Week 4 @ SVEC

            Despite this past week being only four days with Memorial Day off, it probably has been the busiest yet.  What I thought would be a very routine case turned out to be anything but and quite interesting.  We had a mare with a foal at her side present for a gastroscope to check for ulcers as the mare had been losing weight.  The mare was actually a rescue from out west and came to MI in poor condition and pregnant, but the rescue was able to get her in better condition prior to her foaling.  However, after having the foal, her condition deteriorated and she was very underweight (BCS 2/9), had a poor appetite and was not producing much milk for her foal.  The gastroscope did not show ulcers but we followed that up with an abdominal ultrasound and found some fluid surrounding her liver.  We did an abdominocentesis where we took a sample of fluid from the peritoneal cavity and sent it off for analysis.  The serum chemistry showed her liver was in trouble with a GGT in the 800s and the liver function tests also came back poor.  The peritoneal fluid sample came back as a protein rich transudate which fit with what the blood work indicated: liver failure.  The damage to the liver causes high blood pressure in the portal circulation and this, in conjunction with low albumin levels (a protein produced in the liver) leads to the leaking of fluid out of the vasculature and into the peritoneal cavity.   

            We admitted the mare and foal into the hospital with the goal of stabilizing the mare.  However, even with supportive care, the mare was still eating very poorly.  Liver failure in horses unfortunately has a poor prognosis and Dr. Jones gave the rescue only a 30% chance of a full recovery, and that would be over a long period (6-12 months) with much medicinal support required.  The rescue decided it would be best to euthanize the mare.  The focus then turned to the foal, but fortunately the foal was 3.5 weeks old and already quite independent and nibbling on hay and grain.  We tried to get the foal on a milk replacer from a bucket, but she was not having that, so she will continue on the pellets.  She surprisingly handled the weaning quite well, with only a little bit of calling for her dam.  The foal was taken home the next day where the plan is to turn her out during the day with a pony where she can learn how to be a horse, but be stalled at night with a goat so she has company all the time but doesn’t become overly dependent on her horse buddy.  Here’s to hoping that the filly thrives despite the early weaning and loss of her dam.