AHS outbreak

[Willem vd Mescht]

As you all know we are in the middle of an outbreak. Actually I am optimistic and hoping that the worst is over. Fortunately we been luck here and none of my horses got sick, so far anyway. But just hearing about horses getting sick and sometimes so very, very close to you is like being in a war zone with bombs dropping all around and you just hoping it won't fall on your head.

I came across a website: www.africanhorsesickness.co.za They have a map that they show all reported cases of AHS. It seem however as if only a very few cases are actually reported, so I want to ask if one of your horses get sick, please report it there. It is a very informative site and knowing where horses had been sick give owners a bit of warning when the decease are getting close.

[Willem vd Mescht]

Just came back in from out side, one of our horses has a slight increase in temperature (38.5), usually he is like colder that the rest at about 37.3 to 37.8. Called owner and she called the vet and he said to do nothing. The temperature must first go higher. FRUSTRATING!!

And I so hoped that the horse sickness is going to pass us by.

[Willem vd Mescht]

Update

The horse that were initially sick, Aquarius, had a temperature for 3 days, but it is back to normal since yesterday. He also didn't show any other symptoms and besides temperature he was his old perky self.

BUT, last night one of our other horses, Cookie, showed a temperature. And this morning she look sick. She is lying down a lot, with rapped breathing and her eyes are slightly swollen. The vet was here last night, but I'm hoping her owner will let him come out again today.

[Willem vd Mescht]

Update

Cookie was very sick. For about 2 days she was just about permanently lying down. Only standing up for a few minutes or so. At one point the vet actually said that if it gets any worse we must start thinking of putting her down. About 8 injections, 80 tablets and 5 days later she recovered.

The worst thing of all was the fact that she was only allowed to drink 5 liters of water per day. Shame she was so thirsty. When I stuck the tablets in her mouth I could feel how dry her mouth was. During the day she made her spot to lie down, where the water container normally was. At night I stabled her.

The vet also said that when she is up we must try to make her walk. Often we could not even get her to stand up, let alone walk. But get the water bucket out with the tiny drop of water she were allowed and she got up and followed, even with legs wobbling under her. I felt so sorry for her. The no water policy was because of the swelling. The vet said the swelling is water that is building up. Once she was over it, the swelling came down rapidly so she could get water again, but I didn't want to just give her free water out of fear of colic, so I gave her a bucket full every 3 hours and that day she drank 5 buckets of water, about 20+ liter each. By the next day, the swelling was almost gone and I gave a bucket of water every 2 hours. She emptied each bucket as I presented it to her and only by the afternoon did she stop drinking so much.

I am just so happy that she is still with us and that the other horses are also in good health.