Trying to keep track of things
Mostly for my own benefit, I'm going to try and keep a diary of how things are progressing with Small over the next few months.
The story so far:
Small came into my life just over three years ago, as a slightly special needs, but utterly awesome pony. We built a great relationship and were having a whale of a time until the middle of June 2009. He threw a splint, and was rested for two weeks to allow it to settle. During this time he went very badly lame in his left fore and hind and was diagnosed with laminitis, which was treated with box rest, soaked hay etc. At the end of two weeks he was very much sound and happy, and we began to slowly reintroduce turnout. When our vet visited to check on his progress he was given his tet/flu jab. A few days later I noticed a large (tennis ball sized) swelling near the site of the jab. Vet advice was to apply an anti-inflamatory gel and to get ultrasound treatment from the physio. Poor Small had quite a nasty reaction to the gel - the area became incredibly hot (almost too hot to touch) and the hair and top layer of skin began to peel off. So we stopped that treatement and let the area settle. The swelling went down nicely, but the whole chest muscle is now a little bigger on that side than the other.
I started bringing him back into work, but he really wasn't right - very flat, with no energy and none of his normal sparkle. More vet visits and blood tests suggested that he'd picked up a virus, and more rest was followed by two courses of interferon and more blood tests. These were giving quite vague results - most things were coming back 'within normal parameters' and yet the pony was still very flat and definitely not right. My vet suggested testing for Lymes disease and Anaplasmosis - the latter of which is very rare in horses and was, of course, the one that came back positive. The indicated treatment is a course of Doxycycline (a strong antibiotic). Within 24 hours of starting this treatment, Small was in hospital with colic. Five days later he came home on a high dose of steroids, which we weaned him off over the following two months. At the end of December I finally had the all clear to begin riding him again.
And then it snowed. and snowed. and snowed. So we didn't really do much until early Feb 2010. And Small still wasn't right.
More vet visits showed a viral blood profile once again, and a course of interferon followed. The next lot of bloods suggested everything was fine, but the pony suggested otherwise. We decided to try a course of painkillers (danilon) to see if there was a simple pain issue that was causing the problem. This gave us a slight improvement, but not as much as we'd hoped.
Then on the 7th May I had a call from our yard owner to say he seemed a bit colicky. More vet visit diagnosed a gassy colic, probably as a result of the new fresh growth of grass - he responded very well to pain relief, we restricted his diet and grazing over the weekend and he seemed fine. Until he colicked again on the 10th of May. Again, more vets and pain relief, controlled grazing and he seemed fine. We went for a ride on the 15th, and he was really perky - my spirits started to lift, maybe we were finally getting over it all.
The next morning he was colicky again, so yet another vet, yet more pain relief, yet more starvation and overnight checks. All of which seemed fine. And yet within an hour and a half of my leaving him the next morning he was down again. At this point we decided to take him into the vet hospital for further investigation, as this really isn't normal.
He went in, and seemed ok - the ultrasound showed some thickening of the small intestine, but no sign of a twist or impaction and nothing to raise an immediate concern. The intention was to gastroscope him the following morning to see if there was anything obvious there, and then to consider the possibility of exploratory surgery. But as the day went on he became more and more uncomfortable, and there was no option but to operate asap.
The surgery went well, a small impaction was found and pushed along the intestine, and biopsies of the gut wall were taken, as the surgeon suspects that he may have inflammatory bowel disease.
So far he seems to be recovering well - he's going to be in hospital for a while yet, but should be coming off the drip tonight and, best of all, I got to take him for a bit of a walk and a bite of grass - the first food he's had in four days. It was warm and sunny and I just got to be with my pony. Magic.
The story so far:
Small came into my life just over three years ago, as a slightly special needs, but utterly awesome pony. We built a great relationship and were having a whale of a time until the middle of June 2009. He threw a splint, and was rested for two weeks to allow it to settle. During this time he went very badly lame in his left fore and hind and was diagnosed with laminitis, which was treated with box rest, soaked hay etc. At the end of two weeks he was very much sound and happy, and we began to slowly reintroduce turnout. When our vet visited to check on his progress he was given his tet/flu jab. A few days later I noticed a large (tennis ball sized) swelling near the site of the jab. Vet advice was to apply an anti-inflamatory gel and to get ultrasound treatment from the physio. Poor Small had quite a nasty reaction to the gel - the area became incredibly hot (almost too hot to touch) and the hair and top layer of skin began to peel off. So we stopped that treatement and let the area settle. The swelling went down nicely, but the whole chest muscle is now a little bigger on that side than the other.
I started bringing him back into work, but he really wasn't right - very flat, with no energy and none of his normal sparkle. More vet visits and blood tests suggested that he'd picked up a virus, and more rest was followed by two courses of interferon and more blood tests. These were giving quite vague results - most things were coming back 'within normal parameters' and yet the pony was still very flat and definitely not right. My vet suggested testing for Lymes disease and Anaplasmosis - the latter of which is very rare in horses and was, of course, the one that came back positive. The indicated treatment is a course of Doxycycline (a strong antibiotic). Within 24 hours of starting this treatment, Small was in hospital with colic. Five days later he came home on a high dose of steroids, which we weaned him off over the following two months. At the end of December I finally had the all clear to begin riding him again.
And then it snowed. and snowed. and snowed. So we didn't really do much until early Feb 2010. And Small still wasn't right.
More vet visits showed a viral blood profile once again, and a course of interferon followed. The next lot of bloods suggested everything was fine, but the pony suggested otherwise. We decided to try a course of painkillers (danilon) to see if there was a simple pain issue that was causing the problem. This gave us a slight improvement, but not as much as we'd hoped.
Then on the 7th May I had a call from our yard owner to say he seemed a bit colicky. More vet visit diagnosed a gassy colic, probably as a result of the new fresh growth of grass - he responded very well to pain relief, we restricted his diet and grazing over the weekend and he seemed fine. Until he colicked again on the 10th of May. Again, more vets and pain relief, controlled grazing and he seemed fine. We went for a ride on the 15th, and he was really perky - my spirits started to lift, maybe we were finally getting over it all.
The next morning he was colicky again, so yet another vet, yet more pain relief, yet more starvation and overnight checks. All of which seemed fine. And yet within an hour and a half of my leaving him the next morning he was down again. At this point we decided to take him into the vet hospital for further investigation, as this really isn't normal.
He went in, and seemed ok - the ultrasound showed some thickening of the small intestine, but no sign of a twist or impaction and nothing to raise an immediate concern. The intention was to gastroscope him the following morning to see if there was anything obvious there, and then to consider the possibility of exploratory surgery. But as the day went on he became more and more uncomfortable, and there was no option but to operate asap.
The surgery went well, a small impaction was found and pushed along the intestine, and biopsies of the gut wall were taken, as the surgeon suspects that he may have inflammatory bowel disease.
So far he seems to be recovering well - he's going to be in hospital for a while yet, but should be coming off the drip tonight and, best of all, I got to take him for a bit of a walk and a bite of grass - the first food he's had in four days. It was warm and sunny and I just got to be with my pony. Magic.