We arrived back at the barn & I found someone who helped me unload him since as stated earlier he tends to fly off the back. He walked off pretty nicely this time to my surprise. At least that was one less worry behind me & only about a thousand facing us. The weather was really bad that day they where even calling for tornado warnings at some points which is very odd in our area so he was kept inside. I walked him in his stall he was very "up" from his days events but manageable all the same. I hurry to get him some of his mash & mix made up & refill his hay bag with fresh hay. He dove into his food like he hadn't eaten in years but he was fasted for a long time lets not forget. He takes a few laps in his stall but was so focused on his food & drinking like a camel that is all he wanted to do. I breathed a sigh of relief for that moment.
I get all his food & medications in somewhat of an order temporarily & head home for some food myself. The next stop would be picking up his prescription supplements at our regular vet. Luckily the vets office isn't too far especially after the trip we had that day. Picked up his supplies & headed home for a little bit longer. Later that evening I go to check on him to see what I would find who I would find was more like it these days. I slowly creep over to his stall my heart beating out of my chest & I find him eating his hay. No walking. I took a deep breathe. I go over he drank a lot & ate almost all of his food in his bucket. I take him out to let him in the indoor & after 20 mins he settles. I bring him back, give him a good grooming & put him back in his stall....He was ok in there for the first time in days. Another sigh of relief. While he still had minor walking he was improved a lot already. I felt like maybe I would be able to sleep for the first time in a long time...just maybe.
The next day I received a phone call from the Dr. at the hospital in regards to his other test result. It came back very positive. I anyone saw my face I'm sure the color was drained from it. He was then diagnosed with colonic ulcers that where bleeding. The vet gave me the options since he had been showing some improvements with the current medication to just stick with the Gastrogard & Sucralfate & "see" how he does or adding on an additional medication. I asked him what he recommended doing & he said due to the severity of the positive test results he recommends treating. Well we then had our answer medication number 3 joining the fight. I wasn't going to play anymore games the wait & see approach or trying things. I was going to go after the ulcers that had made my son so uncomfortable for so long with everything I could. Meet Misoprostol. Luckily this was dosed once a day & can be mixed in with his food!
After hearing all this I felt like a bad owner. How could I have let this happen. How could I not have done these test sooner. Sure I was working with my vets the entire time he was having any problem people even call me a "helicopter mom". I was told I was doing everything right but then how did everything go so wrong? I asked the Dr. at the hospital & he said some horses are just more predisposed to ulcers than others & with his tendencies to have some anxiety & internalize his feelings I suppose that's maybe what happen. We will never know for sure. We found he has cataracts so maybe his vision has decreased this year causing him to worry more? I could run through things in my mind all day & I do. He is not your big show performance horse anymore doesn't even take lessons, he does not receive high grain volume his food is beet pulp based & split between 3 feedings, he eats from a nibblenet & has hay available all the time whenever he wants. He had been on supplements for "ulcer" support but clearly that didn't matter did it? Ulcers present in many different ways sometimes with only one symptom.
More to come about his recovery process in following posts
No comments:
Post a Comment