Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Problems with Mingo

Things seemed to be going so well with Mingo, and then he got strange. We are talking about a serious personality change. He didn’t want anything to do with people—especially me. He seemed to be very sensitive to the touch—trying to bite me if I touched him in the area of the leg that had problems. A couple times, he kicked out. When walking, he would suddenly pull up in a ouchy manner. Time to call the vet.

We determined he couldn’t comfortably turn his neck in one direction. He pulled up when walking with his head bent towards me—this is probably why he formed an aversion to me. I would lead him in a normal manner out of his stall—and it hurt him.

My vet feels there is definitely something wrong—that it’s not all a behavior issue—but she can’t figure out what it is. His bad leg appears to have made a complete recovery. He is walking and trotting fine.

She took blood and is going to test him for Lyme disease. It is a real long shot. Lyme disease is nonexistent in Northern Ohio, but it would explain all the problems he has had the past few months. It would connect all the symptoms that he has had. She used to work in PA, and she encountered it there.

He is still eating, but not quite as enthusiastically as before. Also, he won’t eat if anyone is staring at him. He will just stand in the corner and bob his head.

I am at a loss.

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