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  Discussion on Enterocolitis in lactaning mare
Author Message
Member:
Christos

Posted on Monday, Jul 5, 2004 - 5:52 pm:

Dear DrO,
We've lost a mare today to what seemed like acute enterocolitis. I do not know what exactly happened, as vets and labs are scarce around here.
She went down in less than 24 hours, but her 3mo colt is alive and kicking. If it was Salmonella or Clostridia, wouldn't it have affected the nursing foal as well?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 6, 2004 - 7:48 am:

Not neccesarily Christos many factors result is susceptibility: was there antibiotic use? The rapid course makes me suspect Clostridia which appears to be much less contagious than Salmonella.
DrO
Member:
Christos

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 6, 2004 - 10:35 am:

Here's the story:
Saturday afternoon, she was in perfect condition and mood. I was extremely familiar with this mare, so I can ensure you that there was no warning. She was bucking and showing off and racing around with no sign of the slightest discomfort. Her DrOppings were normal and she was eating happily when I left.
Next morning, the owner of the barn called in panic, saying she has severe diarrhea.
She was heavily depressed, heart 60 pm (usually around 32), breath 50-60 pm, a little sweaty, no thermometer available but she didn't "feel" like having a fever. Gums a bit too pink but not red, refill (capillary and jugular) a tiny bit slow (3-3,5 sec). Zero gut sounds, even with a stethoscope.
Her posture was ok except for the low head and she was walking willingly if asked but would not trot. No sign of abdominal pain, no ataxia.
I gave her 600 mg Banamine IM which didn't seem to help at all.
She was "playing" with food and water but not eating or drinking.
When I arrived she passed a last go of some 4-5 liters of very watery, almost clear diarrhea, no foul smell.
We started looking for an available vet, but we didn't even manage to get one on the phone.
I cooled her a bit with a hose and it seemed to help, to the extend that she drunk some 1 - 1,5 liters of water. I thought this would keep her up until a vet arrives, as she kept drinking some 1 liter per hour and didn't pass any more diarrhea.
In the evening she seemed to recover a bit. She started making hostile faces to uknown people and when I took her for a walk she jumped into trot very willingly. So we put her in her stall and took a break.
We returned past midnight, and though she hadn't passed any more diarrhea and she had consumed some 4 liters of water her skin would tent horribly when pinched. Everything else was pretty much the same.
I decided that I'll try to give her some IV fluids, but I couldn't find the vein. Any vein. Now I'm pretty useless with IV injections, but this was too much. There was no jugular vein there!
So I left her for the night.
Early next morning the barn owner calls to say that she's worse, trying to lie down all the time. I found a vet on the way to the barn and he prescribed some drugs and promised to be in the barn in 30 minutes. Well, I got the call that she died before I got in the car.
Now there are a couple of things that puzzle me here.
First, she lived in a farm where there were some 200 other animals around her. Cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, dogs, cats and chicken, all in rather poor condition. She was actually the only healthy animal in the premises. It's a bit funny to be the one that died from an infectious disease.
The other thing is that I was supplementing corn meal in the last week instead of the usual quarter broken one. I got some information today (you know, these rumours that jump out every time such an incident occurs) that the producer is a bit "careless" with pesticides and a month ago some 20 rabbits and 30 chicken died within a day because of his corn meal. Could poisoning from this corn bring her down so abruptly and not gradually though she was fed some 2-3 lbs of it for a week?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 7, 2004 - 7:51 am:

The problem with guessing at a possible cause Christos is that the symptoms you describe are general so we do not have any knowledge of the pathogenesis of the diarrhea (inflammatory?, excretory?, neurological with deranged motility?) or even the primary cause of death (septic toxemia? hypovolemic shock secondary to dehydration? major organ failure? CNS dysfunction?). YThere is nothing in your post that firmly establishes the basis for anything other than the most general rule out list. For such a list see, Diarrhea an Overview.

I do not see anything that rules out some types of poisoning and with the history you draw I can see why you might be suspicious, do you know what type insecticide was used?
DrO
Member:
Christos

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 7, 2004 - 9:52 am:

No, Doctor, I do not know yet.
I've sent some food leftovers to a friend who runs a lab in Athens, so I'll know in a few days.
The point is that even the vets here are funny. Imagine the state vets covering up an Anthrax outbreak for the sake of not putting the whole area in quarantine and damaging the business. Can you believe these people?
Anyway, I may as well rest the case. This mare did not belong to me and I was in no way responsible for her.
I had only taken the challenge of training the craziest horse on this planet, and though she finally worked fine for me to the point of really loving her, she remained a deadly bitch, a real danger to anyone else around her.
I'll miss her horribly, but horses are fun for me again, now that she's gone.
Thanks for your response, Doctor, I'll let you know if anything comes up.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jul 8, 2004 - 6:49 am:

Bummer about the state vets, a disaster is likely to occur with that type behavior.
DrO
Member:
Christos

Posted on Thursday, Jul 8, 2004 - 4:02 pm:

Yeap! I feel like I'm trying to hide behind a straw wall from a tsunami I know is coming...
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