What could it be?

[Triggy&Blue&Daisy Too]

I't been a totally stressful day. There is something up with Blue. He refused to eat breakfast, which is just not him at all. He even refused carrots! He's not a picky eater, ever!

I had the vet out and he's not colicing, ulcer unlikely but I insisted he treat for it anyway, all vitals perfect, alert, gut sounds fine and he's pooping and peeing. Vet did take some blood so we are waiting for results. He'll graze on fresh grass and did eat a little hay tonight and has been drinking but not as much as usual. I put electrolytes in his water to encourage his water intake. Even the neighborhood has been quiet, no fireworks at all and you could light a bomb off under his tail, he's just not the nervous type.

I've been racking my brain but I'm not finding anything out of the ordinary so I hope he's just feeling punky and will get back to his usual good appetite self. I'll be spending the night on the couch so I can watch him on camera but I just hate it when my animals have something going on and I can't figure it out.

Any ideas?

 

[Boss Mare]

Teeth/mouth related?

I hope he's back to himself in no time.... Keep us posted.

 

[Mona]

I sure hope Blue is back to feeling his old self again tomorrow. Maybe the heat? Has it been extremely hot there? Hope he's OK in the morning. Good Luck with him.

 

[Equuisize]

Shirley, Jumpy the little driving gelding we bought in April had something

similar in early May. Normally a vigorous eater he just walked away from everything, even his carrots. In two days time he had a cough and a

drooly nose. Zoe was still pregnant at the time and I was so worried about

something going thru the barn the vet came out and put him on SMZ. He did not have a temperature.

That was on a Friday, by Monday he was perkier, more interested in the

world around him and by the end of the week he was back on track.

A week later he had diarrhea for 2 days, didn't affect his wanting to eat or drink but it to came to a abrupt halt and he's been fine ever since.

Jim Guerin, here on the Forum, lives out in Yelm, participates on some other bulletin boards, sent me some links from those that mentioned there was a

virus going around over on the Peninsula, Pt Orchard area. Didn't seem like

it would affect us here in the valley BUT hey if it's a virus, I guess anything is possible.

Hope Blue is feeling like his old self soon. I know how worried you are right now.

 

[Miniv]

Trig,

Did you take his temp?

Hope he's over it tomorrow!

MA

 

[Minimor]

Yep, sounds like the "bug" we've had go through here...horses won't eat grain, won't drink, often won't eat hay; mostly they weren't even interested in food, but once in awhile they would nibble on hay--generally seemed to prefer to nibble on grass hay rather than anything richer. They seemed bright enough, didn't seem to have the usual depression they show when they're not feeling well. We had this back in December--it lasted from 2 to 4 days then the horses were back to normal. Wasn't a big problem back in winter, as they didn't dehydrate in the cold weather. It was worrisome, but not a serious problem as it turned out.

Then in May when we picked up a respiratory virus elsewhere, everyone had the cough and/or snotty nose, one case of pneumonia, and one mare seemed to have a very sore throat. She wouldn't eat or drink anything--you could tell she wanted to eat but just couldn't, which is why I suspected a sore throat. I think she went nearly 3 days without water and that was a problem because we had hot weather at that time--she started to dehydrate. On the 3rd day I finally coaxed her into eating some sloppy sweet feed that I mixed up with some water--once she slurped that down she started eating again.

Hopefully your guy has nothing worse than what ours had, and will be back to his usual self in a day or two.

 

[AppyLover2]

Shirley, how's he doin this morning??? Hoping for a good update.

 

[mountain_waif]

....

 

[justanothercowgirl]

Hey Shirley, how's Blue this morning???

 

[Sonya]

Shirley - how is Blue today? Hope everything is ok, I know you are worried sick...

 

[Cathy_H]

We have on occasion had horses go off their feed & we never could determine the reason........ We kept giving them whatever they seemed to eat a little of until they got over whatever was bothering them... They would usually munch on grass if they were not eating anything else. Could ulcers be a possibility? Stretching, standing in abnormal positions? Sometimes we give pro bios paste to our horses that are off.

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Hey Shirley, how's Blue today?

 

[Triggy&Blue&Daisy Too]

Thanks for the thoughts and ideas everyone, I so appreciated it. Blue appetite is a bit better this evening and he took a small bite of his complete feed but is eating more hay than yesterday. He's been checked from end to end and thankfully we've had comfortable weather. He's been doing his usual sigh more than usual so he's still got something bugging him.

It was a bit tense from about 4:00 pm yesterday until about 7:30 am this morning as he completely refused all food and water and had only very little output.

His attitude seems good this evening so I'm hoping we are on the up side of whatever this is. I've only been catching cat naps and have been out with him in his stall since yesterday but thought I'd come in and give a quick update.

Thanks again, I'll keep you posted.

 

[Marty]

I've had horses do this in Florida when the weather would be extreme, like extreme heat and then have extreme cold. I think they react to weather a lot more than we think.

I also think horses colic in weather changes too.

 

[C & C Farms]

Hope Blue is feeling better! Keep us posted...

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Hi Shirley, how is Blue?

 

[Triggy&Blue&Daisy Too]

Dimi thanks so much for asking how Blue's doing. He seems to be doing better but he's not 100% yet. He's on gastrogard just in case, but his water intake has been worrisome so I've been tricking him by putting watermelon in his water tub. He ends up drinking more than he would have just trying to get the chunks. Tonight was the first time he's eaten all his complete ration but to do that I had to wet it down with water and put a bit of carrot puree in it. I'm beginning to think he deliberately planned this finicky episode to make me give him extra goodies and attention. The second night he was sick he would only eat courtesy bites IF I scratched him between his front legs. I've learned a lot more about him than I knew before I slept in his stall--he groans and does little neighs and paddles his legs like he's running in his sleep

Here's a pic of my little stinker upon waking up yesterday. He's in yawn and stretch mode with total "bed" hair.

It would break my heart if anything happened to this sweet little guy.

 

[Sonya]

Glad he's feeling better...he sure is cute!

 

[justanothercowgirl]

He looks pretty rested and content!!

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Awww Shirley, I really hope he continues to improve. This latest heat has been a tough one for even us humans! Do update later in the week. That's one handsome man to spend the nite with!