A Tough End of the Year

 

A Tough End of the Year

December was a tough month for us.  We had an enormous snowstorm at the very beginning of the month.  Once we got through all of that and were finally able to get to the park and down the hill, we got one of those phone calls that all horse owners dread.  Starry wasn't eating and he had a 105 degree fever!

Kevin called the vet who told him to give him some Banamine and she would be out the next morning.  He still was at 105 degrees.  She examined him and gave him an SAA test.  I forget what it stands for, but the test is able to see, in just a few minutes, if he has an infection.  It is supposed to measure between 0-50, and he was over 1200.  

She gave him an antibiotic shot, took some blood and did a nasal swab.  Kevin was instructed to give him Banamine twice a day for the fever.  

The owner and her assistant of our new barn were just wonderful. They took his fever morning and night and called Kevin to let him know how he was doing.  We were also going out to give him his Banamine.  Kevin led him around each day.  He was definitely sick, but the only evident signs of it was his fever, lack of appetite and lethargy.

Our vet called the next day to tell Kevin about the test results.  The nasal swab showed that Starry had Equine Herpes--something we vaccinated him for only a month previous.  She called the vaccine manufacturer and told them the vaccine didn't work.  They promised to pay all of Starry's vet bills--up to $5,000.  We were so glad that the vet went the extra mile.

It took a few days to get the fever down.  Once it was, he was more interested in his food.  The vet came back out to check him.  The SAA was downs to 800--better, but he was still ill.  She gave him another shot and said she would be back in 5 more days.

Starry seemed to get better each day.  When the vet came out, the SAA was down to 400.  She gave him another shot and told us she would come back on Christmas Eve.  (Good thing for Kevin that he didn't have to pay for all these visits!)

Since his SAA seemed to drop by 400 each time, we were hoping that we would have a healthy horse for Christmas.  He seemed all right, but when the vet examined him, he had a 102 degree fever and his SAA was back up to 800!  We had a sick horse on our hands, again.  It appeared that he developed a secondary infection--probably bacterial.  The vet gave him a broad-spectrum antibiotic in powder form that we had to give him once a day for 10 days.

That evening, Starry lost his appetite, again.  He would eat his grain, but it took a long time.  He still had a fever, so we called the vet who said to give him some Banamine.  Here we go again...

It took about 3 days for him to start feeling better.  In the meantime, we had another big snowstorm.  

Right about then, Dante got sick, too.  He had tons of nasal discharge--yellow--out of one nostril.  He didn't have a fever and was eating normal.  It looked like he had a sinus infection.  It was time for Ellen to call the vet.  

She checked Dante out very thoroughly.  His SAA was over 800.  She thought he had a sinus infection, too.  She gave us 14 days of antibiotics and told Ellen she could keep riding him.

He went from a nose dripping gross things like Niagara Falls to being nearly back to normal in a week.  Of course, we will give him the antibiotics until they are gone.

When Starry's antibiotics were finished the vet came back and checked him.  His SAA was down to 14!!!  Starry is back!!!  Dante is right behind him!!!  The bad luck of 2020 is over for us!!!