Potomac Horse Fever

[GypsyMoonMinis]

My little gelding Diego was shown at the 4H fair by my youngest daughter Summer on Friday last week. The two of them really have a special relationship, and he has one of the sweetest personalities I've ever known in a horse. So suffice it to say, he is very loved.

He also has shown a history of being somewhat nervous and having a hard time dealing with stress related issues. He has had 3 minor gas colics, all after a stressful event, such as when we first brought him home and after his first body clip. He is also a bit of a hard keeper (though today the vet said she thought he was an ideal weight, guess Im used to fat horses lol...). So to continue this story, Ill write it in a bit of a timeline so you can see the progression of events. Im also running on almost no sleep, so disregard any serious typo's

Friday - Horse show. He was at the fair for around 6 hours. LOTS of stress! we were in a barn full of cattle, lots of people, kids running and yelling, stressful events (liberty and obstacle), crowds clapping, flashing of lights in cameras etc. He had his own hay, drank two buckets of water and wasn't left alone the entire time we were there. I did spary him with fly spray before we left. I had banamine with me just in case he got a tummy ache from the stress

Sat - He was fine at home until I went to feed dinner and he did his typical, lay in the hay and not eat, bite at his belly etc. I was somewhat expecting this. Gave a dose of banamine, he felt better in an hour and started eating again.

Sun - 1 AM - he's thrashing in his stall, rolling and flipping onto his back. Scared the heck out of me! Got him walking and wasn't sure how much more banamine I could give, since it had only been 7 hours since the last dose. Call the vet and gave more banamine. He was fine within an hour again.

Sunday afternoon - He's getting painful again. I hadn't noticed much manure and hadn't seen him drinking. I suspected ulcers as he was also grinding his teeth really bad, pawing etc. He did have a bowel movement finally and it was like water. Called vet again and picked up some gastrogard (wow expensive!). Gave him a dose of gastrogard and probiotics soon as I got back home.

Sunday Midnight - thrashing, rolling again. been about 12 hours since last dose of banamine, adminstered another and walked a marathon. Had more runny stool, I was still concerned about water. My thought was that he was having ulcer pains, and that if he didn't get some liquid in him we would also be dealing with impaction colic. So i drag hubby out of bed and we start forcing water into him with a syringe. His skin was tacky, but he still had good bowel sounds, no fever and nice pink gums.

Monday 6 AM - I had now been up 2 nights in a row, walking and checking him once an hour to keep him comfortable. ANother dose of gastrogard and probiotic paste. Hes still depressed but started to eat some and lay quietly. I was hoping things were getting better. Still had runny stool and didn't see him drink (nor did the water levels change on any of the buckets). I tried to coerce him to drink with molasses etc to no avail... more syringe water!

Monday 3 AM - I am woken to thrashing and rolling again. Even though the vet told me to try and walk him through the pain (which I did try), after awhile I ended up just giving him more banmine. I dont like giving them anything unless I feel they absolutely need it. Still no fever, had bowel sounds etc etc. For the rest of the day he seemed to be turning around, was eating more, i saw him drink, he showed an interest in his surroundings. I thought we were on the mend...

Tuesday 4 AM - I'd been making checks through the night, even though monday had gone relatively smooth. he started showing signs of cramping again, so I started walking once more. This time however it was so bad, he was throwing himself down as I walked him and violently thrashing around on the ground. He was even starting to make this aweful grunting sound. I was pretty scared by this point and called the vet again. This wasn't my normal vet as she wasn't on on call, and I felt that I just wasn't getting any help from him (he'd been talking to me on the phone through this whole ordeal). He suggested one more dose of banamine (and that was scaring me too, im so leery about pain meds) and we agreed that it was probably time to bring him in.

Wed - Thankfully my normal vet is there and saw us when I brought him in. Blood work was normal, slight variations on the kidney and liver panels which suggested mild dehydration.

here is the interesting part. She said that she normally would never even suggest to look into potomic horse fever, except that a horse in the same area had it not two weeks before hand. All the same symptoms. It was discovered when they brought the horse into an equine facility in bozeman to be scoped for ulcers. Whats even more intriguing is that we do not normally have, nor vaccinate for PHF here in montana. They don't even carry the vaccine here! Even so, the vaccine isn't exactly reccomended as it has a short life span and there are some issues with it.

So, he's currently at the vets right now undergoing IV fluids. She just called and said he seems to be doing well, has had a few bowel movements and is nibbling at some hay. While there we look at some other things such as sand colic, and there was surprisingly no sand or dirt what so ever in his feces (my horses are on dry lot 24/7, but i treat monthly with Sand Clear). Some feces is being sent to a lab to be tested for clostridium bacteria and other issues so that we can safely start him on oxytetracycline. He will probably be at the vets for a few days...

ANd I just barely recovered from an 800 dollar surgery on my wolfhound when she ripped her leg open on the fence a month ago!

It seems that one of the worst potential threats of PHF is the resulting lamanitis issues in some affected horses. Also there is no real text book display of the disease, it effects all horses differently. Ill continue my research through the night. Anyone have any experiance with it?

There is still the possibility that this isn't the issue. It still may be an ulcer issue, though I would think it would have started to respond to 4 days worth of gastroguard. Regardless, I have decided to put him on ABC Plus, as well as flaxseed oil top dressing.

 

[MindyLee]

Oh so sorry to hear about your little guy and you poor doggy. I hope he gets well soon and recovers quickly with something else other then the fever. Hugs!

 

[Ellen]

Have you tried Metronidozole for the runs or maybe add Sucralifate, GastroGaurd and Ritadine. This is what we did with a colt with similiar symptoms, it has really helped. Also karo syrup and goats milk will really help.

 

[GypsyMoonMinis]

Have you tried Metronidozole for the runs or maybe add Sucralifate, GastroGaurd and Ritadine. This is what we did with a colt with similiar symptoms, it has really helped. Also karo syrup and goats milk will really help.

He's been on 4 days worth of gastroguard so far. We are awaiting labs to do anything further and are treating him with iv fluids.

 

[Ellen]

I am sorry you are having such an oreal. Prayers your way! I hope they find out what it is and he feels better fast. Good luck and God Bless.

 

[~Lisa~]

How scary especially when the horse belongs to or is the love of your kids life... keeping you in my thoughts

 

[Charlotte]

Poor little guy!

This sure sounds like classic ulcer progression. Everything you wrote. And for some reason vets don't seem to recognize it as ulcers.

From what you describe I would get MUCH more aggressive with ulcer treatment. Gastroguard and Ulcerguard can take up to a week to begin to show improvement. While giving one of those, also give Ranitidine (Zantac), Two or three 75mg tablets dissolved in water in a syringe and squirt in mouth three times per day (they are short acting, thus the reason for giving multiple doses per day. Also give sucralfate for 3 days (coats ulcers and makes less painfull so the horse will begin eating) You will probably have to get the sucralfate from your vet.

Getting the horse to eat is critical to getting the ulcers to heal. Alfalfa is the best thing to feed and is actually helpful with ulcers. No grain which increases the acid in the gut. The horse needs to not go long periods with not eating....the frequent feeds of alfalfa reduces the acid AND reduces the horse's stress.

Use banamine very sparingly as it can cause/aggravate ulcers. You may have to use a little while giving all the other meds to keep him comfortable enough to eat, but wean him off of it as soon as possible.

I would say discuss all of this with your vet, but I can't tell you how many times vets have missed the call on this. sometimes to the tune of $5,000 for the owner and weeks of pain for the horse.

I hope you can get the little guy straightened out quickly.

Charlotte

 

[happy appy]

I have to say that you situation doesn't sound like Potomac Horse Fever at all. More like impacted colic. PHF has shooting poos, straight colored water, no form at all. You should also have a fever with it. My area is full of PHF in the summer, 3 cases here last year even with shots given for it. One of my neighbors horses had it last week. They get very depressed with shooting poos and slight fever. I hope your little guy does well though.

You should try putting him on Chill supplement for show nerves. It will help alot.

 

[GypsyMoonMinis]

Thanks Charlotte. He has been on alfalfa for about 3 months now as I have been feeding him with my older mare to put some extra weight on him. Additionally, I feed often enough during the day that they are generally always grazing at thier hay. I've been told in other posts I feed too much hay, but it seems to work for my animals and they are all in good condition.

My vet does agree that it seems like a classic ulcer case, and she would treat it as such had it not been for the confirmed case of PHF less than 2 weeks ago. And that horse exhibited the exact same signs that my gelding is, not to mention we were in the same area AND the last mayfly hatch coincides with everything. The confirmed horse had no fever, and his feces ranged from cow pie soft to water. THey had sent him to Bozeman so they could determine the severity of his ulcers and decide a course of action, only to find there was no ulcer issue and then testing confirmed PHF.

From the research my vet has done, and my own, PHF does not always show itself the same way in every horse. Only 60% will get the watery bowels, and then only another handful will exhibit a fever. Some will get lamanitis and others won't. He has been extremely depressed since sunday, only showing some interest in things briefly on Tuesday. His temp was 103.4 when we brought him in yesterday, so it wasn't really a fever but it was increased.

There is no impaction, though the right ventricle she said had alot of fluid sound, which is typical for diarrhea cases. No sand either as we tested for that yesterday, and no parasites. The thing is, we've been treating this as an ulcer case since Sunday with no improvement. However, if he does not respond to the oxytetricycline, I will bring him to Bozeman to have him scoped for ulcers. But I do agree with my vet that we need to rule out PHF first before we step any further. Another thing we will be testing for if need be will be calcium stones and a UTI.

She just called to check in and after 2 doses of IV fluids (last night and this morning) he is a bit perkier and is eating some, but still has very watery bowels. But he is comfortable and once the test comes in this afternoon we will start him on the oxytetricycline.

I guess only about 78% of horses vaccinated for PHF actually are protected from it, the rest still get it unfortunately. Also the vaccine is very short lived.

Chill? Is it an herbal supplement?

 

[Charlotte]

I think I missed the part about diarrhea. I have seen that in ulcer horses, but rarely. I sure hope you get your boy straightened out quickly.

Charlotte

 

[happy appy]

Here is a link to it.

http://www.estores-equine.com/chill-horse-calming