It is clear that the season is changing as you watch the shift in cases. Breeding has basically come to a close and now pregnancy checks with longer intervals between checks have started. Few calls are coming in for vaccines. Now the cases seem to be more colics, Potomic horse fever and lameness.
This week brought cases that were more puzzling than the routine. On one call, we saw a horse with boney proliferation in between his eyes. The lump ran in a line, following skull suture in that area. The owner believed the horse was either kicked or hit its head on something about a month ago. The horse was never painful but the owner became concerned that the lump had continued to spread and was now close to the eyes and one eye was tearing more than normal. We took radiographs of the head. The boney proliferation was clear but the frontal sinuses were not involved. After a consult with MSU, it has been determined that the horse likely has suture line periostitis, also known as horns. This condition was likely caused by trauma/fracture of the area and the body overresponded to heal itself. It should eventually stop growing and cause no issues except cosmetically.
Another case we say was horse with a wound over the medial aspect of its carpus. The owner and trainer were concerned that the horse may have a bone chip because he sometimes interfered with himself when working. No chips were evident on radiographs. On ultrasound there was some debrie evident in the area. The horse was referred for arthroscopy.
One of the lamenesses we say seemed to have a lot going on. The horse had been slightly off for awhile. The trainer said the horse seemed disconnected in his movements undersaddle and had a hard time backing. He had also recently become more resistent to bending. When we examined the horse, he was sore over his back, responded to the spavin test on his right hock, had muscle atrophy over his right hip and his left shoulder appeared set forward. On flexions, the lameness became more pronounced after flexion of the hocks. The horse also was weak in the hind end to a tail pull and did not seem to know where his feet were when backed or pulled in a tight circle. X-rays of the hocks were inconclusive, with only subtle change noted. blood was drawn and sent for a variety of tests, including EPM and vitamin E and selenium. The EPM test come back negative and selenium was within an acceptable level. However, the vitamin E was critically low. Vitamin E deficency has been shown to produce some neuromuscular signs. The recommendation right now is to supplement the vitamin E and possibly have the horse adjusted by a chiropractor and see if he improves.
Another interesting case was a horse that the presenting complaint was not drinking enough and was dragging his back feet. On presentation the horse was eating well and mildly dehydrated. He had symmetrical atrophy of his hindquarters and was sore to papation, especially in the sacroilliac region. He also had a fever of 102. His symptoms did not seem to fit well into just one problem. He was given banamine and started on SMZ's. His fever responded and he has improved. Bloodwork was suggestive of an infection but the etiology is not know. A chiropractor was recomended to help with his back pain.
Vet med certainly is a puzzle and sometimes you really have to work to find the pieces that fit together well enough to give you an answer.
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