Re: lyme in horses
This message is from: Kathleen Prince Have you tried having a barefoot trimmer instead of a farrier do his feet? Our fjords tend to have such good feet shoes may do more harm than good. I hope you find out what's going on w/him. I know how frustrated you must feel. I've never had any dealings w/Lyme disease but a client has it and it's drastically changed her life. -- Kathleen Prince kathl...@pookiebros.com Pookie Bros. Pet Sitting Professional Pet Care In Your Home! http://www.pookiebros.com On Aug 4, 2011, at 12:40 AM, laurie with wrote: > This message is from: laurie with > > > i am throwing this idea out to see if anyone has had any experience > with lyme disease in horses .. > > i have been dealing with off and on problems with oz since spring. > he's been ouchie on occasion on his front feet, and other times > just kind of off, especially turning to the left. > > i had his feet xrayed by the vet, and everything looked fine. we > have tried 3 different kinds of shoes, hoof hardener, bute for a > short time, he spent time inside for 4 days when he was sore and > lost a shoe i just don't even know that to do any more. my farrier > has been working hard with me trying to get him sound, but so far > we are stumped. Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw Classified Ads: http://tinyurl.com/5b5g2f
Re: Lyme Disease?
This message is from: Genie Dethloff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Thanks to all that replied about Lymes Disease. I was sorry to hear about your losses and pain and suffering. I just had the past vet fax me a copy of the lab report from November. My new vet was coming out today so I had him go over the results with me. Even though Pjo had a moderate level in the Elisa titer of 250 in November, it was not high enough to be predictive of Lyme's so they did a Western Blot test. The Western Blot test is much more specific for Lyme and is considered the "gold standard". That test indicated that the antibodies were not specific to the agent that causes Lyme's disease, so they said the test results were negative overall. So hopefully we can put the Lyme issue to rest for now, although it is always a threat. -- Genie Dethloff and Pjoska Killingworth, Connecticut The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
re: Lyme Disease
This message is from: "Philis Anderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Genie, I had a seven month old foal die last January from Lymes disease. It was very insidious in the "attack". Karl seemed "fine" most of the time, except he would spike a fever about every six weeksNEVER did he show signs of lameness. We (the vets that I consulted with) thought it was pneumonia because of the symptoms. Never drew blood till the day he died! Karl was sick off and on from August to January with fevers. He always recovered with antibiotics, but then in January he essentially quit eating and drinking. He became weak and was falling down and needed help to get up at the end. We label our Fjords as being "stoic". He was, indeed, as stoic as they come. Never complaining, but I knew he didn't feel well. The blood work showed that his liver and kidneys were shot and he was very toxic. His heart was involved because he had a very fast heart rate...up to 120 beats a minute. That was one reason we thought it was pneumonia. But there again, NEVER any coughing or snotty nose. The fact that Karl would get better each time around was so deceiving. I kept thinking we were out of the woods. In August I had him up to my trailer and was ready to put him in and haul him to the U, but that day he was getting better. The stress of the haul for seven hours made me decide to not to go (thinking it was pneumonia). The moral of my story is get that blood work done so you have a base line to go by. Lymes is no joke and a very frustrating disease to deal with because horses, dogs and people can have it and you don't always know it unless you test for it and by then the symptoms may have done damage to the body. My sister raises Norwegian Elkhounds. She lost an older dog to Lymes last year with no symptoms until it was too late. This spring she had all of her dogs tested and her bitch that she imported from Norway has an active case of Lymes and the dog has no symptoms! Good luck and check the horse out! Philis Anderson Sawtooth Mountain Fjords Grand Marais, MN The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
re: Lyme
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (BRIAN C JACOBSEN) Dave, Regarding Lyme disease in horses, I'll tell you here what I know, and then I'll have to do some more checking. I have more reference material at the office than at the house. Perhaps Steve W. would want to add some comments if he knows anything more or different. The ticks that transmit the organism that causes Lyme disease are most prevalent in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest. I have not yet heard of a confirmed case of Lyme disease in a horse. However, that's not saying there hasn't been one; Just that I haven't heard of one. We do not have nearly as much problem with it here in the Southeast. I believe that Tetracycline is the treatment of choice for Lyme Disease. Tetracycline is not used much in horses, though, because there is some thought that it may make a horse more likely to become sick with Salmonella. Also, Tetracycline injections in the musce are extremely irritating. So when it is used, it is usually given directly in the vein by the veterinarian. You can see how daily visits by your veterinarian to give the medicine in the vein, or your horse staying at the veterinarian's facility for the treatments, could become expensive. However, it could be used if really thought to be necessary. Any tick bite to a horse can be quite irritating and cause the reaction that Dave described with his Fjord. So hopefully this tick will not be found to be carrying the bacteria (Borrelia burgdorferi) that causes Lyme disease. The reference that I took some of this material from (Compendium on Continuing Education for the Practicing Veterinarian, vol 18(5), pp.551-552) lists several strategies to help control ticks on horses: -"Pour-ons" or sprays containing Coumaphos, Malathion, or Permethrin. Permethrin is the active ingredient in many fly sprays for horses. -Burning of tick infested pastures. If the fire reaches high enough temperatures it can kill the ticks. -Removing undergrowth and brush, the ticks' favorite ambush spots. -Excluding deer and cattle from pastures. Since winter is coming, that will help us for a while. In general, ticks are much less active when the temperature is below 50 degrees. Some better help for ticks AND FLIES may be on the way for horse owners! A sales rep I talked to the other day says her company has developed a liquid that is poured onto a horse's back, is absorbed into the horse's skin, and provides protection against flies and ticks for 1-4 weeks! The active ingredient is permethrin, the same as what's in most fly sprays. However, whereas most sprays have 1 - 1.5%, this product has 7%. The reason for the range of 1 - 4 weeks is that the chemical can be sweated out when the horse is hot. So if the horse stays cool and does not sweat, you might get 4 weeks worth from a single treatment. If you use your horse enough to cause sweating, or the ambient temperature is enough to make him/her sweat, the duration will be less; But they claim that one week was the least they observed in their trials. As far as reactions or sensitivity to the pour-on, only those horses that are sensitive or allergic to the fly sprays that have permethrin in them will not be able to use it. Sound too good to be true? It does to me too! We're supposed to be getting a sample soon, though, so I'll let everyone know what kind of luck we have with it. Dave - let us know what you find out - not only about your mare, but anything different or in addition to the above. Whites or Trupianos - any comments? Brian Jacobsen, DVM Norwegian Fjordhest Ranch Salisbury, North Carolina ___ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
