There have been a number of horses needing work on their teeth the recently. A number of cases have involved learning how to troubleshoot. Some of the barns we have gone to have not had the best set up for the dental head stall. Many times our rope has not been long enough to reach rafters and a long line or couple of lead ropes have been borrowed to make the rope reach the halter. At another point, a mini's head was too small for the headstall and we had to figure out how to keep her in place so she wouldn't walk through the halter and end up with it around her neck. I learned that sometimes it is hard to find the correct balance with sedation to keep the horse standing but sedate enough to be worked on. This was especially true with one horse who fought against having his teeth done and tossing his head when working on the right side of his mouth, where he had many sharp points and a ramp to his molars. Another horse was brought into the clinic with a suspect tooth abcess. On dental exam, all teeth looked normal, however the second premolar on the lower left was very sensitive. Radiographs were taken and it was found there was a fracture of the second premolar. The jaw was also fractured and draining tract was noted from the jaw. The owners elected for conservative treatment and to reassess in three months.
One case was a horse with Potomic horse fever. The owner had noted in the morning that the horse seemed depressed. As the day progressed, she noted he was off feed, not drinking much and had soft feces. He had a fever over 104 F. Feces were collected for PCR and a three day course of antibiotics was perscribed. Blood work showed a leukopenia with monocytosis and lymphpenia highly suggestive of Potomic. The horse responded well to antibiotics with his temperature returning to normal the next day. The case really highlighted the debate over the efficacy of the vaccine. The horse had recieved his booster a little over a week before becoming sick. However, his fever broke quickly and he fever developed severe diarrhea.
Early one morning we had a 28 year old horse with colic. When we arrived, the mare was very distressed, bloated, and painful. Every time her handler stopped moving her, she tried to through herself to the ground. She responded to sedation and analgesia enough to perform a better exam. On rectal, there was a very tight band coursing across the pelvic inlet and a number of small abnormal lumps were felt. On ultrasound, sacculations of the ventral colon were visible in an abnormal location on the left side near the nephrospleenic space. Distended, thickened small intestine was also noted. Based on the findings, the severe pain, and the age of the horse, the owner elected for euthanasia. It was the most humane action for the mare.
Another sad case also followed up on. We visited a farm for routine work on a number of horses and to check on a foal that Dr. Trombley had been following since birth. The foal was orphaned at birth because the mare was euthanized following a utrine prolapse. Soon after, it was noted the foal was having trouble standing due to contracted tendons. Splints were placed but unfortunately the foal developed rubs from the splints that became infected. The wounds were addressed and had started to heal. However, it appears the foal had developed a septic joint after the last vet visit and the bottom of his foot rotted out, to the point where the lower bones came out. When the owner found a chunk of bone in the stall, she elected to euthanize the foal. Upon examining the chunk of bone, we discoved it was actually an intact P2. It was a very unfortunate situation. Below are pictures of P2.
It was a busy couple of weeks with some difficult cases and a lot of learning.
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