Ok, so February has been a looong month due to weather and, well, Blue. Seems there is something “going around” the horse population that has yet to be identified and Blue, of course, got it… bad. Scared the crap out of us all here at Nantua Farm.
It all started out with him just not acting like himself which progressed into major lethargy and a temp of 103.7 (if you don’t know horses, normal is between 99 and 101, although Bluey is as normal as a clock and is ALWAYS between 99.5 and 100). Then he came off of his grain which is SO NOT like Blue, my big vacuum cleaner. So we called our amazing vet out for the first time in this little adventure and he started him on IV Oxytet (an antibiotic) and IV Banamine (to bring his temp down) and drew blood work.
Well, besides being a little anemic, the blood work was normal and so we waited. He got marginally better and then a few days later his right hock swelled to the size of a soccer ball. Second vet call (cha ching cha ching). The weird thing was that he’d been on stall rest, so there was no possible way that he’d been kicked or really nailed by someone playing and other than a spot that looked more like skin sloughing off, there was no wound… It was just a hmmm, what the? situation all around. And he had 100% normal x-rays, too… but, of course he would, right? So then I began sweating and wrapping both hind legs… in addition to everything else I was already doing. And yes, it’s still below freezing out (ever tried sweat wrapping legs with thick winter gloves on or numb fingers because you decided to forfeit the gloves for dexterity?).
Then it got pretty darn serious. His temp spiked really high again along with a relatively strong digital pulse in both front feet and my vet came out for the third time (as you can imagine, I can see a mental cash register going cha ching cha ching each time and all I want to do is moan). This time we put in a catheter and started him on IV Oxytet (for 14 days this time), IV Banamine and IV Dex as well as soaking his front feet 2x/day in order to try and prevent a case of laminitis, which was a constant fear.
As a side note, you have to remember that somehow Blue never seems to be helpful enough to at least get sick when the temperatures are ABOVE freezing… Nooo, thanks to the 20 degree daily highs, I had to heat up a microwaveable heating pad and put it in a cooler just to keep all of the IV’s I’d drawn up from freezing before I was able to administer them!
Finally, within maybe 24 hours his temp broke, the lethargy lifted and the digital pulses disappeared and the old Blue began to come back (this is maybe 3-4 weeks after this all began). Slowly but surely he began calling for his dinner again and playing like a yearling out in the pasture (once he was released from his turnout with Charlie in the tiny 3/4 acre paddock to his normal haunting grounds of a 10 acre pasture) with his two best buds Charlie and Vaquero.
And, of course, through it all, poor Charlie Brown had to stay in with him or he would’ve just stall walked all day… Which was OK with Charlie for the first day, but after that… Well, let’s just say that he’s not so keen on being kept in for an extended period of time. ESPECIALLY when there’s fun white stuff on the ground!
Anyways, Blue’s now back to 100%, but because he was SO sick, he lost a good deal of his muscle tone and, as soon as it stops raining and snowing here in the Bluegrass, he will be LIVING on the lunge line in a surcingle with side reins. Just need to get my Bluey back in form before show season!!! One thing I did figure out through all of this, is that I can’t finish vet school soon enough as I need to get on the other side of this damn payment plan. I swear I must’ve bought my vet a new truck already this year! I also want to say a huge thank you to my vet, Dr. Travis McVey at Park Equine Hospital and to my friend, Amanda, for helping talk me through this, keeping me sane, being my “assistant” while doctoring poor Bluey (Amanda) and giving amazing veterinary care (Travis). At least I’m finally on the other side and can watch him romping out in the huge pasture with his friends! So now on to the last hurdle… to open the bill I just got in the mail today from the vet clinic… gulp.
