Our little girl is VERY sick. I'm pretty sure she has strangles. Today, I was standing in her pen trying to convince her to approach me and sniff me, so I was squatting down on the ground. She was standing very close, so close that I could feel her breath on my outstretched hand, but she wouldn't come any closer. As I was sitting there watching her I notice that she had a thin watery (slightly brownish tinted) nasal discharge. THEN I noticed that she had something hanging from underneath her jaw, right in the middle between the two halves...a closer inspection revealed that it was actually puss caught on loose hair. And sure enough, she also had a swollen lump a little further back, almost in her throatlatch. She's coughing more often now, still phlegmy, and I notice that every once in a while she'll stop chewing her hay and stretch her neck out, letting the hay come out of her mouth while she makes a bit of a choking sound, then she'll resume eating. I also noticed that the left side of her cheek is very swollen...I don't think that is from stangles though...that seems more like an abcessed cheek or tooth or something.
And now I'm worried about the other horses that were meeting her through the fence! We put electric wire up so that they can't reach her to touch noses anymore, but it's probably too late now. And no, I didn't vaccinate mine against strangles, but in hindsight, it probably would have been a good idea. I really didn't imagine the mustangs coming in with diseases. They are actually vaccinated for strangles, but that vaccine is notoriously ineffective (part of the reason why I didn't see a need to vaccinate mine). I'm pretty sure that she wasn't draining pus yesterday, so hopefully the exposure that they had was not extreme. Plus, my horses are over 5 years old, very healthy, and pretty much in the prime of their lives. I am hoping that they don't get sick! Ugh! How awful!
I also read that antibiotics (penicillin) are very effective early one, but once they start draining from abcesses, antibiotics can prolong the infection. Not that I can give her injections now anyway...that'd be a way to destroy any little bit of confidence that she has in me!
I will be calling the vet on Tuesday to see what I need to do...if necessary, I wonder if I should start mine on a short course of antibiotics to prevent them from catching it. It's too late to vaccinate because it can take up to 2 weeks post vaccination to build full immunity.
In better news, the 2 year old boy did not try to run through the fence when I gave him hay this morning. He was still snorting and standing back watching me distrustfully as I talked to him and told him I understood, but really it was not necessary for him to snort at me. He really does think the barn is very safe. He thinks the danger lurks outside. I came through the side door and walked toward his area in the barn, and he didn't even notice me until I was right up beside his panel. Then of course, he snorted and lept outside. I think he just needs a lot of time. He is super scared.
She is not as scared, and before I noticed her pussy drainage, I had been walking her around the pen (yes, she walks, not panics), and trying to get her to just stop and look at me with both eyes. She was getting pretty good about it on her left side, but not so good on her right. It took more patience and I had to stand farther back and wait for her to look at me...if I approached or stood any closer, she'd just turn away from me and walk away. On her left side though, she'll actually turn into me and face me then change direction and walk off. I'm sure that the walking has something to do with being very sick. I'm going to not even go in her pen anymore. She needs the rest, and I don't want to contaminate myself and end up being the vector that transmits the bacteria to my horses, if they don't have it already. No wonder she was sleeping so much. Poor girl.
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I just looked at pictures from day 1 that clearly show the underside of her jaw and there is no drainage then, but a tiny lump is barely visible from where she is currently draining...and the big lump that is currently in her throatlatch was not there at all two days ago...so I do think she just started draining today.
Having a sick horse myself I wondered if she was ill. The weight she has lost since the online adoption seems like a lot. She maybe extra calm because she's ill. The vet gave Foxsun an antibiotic that you can sprinkle on their food. I think cattle can get antibiotics in their drinking water. By the way the pen Echo gets worked in is 40 x 40.
Oh, I hope it isn't strangles, poor thing! Maybe it is just an abscessed tooth or something in her jaw? The vet should come out and take a look. Hopefully she'll be on the mend with some meds. I am sure that has been contributing to her mellow attitude, poor thing has been under the weather! Once she's well...she might be a little firecracker, hee hee! :) This is such an interesting journey of yours, I am really enjoying reading about your Mustang experiences. I'd like to adopt someday....I can see it is going to be a lot of work!
Pony Girl - I feel like a complete first-timer with this adoption thing...when we got Chico and Catlow, it wasn't at my facility and they were so easy because they were babies (and they weren't sick). I am doing this all from scratch and I realize that I've made some mistakes - the biggest one being not completely quarantining them when they arrived. Now I know. I hope others learn from my mistakes!
That's why it's good to blog these experiences! I made a list--back in the day--with the top 20 things I learned from adopting. I should update it now that its been a year! I'll add quarantine to it. I think you're right on about the strangles. The only horses I ever saw get it were the new ones in the barn--or otherwise compromised. I doubt that your healthy guys will get it from that small contact. I don't vaccinate against it unless I'm taking them to a barn for an extended period because I know they'll be stressed--and that's when they get sick. But like you said--Strangles vaccine isn't a sure thing anyway!! The horses I saw with it had to run their course--and it seems like they did okay eventually. The bad thing is, you can't clean around it and all of that.
When I first got Beautiful--the stress caused some reaction that made her lose her mane.
Hope the mare doesn't lose her mane...she's been rubbing it on the doorway of the barn. She must be itchy. I think she's going to really like me once I get my hands on her and scratch her itches...
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