Young horse up, Thanks

[Eboy]

Not sure why now he was down but spent lots of time dismantling barn and cleaning a path so I could drag him out-side. Covered him to keep him warm and dry.
We gave him 60 cc of pen G every day and then banamine.
Then we got annoyed and put the garlic to him, we gave him about 40 cloves chopped with celery tops and cabbage with some m.s.m. and devils claw.
Then to give him energy we gave him oats with molasses and more garlic.

This morning with the nice weather we rolled him over on to his good side and
this afternoon he stood up after a bunch of tries. He’s very slow and shaky but has received a pile of good hay and finally drank a bunch of water now we would say 80% he’s going to be o.k. We are going to get him some bute to keep inflammation down and more penecillin since we don’t know for sure what was the cause. I’m sticking with my garlic! 😉

[CharlyBonifaz]

I’m sticking with my garlic!

please remember, that 120g (a forth of a pound?) fed to a regular size horse for a prolonged time daily causes anemia.
I’d stick with the rest of your treatment. 🙂
Congrats
elke

[Jean]

Good to see he is up. Hope to hear about improvement throughout the weekend. I would have gotten up at the first sign of all that garlic. Can’t eat the stuff, myself.

[Eboy]

Never underestimate quality garlic -that being no commercial fertilizer used.

The Russians used it as it is a natural antibiotic, (it is also anthelmintic (dewormer) and a natural anti-inflammatory) in the war to heal the soldiers.

All this being said, penicillen was also helpful and will continue to get 60 cc per day.

Since he got up he is moving a little better and has remained up. His appetite is good and we are giving him a little salt to encourage him to drink to help flush him out.

Looks promising. Thanks Jean and Elke for your considerate comments

Cheers

[Eboy]

Talking to an older horse farmer about my colt he suggested that what he had contracted is what they call ‘black water’. It is bad water sitting in pools, which I had in the barnyard. Why he would choose to drink from there makes me wonder.
Penecillin, and garlic or any anti-bacterials was the cure.

Phlegmons as was suggested in the young horse down. Was a very good guess, similar in symptoms and treatment.

[near horse]

It is bad water sitting in pools

Stagnant pools of water w/ decaying vegetation can be sources for botulism. I know it sounds weird but Clostridial bacteria (like botulinum) are anaerobic and survive in oxygen free environments. The rotting veg uses up what O2 is there and provides the right conditions – when the bacteria die they release the botulism toxin.

An interesting epidemiology/pathobiology story from my days in wildlife – seems there was a place raising pheasants for hunting and they had a series of pens/cages that shared common “walls” as well as waterers. One summer (I think) they started to see birds dying off. Some in one cage, then in another and another. Anyway, what had happened was one of the water spigots had a slow drip that provided a somewhat stagnant puddle w/ rotting veg. Birds with access to that puddle got botulism and died. Flies laid eggs on the carcasses (I know – bad management) which hatched into crawly maggots which other birds – even in pens w/ no access to the puddle – promptly gobbled up. And they died. The belief is that the botulism toxin has no effect on the flies or maggots but remains unchanged and was then ingested by the next unsuspecting bird/victim.

Pretty cool. Or maybe just an old wildlife tale.

[Author]

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