Pedigree Query

You may remember me posting pics of my little buckskin appendix filly not long ago. We call her April. Well, she came up limping Sunday night, on her right rear. No swelling, no broken skin, so I thought maybe she twisted it, or took a kick up high from her brother and was just sore, so Monday I just observed her. But by Tuesday it was worse. She wouldn't put the foot down and bear weight on it, was basically doing the 3-legged thing, so I called Dr. Herrero. He came out and was waiting for me when I got home last evening. The diagnosis he said is a septic joint, meaning, she got some kind of bacterial infection from somewhere, and it migrated to her right stifle. He showed be a big knot there. He'd shaved it off to look for any cuts or punctures, but found none.

He drew fluid from the joint to run tests on, and then shot antibiotics directly into the joint, gave her a banamine IV, and then gave her another shot of antibiotic in one butt cheek, after showing me how. He left syringes and 2 bottles of antibiotics with me to inject her over the next few days. The good news is that we caught it real early, and that the bacterial levels are not so high that he'd recommend putting her down. He was glad I was so watchful and called him so quickly. He's very optimistic that she'll pull through this since she's a big strong filly, and has seen many recovery cases. It's just that she is only 6 weeks old and joints in babies are very fragile. He's also seen a number of non-recoverable cases that ended in having to put the baby down. This vet is wonderful, and I trust him completely, and I'm trying very hard to share his optimism.

This morning, her fever is down, which is a good sign, and she was putting some weight on the leg again, also a good sign. I gave her banamine paste, and then the injection....it was a little scary, I've never had to do that before!! But I was able to overcome my fears, and got it done quickly, trying to minimize any scariness for the foal! She didn't want to eat her grain this morning, but she is nursing alright. So we covet your prayers for our little April and her recovery. Also for me to manage the vet bills! I'll keep everybody posted as to her progress.

Bondama and April and Momma,

Just wanted to say that I'll be saying double the prayers...for all of you and all of us...we have a sick baby, too. What is it w/sick babies this year??? At the hospital where our baby is, they were running out of room to put all the Mommas and babies...

Sounds like you are a diligent and caring horse-momma, and it is SO good when you catch those things early...best of luck and keep us all posted.

Amy

Keeping you all in my thoughts. Well wishes for a speedy recovery.

I will be praying for both you folks,When ever I have a problem the vets can;t fix I lay my hands on my horses and thank God for his help after all he created them so he can fix them too.I also pray for the Vet that they will have the wisdom to give the correct treatment.

Minnow, I do that too, no matter what!! I try to touch every one of them every day, and I pray for their protection from all hurt harm or evil every day. When one of them is having a health problem, I do lay hands on them. Also my preggo broodies - I rub their bellies and pray for the babies inside them. The touch is comforting to them, as is the sound of my voice as I pray. And, most importantly, I BELIEVE.

The filly is markedly better last night and this morning. Walking normally, the lump over the affected joint is gone, the fever is gone, and she nibbled some grain this morning!!! I really believe she's beating this. The vet is going to be so pleased tomorrow when he comes out.

I still feel like fumble fingers administering injections, though, but I'm doing it. God can and does work miraculously, but it's my experience that he mostly works through people and circumstances, and in the matters of health, through doctors and medicine.

If anyone hasn't seem joint ill before, the first visible signs are marked limping (generally not wanting to put weight on the leg.) Call the vet immediately. The faster, the better. It can come from an the umbilical cord not being disinfected

UPDATE on sweet little April: She had her last Gentamicin injection yesterday and is now on oral antibiotics twice daily for 10 more days!! I soak the pills in a little apple juice, then suck the resulting paste up into a syringe which she accepts willingly. Praise God for answered prayer. No limping, no heat and she's back on her grain quite voraciously.

Intrinsic - I asked the vet about joint ill and the umbilical cord, as per your comment, and he said yes that's common but usually in foals 2 weeks or younger. Less so in older foals. And, not at all in our case. It's the first thing he checks for, he said, and this filly's umbilical area was normal.

This girl is ten times more special now. Thanks to everyone who prayed for her recovery.

Very good news! Glad all is going well!

C

Keeping you all in my prayers - they sure worked for my mare. After her two and a half weeks at New Bolton, she is now doing wonderfully. She's quite thin but slowly putting it back on and loving being out every day with her friend. Praise God and many kisses for the horses!

Bondama wrote:UPDATE on sweet little April: She had her last Gentamicin injection yesterday and is now on oral antibiotics twice daily for 10 more days!! I soak the pills in a little apple juice, then suck the resulting paste up into a syringe which she accepts willingly. Praise God for answered prayer. No limping, no heat and she's back on her grain quite voraciously.

Intrinsic - I asked the vet about joint ill and the umbilical cord, as per your comment, and he said yes that's common but usually in foals 2 weeks or younger. Less so in older foals. And, not at all in our case. It's the first thing he checks for, he said, and this filly's umbilical area was normal.

This girl is ten times more special now. Thanks to everyone who prayed for her recovery.

There was a colt at Overbrook that got joint ill and he was over 2 weeks old. I thought it was strange since he had his umbilical cord dipped in iodine twice a day for the first couple of days. It would seem the chance of infection would be slim. Then I remembered that the mare had a severe uterine infection a month before he was delivered. It was BAD! She was on antibiotics and regumate to keep her from delivering early. I reminded the farm vet about the infection and asked if that had anything to do with the foals joint ill and she thought that it could possibly be linked.

I didn't see this post until now! I am so sorry to hear about your filly, I know you like her a lot. I hope she is doing well now. I'll pray for her!

Updates? Doing better?

Yes, CLH, this filly appears to have made a full recovery. She's eating normally, no temp for weeks now, no swelling, no lameness, also for weeks. Still taking oral antibiotics twice daily, though. I soak her smz pills in some apple juice, suck it up into a syringe and give her that, and she accepts it quite willingly. Since we're not giving her any more injections, she's not hating us any more and we can pet her once again without her running away. She has about another 4 days to go on the meds, then we'll be completely done. The oral antibiotics made it easy for us to worm her this weekend, she accepted that willingly, too. She's ten times more special for having survived that ordeal.....and let's not even bring up the costs!! <ugh> It's a good thing we'd planned to keep her anyway, so it's an investment in her future!! She is entered into the Mid Florida Buckskin Horse Assn. Fall Futurity scheduled for this October, so we're working on her ground manners, etc. She's proving to be a very smart and capable girl. That with her pretty looks should help her to do very well. Thank you for asking, and for all the prayers. They worked!

Great news!

So glad to here your baby is better.With all the medication she has had I would ask your vet if she may need a probiotic.When we have a problem that needs antibiotics we always give it as the drugs kill the good bugs as well as the bad we sometimes give yougurt.
I could write a book about all the horses the lord has helped us out on.Our first clamied race horse had four chips and a slab fracture in his knee,we took him home the next day.He had a very poor report our track vet said he would never race race again and the best we could hope for was a paddock horse.We named him Rhapha a name for God the healer.Anyway he not only came back to race he won allowance and second in the blazing sevens a race at fort erie He won over 145 ooo for us now he is my daughters riding horse ,she takes him to the Chris Erwin clinics,he is amazing.We just bought a filly out of the same sire,we also bred one of our mares to him before he was shipped to Greese.