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Friday, September 18, 2009

Foxsun still has the dreaded lurgy.

Foxsun's kidneys seem to be working OK according to an urinalysis we did earlier this week. The vet also told me that he got a call from the lab that ran the pigeon fever titre to tell him there had been a mix up. It turns out Foxsun tested positive for pigeon fever antibodies. It wasn't high, 64 I believe, but it was enough to show that Foxsun maybe walling off internal pigeon fever abscesses. Foxsun has been showing some improvement so we are continuing the massive doses of antibiotics.

The odd thing is all the edema he has. The edema comes and goes on his belly. I believe it's called ventral edema. His hind legs are also swollen. During the last week he has been having edema in his chest... some days worse than others. The latest development was puffy swelling in his throat latch area. I think this is edema also because it comes and goes. Because of all the grazing he has been doing lately the edema maybe from having his head down a lot. I hope he doesn't have something going on with his heart.

Foxsun has become very skinny and I was hoping he'd start to put on weight now that he's eating more but if he is I can't see it. If I don't see an improvement soon as far as his weight goes, I'll ask the vet if we can switch to another antibiotic.

Meanwhile Foxsun is having the time of his life although I gave him bute yesterday because he was stiff and a bit sluggish. It perked him right up. It was the first time for almost two weeks he'd had any bute. He hangs around me enjoying watching me do stuff. He followed me over to the mustangs last night and insisted on following me in to Echo's corral. Even though he can go the other side of the fence and eat all he wants from the bales of hay he marched right up to Echo, who was enjoying his dinner, and tucked in right next to him.
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Fox is 14.3 so I think Echo must be 14.0 or 14.1 at the most. Echo was OK with it but after awhile Foxsun, who's used to bossing cows around, went snake face.
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Echo, being a tough little mustang, thought a fight was starting and spun around to show Fox his business end. Foxsun spun around and showed Echo his puny business end which made Echo back off and come over to me for a carrot. Even though I was impressed with Foxsun's determination to eat Echo's hay I called him to me and we left Echo to enjoy the rest of his dinner.

Foxsun is still wearing his little blanket at night. The feed stores don't have the fall and winter horse fashions in yet so I'll have to order him one online.

I leave grain outside the back door and he comes over in the mornings to eat it. Last night, when I was locking up to go to bed, he gave me a bit of a fright by looking at me through the glass of the back door. This morning he found another place to keep an eye on me.
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And I found another way to give him treats.
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Right now his favorite food is oats. I also have bowls of sweet cob and senior ration in case he gets a taste for those. I try to keep the bowls full. I can't put chopped apple or carrots in his senior feed to get him to eat it because he knocks the bowl over to get at the treats and makes a mess.

Here's a picture of Fox when he was 10 years old. As you can see he's a very sturdy Morgan horse.
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1 comment:

Cheryl Ann said...

I'm going through something similiar with my beloved German Shepherd. He lost 12 pounds and is losing his hair! He scratches ALL the time. After a year of tests and different drugs, the vet says he is borderline Cushings! So, a new round of meds. I wish I had the answer....(sigh)...in the meantime, we are just keeping him comfortable. He still likes to play with the puppy and chase the cats!