Foal with pneumonia!!

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Danielle_E.

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One of the horses my friend bought and who are presently with me till the end of the week, a little 4 month old filly, was diagnosed with what I thought was "shipping fever". The little one was put on daily injections of antibiotic so I have been administering. on vet's instructions, the daily needles, BOY I HATE THAT! This poor sweet filly probably feels like a pincushion. Anyway the vet came back out today to re-examine and she left a note and some more meds (antibiotic tabs) to be administered twice a day for the next 14 days. On reading I was "shocked" to read "pneumonia has improved"
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I know that she had the runny eyes, snotty nose and a cough, hence ther reason I kept telling my friend she need to get a vet out to examine her. Did this develop because of shipping fever and it not being treated early enough or can they get pneumonia without the prelude of shipping fever? Has anyone else had a little one with pneumonia and if so what is the length of time until they are 100% back to their "normal" and "healthy" selves? This little one is leaving here on Sunday and I am wondering if shipping her, only about 45 minutes away, will aggravate the problem? Any idea?
 
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I am not a vet, but I would not do anything that would further stress this horse.any kind of shipping and new environment can cause stress.I would wait several weeks until I was sure everything was ok before I took her anywhere.good luck&keep us posted.
 
I'm treating one weanling now for pneumonia and had another a couple of months ago. It's not that uncommon in weanlings. Their system just isn't equipped well enough at a young age to fight off some of the bacteria and viruses they encounter. I strongly suspect rhodococcus in a lot of cases.

My vet has started using Cipro paste to treat pneumonia. Much easier than using needles!

I would be inclined to keep the weanling until it was completely well before moving. A few more weeks.
 
Dani I don't know the answers to your medical questions but we all do have to remind ourselves of the stress of any transporting of any horse. This goes to show everyone once again that Health Certificates at the time of sale are totally useless. Why must we even bother anymore?

Horses go to new homes left and right here and some horses just get way more stressed than others, big or small, young or old. You did great by keeping a close on her to realize that something was very wrong from the get-go and got your vet on it so quickly. I do hope this little one will have a speedy recovery. And just my own personal opinon, (and let's not forget that I am always the one that is wrong around here) is that I don't think moving the horse for only a 45 minute ride to the horse's real home is going to make that much difference and it's 6 days away from now anyhow. I"d just take it day by day and see how she progresses and use your best judgement when the time comes.

Everytime I think of hauling and showing again, this is one thing that ways heavy on my mind.
 
I would be inclined to agree with the above posts and keep her with you a little longer.

MA
 

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