I got a really great text message last night from Dr. Norton, one of the residents I worked with on Equine Internal Medicine, even though I've been off the rotation for a week and a half. She was letting me know that the owners of one of my first equine patients had finally named the foal.
For some background, it is very common for owners/breeders to not name foals until they're older. I don't really know why that is. But, when foals are born, they're called Mare'sName Year'F (F for foal.) My guess is that you don't get as attached to animals that don't have names and that foals (like puppies or kittens) sometimes take very ill and die. It's easier to let an animal go, or to make hard decisions weighing life and finances, if the life doesn't have a name.
But, anyway, my patient was a little foal with significant diarrhea. She was in the hospital for a little over a week, and cost her owners close to $3,000.
They named her Aggie's Special Country Star. They "had to name her aggie because she wouldn't be alive without all or our hard work." That's so sweat! And it feels really good to have all the hard work I did noticed. (I had to do treatments every 2 hours for the first couple days she was in my care.)
Showing posts with label equine internal medicine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label equine internal medicine. Show all posts
Monday, June 20, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Equine Internal Medicine- "Spitfire"
I feel so blessed to have been involved in Spitfire's life, as short as it was.
He came in as a 10 day old pony foal who had intermittently had fevers, fast heart rates and fast breathing since he was born. When we asked his owners more, they said that he sometimes dribbles milk out his nose when he's been laying down.
When we were looking at chest radiographs to look for aspiration pneumonia, the radiologist said "Well, if this was a dog, I would say this looks like a persistent right aortic arch (PRAA)." We didn't really do much about it then, but when I brought up the radiologist's comment again in rounds, we decided to pursue it a little further. I got sent over to the small animal hospital to talk to people who might know more about PRAAs, because it isn't something that's really reported in horses (9 times in large animals in general, it turns out.)
It got everyone all twitterpated and very excited. He had a lot of very good prognositic factors. After that, it was a very emotional rollercoaster between doing the surgery or euthanizing him.
In the meantime, Spitfire and I really bonded. I named him Spitfire because he had such a delightful personality. He was full of spunk and silliness. He'd walk right up to people and chew on their pants or lab coat. The emergency/overnight students who did his midnight-2AM treatments called him Chompers. He liked to run and buck around the paddock outside when we turned them out in the morning. He liked to steal stethescopes and carry them around his stall. His mother put up with him with goodnatured grace. Overall, he was just a little spitfire. (His owners ended up naming him something else, but I still like Spitfire better.)
Sadly, the surgical attempt to correct his congenital defect didn't go as planned. It ended up going really poorly and he was euthanized on the table. We all knew it was a real long shot that he'd make it, but that doesn't make it any less sad.
He came in as a 10 day old pony foal who had intermittently had fevers, fast heart rates and fast breathing since he was born. When we asked his owners more, they said that he sometimes dribbles milk out his nose when he's been laying down.
When we were looking at chest radiographs to look for aspiration pneumonia, the radiologist said "Well, if this was a dog, I would say this looks like a persistent right aortic arch (PRAA)." We didn't really do much about it then, but when I brought up the radiologist's comment again in rounds, we decided to pursue it a little further. I got sent over to the small animal hospital to talk to people who might know more about PRAAs, because it isn't something that's really reported in horses (9 times in large animals in general, it turns out.)
It got everyone all twitterpated and very excited. He had a lot of very good prognositic factors. After that, it was a very emotional rollercoaster between doing the surgery or euthanizing him.
In the meantime, Spitfire and I really bonded. I named him Spitfire because he had such a delightful personality. He was full of spunk and silliness. He'd walk right up to people and chew on their pants or lab coat. The emergency/overnight students who did his midnight-2AM treatments called him Chompers. He liked to run and buck around the paddock outside when we turned them out in the morning. He liked to steal stethescopes and carry them around his stall. His mother put up with him with goodnatured grace. Overall, he was just a little spitfire. (His owners ended up naming him something else, but I still like Spitfire better.)
Sadly, the surgical attempt to correct his congenital defect didn't go as planned. It ended up going really poorly and he was euthanized on the table. We all knew it was a real long shot that he'd make it, but that doesn't make it any less sad.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Equine Internal Medicine- Toxicity Horses
My first day of Equine Internal Medicine was a little overwhelming! We started the day with 4 students and 13 patients! But, 6 of them were from the same ranch and had all come in together with an unusual neurological presentation.
11 of the family's 20 horses were taken on a trail ride and left in a dry lot pen with a bale of crappy hay afterwards while the family dealt with another problem. The horses ended up eating all the way down to the bottom of the bale of hay, including some plants they wouldn't normally eat. They were also given a normal dose of their normal dewormer.
A day or so later, those 11 horses were in some state of neurological distress. They were somewhere between ataxic ("walking drunk") and recumbent (unable to get up.) The owners ended up bringing in the 6 worst off horses. They got supportive care- fluids, nursing care, etc- and they got better!
It felt like such a miracle! We were so glad to see them all turn around and get better.
11 of the family's 20 horses were taken on a trail ride and left in a dry lot pen with a bale of crappy hay afterwards while the family dealt with another problem. The horses ended up eating all the way down to the bottom of the bale of hay, including some plants they wouldn't normally eat. They were also given a normal dose of their normal dewormer.
A day or so later, those 11 horses were in some state of neurological distress. They were somewhere between ataxic ("walking drunk") and recumbent (unable to get up.) The owners ended up bringing in the 6 worst off horses. They got supportive care- fluids, nursing care, etc- and they got better!
It felt like such a miracle! We were so glad to see them all turn around and get better.
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