhere near as fast or with such encouraging results - so for me, I just go to Lixotinic and get right to the root of the problem -- I have seen really poor weanlings bounce back in as little as a week where on Red Cell I didn't get the same results in over a month.

Just not sure if Lixotinic is available overseas.

Stac

 

[Calekio]

Lixotinic certainly isn't one i've heard of.... .which makes me think we might not get it in thsi country....

certainly when i goggled a few uk vet meds sites its not on them... but i will ask by vet.

I've got him on a blandish feed.. but put a bit of sugerbeet in it... he's not back with mum full time and (unfortantly for us) is back suckling again (but we'll deal with her later... as long as i can get her to hold her weight with him suckling again...) he's seems much more egar to eat mums food than his... and even when i give him some of her's in his own bucket... still prefers mums....

Gut sounds and droppings are perfectly fine, temperature is normal as well.... in phyiscally symtoms he's a picture of a health... just very down and not himself..

 

[Windhaven]

I would get a tube of gastorguard from your vet or order Ulcer Guard from one of the horse supplier catalogs. This will work faster and better on the ulcers than the Zantac. Then keep him on Zantac as preventative after you are done with the tube of Ulcer meds.

Good luck.

 

[Calekio]

Windhaven - He's on gastrogaurd... has been since friday with no effect... i have the zantac but not sure... can i give him both at the same time???

 

[SBrown]

We had an outside mare with a foal being bred to one of our stallions. The mare had a darling black pinto colt who was several months old when they arrived. The mare and foal were with us about 3 months. From the time he arrived he never acted like a normal foal. He was quiet and didn't run and play with the other babies and he laid down a lot. I found out later that before he was a year old he colicked and died. After an necropsy, it was found he died from an obstruction caused by an enterolith. An enterolith begins when something lodges in the horse's intestine and a stone begins to form around it leading to increasing discomfort. This can be anything from a small stone or piece of wire to horse hair or baling twine. This "stone" caused the obstruction that eventually led to his death. I don't know how something like this can be detected but it might be worth asking your vet about.

 

[bfogg]

Can I help?

Bonnie

 

[HGFarm]

Bonnie may be able to help you- she certainly brought some answers my way this summer!!! It's worth a try!

I had a colt that was like this.... never coughed, no fever, no symptoms at all except being lethargic when he should have been all over the place. He had pneumonia and would have been lost had I not spent the Saturday outside doing yard work, and he was 'helping' me- and I only heard him cough once, but it was an icky 'wet' cough. Put him on antibiotics immediately- and in 3 days he was playing with his food bucket- the FIRST time I had seen him play since I bought him!!! By the time he finished his medicine in 12 days, he was a live wire and climbing the walls- like he should have been.

I was told if I had not caught it when I did, he would have been lost!

 

[mizbeth]

Hello

I have heard good things about Bonnie. I have also had an animal communicator "talk to one of my horses one time", I cannot tell you how interesting and TRUE that conversation was.

It would be worth a try, and could save his life.

Beth

 

[Calekio]

I have a very open mind on communication type things, have pm'd Bonnie back.... hoping she can help.

He seems a little bit perkier..... very tiny bit but certainly the ears are forward more and he sees more alert.... i'm still bringing him into the stable at night, with mum and he's out with the herd during the day.... not sure what the best to do with him regarding stabling is but he certainly seems more alert to go out.... so... fingers crossed...