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  Discussion on Newly diagnosed with wobblers
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Member:
leslie1

Posted on Friday, Apr 6, 2007 - 5:09 pm:

My 2 year old filly (with OCD) could not get up this morning.First time shes ever had any problems like this. I was finally able to get her up, she couldnt walk very well, dragging toes, wobbling etc. Vet came out, said he thought it was wobblers brought on by trauma. He said sometimes they can get better as they grow up sometimes they get worse.We gunna watch her for a few days.
My question is.: can they grow out of wobblers or is surgery the only was to help them? I dont have the 10 grand for the surgery. So is it more humane to put her down sooner rather than later. i dont think Im strong enough to watch her get progressivly worse.
Member:
canyon28

Posted on Friday, Apr 6, 2007 - 5:58 pm:

I would sure give her a week or so, maybe even longer at least to see if she will start getting better on her own. I think his diagnosis was pretty generalized and vague. What kind of trauma was she supposed to have had happen to he? Did she hit her head on something, or hurt her neck or back somehow? If you couldnt see any cuts or marks or anything on her , is it possible she was poisoned by something?
last monday my old dog got in with one of my cows with a new calf. the cow knocked her for a loop and got on top of her and rolled her a few times. My dog has pretty bad arthritis and degenerative joints , even her backbone. Anyhow, I thought the cow had broken her back or her neck. She cried for a little while after it first happened and I gave her some xtra doses of Rimidyl every day since then , which she has been on for at least 4 years or so anyway. I wasnt sure if I was going to have to take her to the vet to have her put down or not. she moped around and acted pretty out of it and sore for the last 4 days,I think the first night was the worst, she couldnt lay down until nearly morning, but last night she started coming out of it and is looking almost as good as she did before it happened. She came out side and walked all over the farm with me as I did chores. She is still moving pretty slow and walking real slow up the steps to the house, but way better than she was. I think by Monday, which would be a week since it happened, she will be as good as before.

My point is, please give your filly some time to recover and dont get in a rush to put her down or have surgery on her. I dont know what kind of surgery they would be attempting to do anyway.
I thought that wobblers was usually caused by disease, like epm, west nile , or something like poisioning, but I can see where it might be caused by a spinal cord injury or a severe head injury. Is it possible she had some kind of seizure? Lots of times they will grow out of those too. I had a mare that my trainer claimed had a grand mal siezure while at his place for training. My vet went there asap and couldnt find anything wrong with her. I even had hypp testing done on her, even though she doesnt have any of that kind of breeding. Also had her checked for tying up synDrOm,nothing there either. A month or so later, he claimed she had another seizure, not as bad as the first one. I brought her home, but I noted that they had long flourescent tube light fixtures low over each stall at this place he was renting at the time. I had her home here for over a year and she never had seizure one, then I sent her to another trainer last summer, and he had her until just last week, and she never had seizure one while he had her. I think it was those lights flickering in the stall that set her off. or else it was something in the hay that caused it. She has never had another problem.

Give your filly a chance to recover on her own, and do some research of your own, to make sure she wasnt poisoned or something by either mold on grain, or something in the pasture or hay, etc, if you cannot determine that she was injured somehow during the night. chris www.canyonrimranch.net
Member:
leslie1

Posted on Friday, Apr 6, 2007 - 8:25 pm:

Thanks Chris I appreciate your words of encourage
I definately will give her time and beyond. I love this little baby girl. Shes like a child to me. Its very hard to watch her trying to walk. the reason the vet thought trauma is because I had both mares together ( one is EXTREMELY dominate) as we just moved less than a week ago. they were in a round pen togther. (not anymore)I had no choice but to have them togther for the move.
He did a bunch of tests, such as tight circles , bigger circles, palping the spine, also blindfolded her. it l0ook like the spine is affected above her front legs, as all of her legs have varying degree of incordination,, hind legs are worse than front tho. he gave her some meds, dmso and other stuff(cant remember.)
Im heartbroken as I cant afford the surgery and I also cant watch her suffer, Im not strong like that. Im 5 months pregnant and on a heart monitor. Im having a very hard time with this. I tried to read the DrO article but I couldnt seem to concentrate on the words. I know Im not alone, as I can see the posts of others who have gone thru this too. But its still hard. I just wanna do whats best for her.
Member:
canyon28

Posted on Friday, Apr 6, 2007 - 9:27 pm:

I read the whole article on here and it was kind of disheartening, but it did say that diet can help the horse slow down its grown to allow the spine to catch up.Especially if you caught it quick like you did and the horse is young like yours is. SoI would talk to your vet and read the whole article about the feeding program part of it for sure. I had never heard of this problem in young horses, apparently it affects TBs and other large fast growing breeds more than QH.
I hope you are ok, since you said you are on a heart monitor, you must be feeling a lot of stress, just with being pregnant. I know it is so hard to stand by and see an animal suffer when we dont know what to do or how to ease their pain or discomfort. my old dog is a lot better this evening and I guess she had no internal injuries that were life threatening from her experience with the cow. I know I wont have her too much longer because of her health problems and age, but she has made it through this time and will be with me a little longer.
Take care! you must take care of yourself first.
Member:
mrose

Posted on Friday, Apr 6, 2007 - 9:40 pm:

Leslie, like Christine, I would give the filly some time. I'd also read everyting I could on "wobblers." There is some good info on the HA site.https://www.horseadvice.com/horse/messages/4/5389.html If the info on wobblers doesn't totally match up with the symptoms your foal is exhibiting, then I'd search and try and find out what does. Good luck. I know first hand how foals quickly work their way into your heart!
Member:
leslie1

Posted on Friday, Apr 6, 2007 - 9:57 pm:

Thx Chris:-) Im so glad your dog is doing better. she sounds like a trooper:-)I love to hear feelgood stories like that.
As to Keira, she is an American Warmblood-- 1/2 Percheron and 1/2 thoroughbred. She is one of those fast growers. Since Ive had her she has had ocd so I try to keep her on the thin side of condition. Like a 4 on the condition scale. I also have never worked her at all so as not to ascerbate the ocd. was planing on getting her ocd surgery in July. The vets thought she had a good prognosis for the surgery being successful.
Anyways back to the wobblers problem...
I vaguely remember my vet saying something to the effect that we will have to try to keep keira from colicing, foundering, not letting her lay down too long etc... so overwhelming.
I will take care of my family, my unborn and myself and ofcourse my animal family. But Ive already had to send off 2 of my heart recordings today. Im terrified of thought of my filly down and me trying to get her up by myself (as my husband has to travel out of town for work all the time.)
Do horses learn Not to lie down from one episode of not being able to get up?
New Member:
limache

Posted on Friday, Apr 6, 2007 - 10:27 pm:

I have had three wobblers out of a Cento mare, and when they could no longer get up I had to have them put to sleep. It is very sad but there is no treatment at the present, except trying surgery which really doesn´t solve the problem. I am not a vet, but a breeder of european sport horses. virginia pearson de brito
Member:
leslie1

Posted on Friday, Apr 6, 2007 - 10:29 pm:

Thanks Sara,
Ive finally been able to sit down and read the article and what Ive gleaned from it is:
1 this is a progressive disease. And she seems to be starting off very bad already... very, very, wobbly.
2 for horses over a year surgery is the only option and the surgery cost upwards of 10 grand.

Every symptom she has matches with the articles defintion of wobblers.
She literally went from fine and dandy last night to not being able to get up this morning.

I just wanna let you guys know that I really appreciate your thoughts and advice so much

UPDATE:
hmmm my vet just called and left a message,,, he said we gunna need to get her some treatment and he wants her in the hospital to better care for her. Hes gunna call me tomorrow. I wonder what that treatment could be? I didnt see in the article any treatment other than a method of feeding for the younger foals.Only surgery for horses over a year. he did say hes done all the treatment he can for her today. I will be so HAPPY if this is treatable thru medications. I know she will never be rideable, I just want her comfy. And manageable for a pregnant woman to work with
I gunna wonder alll night about this "treatment".
Member:
leslie1

Posted on Friday, Apr 6, 2007 - 10:41 pm:

K things are starting to make more sense... I was wondering what this "treatment" he was talk9ng about is. My hubby just said that the vet said " I dont want to diagnose this kinda thing too quickly" so maybe that's why he wants her in the hospital and the treatment is to keep her comfortable and stable till we know for sure. the vet know about my personal health problems so maybe he is taking that into account as far as wanting to hospitalize her, and keep me from being hospitalized.
Virginia, you said when they could not get up... do you mean by themselves or with you pushing and pulling as well? I feel like I " did not pass go and went directly to jail" cuz she went from fine to not being able to stand. As if there was no progression in this case--just immediately bad.
Member:
freshman

Posted on Friday, Apr 6, 2007 - 10:52 pm:

How did the vet determine that she is a wobbler? There are many neuro diseases that can cause the signs that you mention in your filly, including EPM, WNV, and trauma. Some of these can resolve with time and treatment, so I'd not want to rush to a decision about euthanizing the horse unless she is a danger to herself or others. I think that the intial treatment would include a battery of tests to rule out EPM, etc, and a course of steriods and anti-infammatories, even antibiotics, to cover all the bases.

Consider taking the horse to a referral center that is equipped to deal with neuro horses. Usually they have padded stalls, a sling, and round-the-clock staff to monitor the horse. They can administer IV drugs to get the best effect, and also perform the diagnostics that may give you answers about the horse and its prognosis. In addition to the blood tests, they may also take radiographs, which could reveal a traumatic injury like a neck fracture. Spinal radiographs are limited by the horse's size, and a myelogran is the next option. Myelograms are usually considered to be the gold standard in diagnosing wobbler's synDrOme in horses.

It isn't the cheapest route, since the hospitalization, lab work, and diagnostics can run from about $1500-$3000 or more. And it doesn't guarantee you a live or even rideable horse even with this major investment. But if it is within your financial grasp, I think that it might give your filly her best chance to recover from this ordeal.

I'm so sorry that this is happening to your filly--there is nothing more frustrating than a neurologic problem, in my opinion. I'll be hoping for the best.
Member:
mrose

Posted on Friday, Apr 6, 2007 - 11:23 pm:

Leslie, DO take care of yourself first! I'd call the vet in the a.m. and find more out about what he has in mind, and what his recommendations are. It would be much easier for you to have the filly at his clinic, or another as per Kristin's post than trying to deal with her yourself and without any help.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Apr 7, 2007 - 7:40 am:

I too don't see a clear indication of Wobbler's so start with the article Diseases of Horses » Nervous System » Incoordination, Weakness, Spasticity, Tremors » Diagnosing Incoordination, Ataxia and Weakness. You may end up back here under Wobblers but you should be aware of the other possibilities and how to diagnose them.
DrO
New Member:
dms04

Posted on Thursday, Mar 13, 2008 - 11:45 pm:

I have an newly purchased 6 yr old warm blood who passed his vetting fine, but about two months after purchase began with rapid muscle wasting, buckling hind legs, especially if trying to turn in circles, stepping badly on his own hind legs-caused a serious puncture, very very reluctant to turn or flex left, no reaction in hind end to deep IM shots. My vet at UGA is admitting him to rule out wobblers. In older horses he said the leisions usually occur c5 to c7. He also does not say very encouraging things about this surgery! I am very scared -has anyone had an older horse with this condition?
Member:
pbauer

Posted on Friday, Mar 14, 2008 - 12:23 am:

Dear DMS,


There is always hope! I'll be praying for you
as I do for all on HA.

Please..."Hang In There"

Warm Regards,
Tonya
Member:
scooter

Posted on Friday, Mar 14, 2008 - 6:51 am:

dms you may want to start your own thread to get more responses. You are doing the best thing you can by sending him to get a diagnosis until then as Dr.O. says it is all conjecture. His symptoms also sound like other neurological diseases, such as EPM. Good Luck with your horse.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Mar 14, 2008 - 5:32 pm:

DMS this is an interesting case and would like to get a discussion started on this. Using the navigation bar at the top of this page could you back up to the article page, Wobblers or Cervical Stenotic Myelopathy, and repost by starting a new discussion. You will find the button at the bottom of the page.
DrO
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