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Hi, I have a 15 months filly who developed a very high fever (with spikes up to 41,8C). It has been addressed quickly with the vet who administrated bananime that day and the next morning. On third day, she foundered. It was addressed quickly again with a mix of antihistaminique, banamine and one other product (?). Antibiotics were started (sulfa) on day 4. Horse never had diarrhea but there were loud stomach and bowel sounds from the beginning. Testing was done on day 5, and causes like flu, Potomac, rhinitis, salmonella and parasites were ruled out. Fever came down but still present for a total of 7 days, and was managed with banamine and filly also got aspirine after founder. We are now two days after fever came down, she is still on antibiotics but fever went back up again last night (mild) and was controlled again with aspirin. I am discouraged as how to best help her and the prognosis. She is in pain from founder and still has fever.
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I am sorry to hear of your horses dillema Clauee. We have been horse camping in wilderness areas without regular internet access so apologize for the slow response. This is now 4 days later let me ask how is your horse doing and what is the current working diagnosis or set of rule outs. The fever alone is not much of a problem but the founder needs to be aggressively addressed as described in our article on Overview of Founder. I will be watching for your response today and hope to hear your horse is doing better.
DrO -
Hi Dr.O
It was a horrible time but the outcome is not so bad. The fever went on for two weeks altogether. The vet keeps his diagnosis of a “viral cause of unknown origin”. I had two other vet advices who think she had Potomac horse fever. The only symptom of PHF she didn’t have is diarrhea (apparently diarrhea is present in less than 60% cases anyway?). I had her tested for coronavirus since there was a case in a different barn not too far, but it came back negative. She is moving much better now on her feet despite the severe founder. I will have X rays taken next week to evaluate rotation. She regained her normal lifestyle within the herd and has good energy and appetite. Obviously her disease was not contagious. -
Great to hear your horse is doing better. Rereading your initial post you say the testing ruled out…. Some tests early in the disease do not have good sensitivity. To further complicate the diagnosis of PHF recently it has been discovered that there are several different species causing disease and the current gold standard test PCR does not identify all the species. So discuss this with your veterinarian and see if it is appropriate to further try and id the cause. I do think the founder raises the likelihood of PHF.
DrO -
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The PHF article outlines several serological tests available and discusses their strengths and weaknesses: https://horseadvice.com/horse-equine/diseases/colic-diarrhea-gi-tract/diarrhea-in-horses/potomac-horse-fever/
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