This may be a stupid question..

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SammyL

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[SIZE=12pt]Hello all,[/SIZE]

So I have just a quick question. It is probably the stupidest question I have ever asked in my life, but hey. :DOH!

Is there any alternative to natural shed out or clipping?

You see, my mini mare, Faith still has so much winter coat! She is getting hot now that the weather is finally acting like summer.

Natural shed out for her takes twice as long as my other horses..I think it has to do with her cleft palate in some way..

Plus, I do not have a clipper. At the moment all I have moneywise to my name is 28 dollars. Pathetic I know...But that is the beauty of living with mom and dad!
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Excuse how thin she is in these pictures...I have posted various times about her wieght loss. We are still working for her to gain it back.

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Has the vet checked her out? Granted I"m in Az where it's hot, but I do have one still shedding out, he looks pathetic right now, but is no where near as hairy as yours... I would think there is probably a medical issue going on! And maybe you can find someone to borrow clippers from? I haven't read any of the weight loss posts, poor girl though! I assume the vet has checked her out for that as well. Hope you can get weight on her soon! I want to give her a hug!

Jessi
 
[SIZE=12pt]Thank you for replying.[/SIZE]

Yes, the vet also is leaning toward a medical issue, but as the vet says, Faith is a mystery! She will turn four in August. The vet wants to say cushings, but also says on the other hand she is very young to have that.

Given the fact that Faith is like this every year is also a mystery to the vet.

Her weight loss is yet another mystery. The vet is just as confused as I am!

I suppose I should catch everyone up here. Faith was born with a cleft palate. Last year, Faith dropped almost her entire body weight overnight, along with not eating. After much adeu, we got her to a good vet. Blood was taken and only her right kidney functions properly (the left still works, just not as well) and she has a heart murmer. After finding the food she wanted to eat and putting her on liquid antibiotics, she got better. Took her a long time, but she was eventually back to her old self. The little sassy diva of the herd.
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The same thing happened a few months ago. Quit eating and lost weight. She became lethargic and did not want to be handled, touched, or be around her herd members. Called the vet. Ran a blood panel and it came back with the same as last year.

Needless to say, the vet was confused. So was I. Instead of making her go through the stress of the clinic, she was treated at home. She was on penicilin for a week, other antibiotics for a month and ulcer guard for another month. She is eating again. (yay!) She continues to eat but does not seem to be gaining the weight back yet. Hopefully that will come with time.

My family and I are watching and waiting. But for now, she is uncomfortable...No fun for me or her!
 
Sounds like we were posting at the same time. Glad to hear you are working with a vet. I also moderate the Yahoo Cushings/IR forum - I have to say, while it's not completely impossible, it really is not likely that a horse this young (4) has Cushings. I hope you continue to work with your vet(s) in the area and find answers -

Liz R.
 
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Have you had a vet look at her? How old is she?

She looks so thin I dont think you WANT to see what the hair is hiding
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There must be something medically wrong; for her to hold on to that much hair doesn't seem right.

Perhaps Cushings? I don't know...

Good luck with her, and if you don't have a vet working on her yet you really should have one out ASAP and run a blood panel on her.

Let us know what you find!

Andrea
 
Please get a vet out to see him ASAP.

I'm sorry to be so harsh but this is serious. Good luck and yes, let us know what you find.

You must have been posting when I was posting. Glad to see you are working with a vet.
 
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Its tedious and very time consuming (this is just for comfort, not looks); but you can always scissor clip her head and neck which will make her more comfortable. [i scissor clipped my newest addition a couple months ago, as we were in a heat wave and he had never been clipped before.]
 
It sounds like you are trying to do everything right by this girl, and it sounds like it's been a struggle. Poor girl, she sounds/looks like she's really got some serious medical issues. I feel bad for you as well!
 
My family and I are doing all we can.

I am running out of options here.

But know, that my whole family LOVES this baby girl. My dad even cried when I brought up putting her down..in fact, even thinking about it makes me cry..

But anyway, I am in the process of scissor cutting her head and neck. Believe me, it is not pretty, but she'll feel better.

Yes, the vet also is leaning toward a medical issue, but as the vet says, Faith is a mystery! She will turn four in August. The vet wants to say cushings, but also says on the other hand she is very young to have that.
Given the fact that Faith is like this every year is also a mystery to the vet.

Her weight loss is yet another mystery. The vet is just as confused as I am!

I suppose I should catch everyone up here. Faith was born with a cleft palate. Last year, Faith dropped almost her entire body weight overnight, along with not eating. After much adeu, we got her to a good vet. Blood was taken and only her right kidney functions properly (the left still works, just not as well) and she has a heart murmer. After finding the food she wanted to eat and putting her on liquid antibiotics, she got better. Took her a long time, but she was eventually back to her old self. The little sassy diva of the herd.

The same thing happened a few months ago. Quit eating and lost weight. She became lethargic and did not want to be handled, touched, or be around her herd members. Called the vet. Ran a blood panel and it came back with the same as last year.

Needless to say, the vet was confused. So was I. Instead of making her go through the stress of the clinic, she was treated at home. She was on penicilin for a week, other antibiotics for a month and ulcer guard for another month. She is eating again. (yay!) She continues to eat but does not seem to be gaining the weight back yet. Hopefully that will come with time.
 
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Is there anyone in your area that has minis that might come out to help you? Maybe even a local dog grroomer that after hearing your mini's tough start, might want to help?? If you had her all bathed and ready, it wouldn't take a dog groomer long at all.

Also carefully try using scissors to take off most of the legnth of the hair. It will help. I did it for my old shetland pony that freaked out with clippers

Perhaps contacting your local 4H club that has horses or maybe even minis and ask for help clipping her? They frequently look for neighborhood projects to help with.

With all of her problems, youth is not enough to rule out Cushings. She looks like she has it.

I had an old pony with it and she looked like heck, despite the amount of good food and hay that she was eating.

Good luck!

Robin
 
I forgot to add that I had Angie Sauer take a look at Faith a few weekends ago.

I work for Mrs. Sauer and we got on the subject of Faith, she came and took a look at her.

She basically said that she congratulates my family and I because she would have put her down a long time ago.

She looked at her teeth, among other things.

She could not come up with anything. She did say though that she thinks she is not in pain, but she also does not know what is going on. She also said Faith seemed happy, despite not feeling well.

The vet was out here about month ago, said the same thing. That is when Faith was put on SMZ's.

I just wish I knew how to help her. I have been beating myself up since this began.
 
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My friend's Welsh cross had Cushing's at a young age (11 years) so maybe...? Anyway, I did scissor cut on my guy one year. Yeah, so it wasn't pretty but it worked. I hope all goes well with you and your girl.
 
Here is some information regarding renal (kidney) failure in horses and some other health issues... you may recognize many of the 'symptoms' you see with your mare- weight loss, bad hair coat, etc... How bad is the heart murmur? And the palate? I can tell you that if the heart is not pumping oxygen and vital nutrients through the blood to the body, the body will deteriorate and it begins affecting other organs and causing them to fail. This horse sounds like it has a multitude of problems- I am surprized that your vet is confused!

I wish her the best and if she is in poor condition, may need her hair coat to help her stay warm- she is ill. I would not clip her hair.

Kidneys:

http://www.ivis.org/proceedings/aaep/1997/Schott.pdf

Heart murmurs

http://www.heartmonitors.com/horse/article...dd_holbrook.htm

http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/equinenews/july99/

Cleft palate

http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=446

http://www.xcodesign.com/aaep/displayArticles.cfm?ID=56
 
How bad is the heart murmur? And the palate?
I believe that the vet told me that the murmer was slight.

The hole in her palate is actually elongated, and it runs basically the length of the palate I believe. If that makes any sense.
 
I'm so sorry that Faith has had a rough life so far. One thing I thought of, did it happen around the same time last year? It may be enviornmental and her body is reacting??? I mean at this point with all the confusion it wouldn't hurt to think of the "out of the ordinary" things. Kinda pull a House type of medical testing. Treat one symptom at a time and see where to go from there. I have a big gelding who is 33 and has a heart murmur, and he has yet to get cushings(we are very thankful). He is actually the picture of health. It just baffles me how one horse so young can have such a tough life and one so old seems to have nothing to complain about. I really hope you get some answers and Faith gets diagnosed with something. Then you have a starting point to get her better. She has such a sweet face she def seems to be in the right hands.
 
we rescued a quarter horse filly a couple years ago and turned out she had cleft pallette the vets at OSU were shocked that she made it to 18 months as most dont. But she was very underweight and had the start of pnemonia from aspirating food into her lungs (due to the cleft palette) She was also way too small for her age and her coat was a mess. They called it failure to thrive due to cleft palette. They just dont get enough nutrition. Some of these are operable but the filly we had was not. She also seemed slightly brain damaged from malnutrition. We had her put down and it broke my heart.

Sending good thoughts for your girl
 
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Sorry that you are having so much trouble. I am close to the twin cities. Sent you an email

Barb
 
These stories tug at my heart.
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Keep up the fight for your little girl, she needs you.
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xox Leonie xox
 
We are in Ohio and many of the horses are late shedding this year because of the crazy weather. Today it is 90degrees, but last week we had evenings in the low 30's.

That being said it does look like a medical problem. Have liver functions been checked?

Worming tends to help shedding get started.

Also now there are some additives that can be gotten that will not only shed the horse out but boost color. Check out some web sites - and read discriptions to find what you want.
 
Have you had a vet look at her? How old is she?

She looks so thin I dont think you WANT to see what the hair is hiding
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There must be something medically wrong; for her to hold on to that much hair doesn't seem right.

Perhaps Cushings? I don't know...

Good luck with her, and if you don't have a vet working on her yet you really should have one out ASAP and run a blood panel on her.

Let us know what you find!

Andrea
She does look very thin. Hope she's okay...
 

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