another one at tammys

Tammy sent this via email



Lord thunderin' - will it ever stop? Another horse came down with the same thing that Stretch had. Stomach cramps, diahreah and unbearable pain. We don't know what's causing it - nor can any of us think straight this morning. We spent the night in shifts keeping Gala on her feet. She seems to be over the worst of it and is now napping in the paddock. So I am going to do the same and get a little bit of shuteye. I'll give you a better update tomorrow when I can see out of these bleedin' eyeballs.

ME NERVES ARE FRIED !!

TELL HER TO STOP FEEDING WHAT EVER THEY BOTH WERE GETTING RIGHT AWAY!!!!!

it may be tainted... have it checked... it happens... and it costs a fortune and years to recover your vet costs from the feed company

OK I just replied to a topic that Tammy posted about manure eating.. Can someone find out if they added some minerals or something new to their diet because of them eating manure. Could be part pof the colic problems..

OK gang, everyone seems OK now. :D What a long friggin' 72 hours we put in! Stretch started on Monday with diahrea and alot of cramping. His muzzle was that wrinkled up with pain it was almost half it's usual size. We gave him some 911 paste and did lots of massaging. He was drinking lots so at least we didn't have to worry about dehydration. Actually, I think he was trying to rinse the paste out of his mouth. He wasn't impressed at all! Then he'd eat a bit of hay and then rest a bit. Within a few hours his manure was firming up. Still lots of cramping and pain but he seemed to be improving. By 10:30 Monday night he seemed more comfortable - wasn't spasming in his loin area anymore. In the afternoon his spasms were that strong that you could stand back a foot or so and see the muscles twitching. I felt so bad for the old guy.

Tuesday afternoon Gala started with the diahrea and cramping. Her pattern was to do the flahmen response (not sure how to spell that), lift her tail, paw and then shoot copious amounts of liquid out her butt. She was in much worse shape than Stretch. I was in St. John's with Kayla in the afternoon - she had gymnastics, and that's when Gala's owner (Antje) called. We had used the only tube of 911 paste that we had on Stretch so I started the search for a tube. It was quite the adventure, which I'll update you on in another post. Bottom line is I didn't get arrested and I was able to find one tube.

Gala was in so much pain that we had to have an all nighter with her. Between myself, Gord, Antje and Dennis (her hubby) we did 4 hour shifts throughout the night. Around 6 am she started to improve, eat and drink. Manure hadn't firmed up any but we figured she was over the worst. Later that day (Wed) she was getting worse again so we were able to get the gov't vet to come out. He observed her and then gave her a shot of banamine (I think that's what it's called). Once she was more comfortable he inspected the barn and property to see if he could figure out what the cause may be. His best guess is that perhaps our cleaning up of the winter manure in the smaller paddock may have brought something to the surface which was ingested. No way to know for sure. Nothing has changed in their diet recently. We had a new load of hay at the beginning of March but other than that it's the same old, same old.

Today we cleaned out the small paddock completely right down to the gravel. It's peeing down rain this evening and tomorrow is supposed to be hot and sunny (about 15 degrees) so hopefully that will help cleanse the area. I'd love to know the cause but right now am so friggin' exhausted that I'm trying not to dwell on it. It's scarey stuff to say the least! Gala and Stretch are on probiotics (Gala always had been but Stretch just started after this). We are almost out of them and as there isn't anyone here that sells them, we've had to order them from the company. I'm not sure how long it's going to take but hopefully they'll arrive soon as we only have enough for a few more days.

And on a funny note, Gord and Dennis were doing the 4-6 am shift on Wed morning. When I went out at 6:30 to feed, they had "command central" set up in the tack room. Coffee pot going, fresh bottle of Bailey's (not alot left!), a fruit tray with dip, and they had just finished munching on bagels. I couldn't believe it! How come on my shift I didn't even have a drink of water, and here they were living it up?! :scratch: Trust those two !!!!!!!!!

Let me tell you ladies, it was one of the scariest times in my life. I felt so helpless, and without any vet to come and set our minds at ease it was a pretty draining experience. Thanks for all the good thoughts - I think they helped. I didn't mean to leave you on needles and pins but just didn't have the chance to give an update - as you can well imagine. Keep your fingers crossed that it's over!

Phew! Glad to hear everyone is doing better. What is 911 paste?

You might be able to get probiotics at Wal Mart. Its in a pill form in the pharmacy area of the store, I seen them last time I was there. Its for humans, but probiotics are probiotics. You could crush up the pills in apple sauce or even stick them in an apple or something. I don't think they were too expensive either.

Wow what a night for you guys.. I get my PROBIOplus from Herbs for horses.. They ship pretty quick and i have been using it for couple of years and swear by it..
Herbs for Horses

Geesh Tammy, what a friggin nightmaare is right........sure am glad you had some good help.......nice how the boys got their sh@t together......you lady had better collect a few things like that for yourself..........the bunkhouse here is set up specifically for emergencies.............can you not just use yogurt for the horses...or am I nuts.............anyway, sure am glad you didnt get arrested.....I'm pretty sure the stress would have made you do and say some interesting things to folks who were NOT HELPING!!!!! CHEERS

Tammy I am so glad things are getting better. I know it is h^$*, we had two horses about six months apart have to be on 24 hour watch. The first was for five days and the second was for a week. There is no way we could have done it without good friends. Unfortantly we lost the second one, my four year old Appaloosa mare. I am still having a hard time with that and it was over a year ago.

Get some rest now and hopefully everything is cleared up.

Tammy, I know how scared you must have been.. colic puts the fear in me, I've gone through 2 with Gunnar in the short time I've owned him.. I have had three horses previous and for long periods of time, my old guy lived to be 30 and I got him when he was 12, never once did he colic.. neither did my other two horses.. but this.. omg.. I don't like it one bit..
I've never seen a horse die of colic, but some very very close.. I sure hope I don't experience that ever again.. fingers, toes and anything else I can get crossed..

Here's the link for the info on the 911 paste. http://www.mcintoshproline.com/equine/index.html I don't know why it works, but it does. It's on sale at Greenhawk until the end of April. I now have 2 full tubes in my barn - hopefully I'll never have to use them again!