Not That You Care, But Now You Know!!

Back from the Vet with my horse Remis Tivio Command (Remy for short) ...  I don't have good news.  Remy was a great patient ... being very calm while the vet stuck needles in his fetlock.  Since we couldn't actually tell where he was hurt, the idea was to numb each section of the foot (nerve blocks) going up his leg until he could walk without limping.  That pretty much tells you where the problem is so the fewest number of x-rays will be required.  The problem was in his fetlock ... shown here, hind leg, equal to your ankle.

Thankfully the owner of Taylor Veterinary Hospital, Dr. Brooks, was available to check his x-rays.  Horses aren't the most patient animals, so after 30 minutes of playing in the water bucket and eating all the oats he could scrape off the concrete, I took Remy outside.  The Dr. finally came back with the results.  A bone infection in his fetlock.  This is not his x-ray, but shows another horse with the same problem.  See the dark shadows in the middle of the two white bones towards the top?  The bones are the proximal sesamoid bones and the shadows in each are the infection.  Luckily we caught Remy soon enough that he only has a small spot on the left side.

Treatment is available, but time consuming and expensive with no guarantees that he will be sound again.  He is on pain medication as well as antibiotics for the next 60 days.

You think YOUR prescriptions are expensive???  Here sits over $250 worth and there is no insurance!!  Twice each day he gets two pain pills and 15 antibiotic pills, all of which have to be ground up and put in a small amount of grain so he will eat it.  Of course like humans, so much antibiotics can cause stomach problems, so he also gets Neigh-Lox (Maalox for horses) on a daily basis.  I tried crushing the pills in zip lok bags until I added up the expense of 120 and found a mortar and pestle instead.  Course it takes longer to use this.  I considered a coffee grinder but didn't want anyone to use it by accident for their coffee!!!

To restrict movement, I have to keep him in a 12 x 12 stall for the next 30 days at least.  He's VERY unhappy about this and I can't blame him.  How boring!!!!!  What goes in, comes out ... and I have to clean his stall every day .. a logistics nightmare since my garbage can isn't big enough!!!!  Every available container is full at this point!!!  Although I spray him every day for flies, the mask helps keep them out of his eyes.

Poor Baby!!!!!  I feel bad for him.  So far he is doing well and I haven't seen him limping.  I'm hoping that's not all because of the pain killer and that he is improving.  I'll know more in about 20 days.  The REAL problem is that I was supposed to leave in my RV to the Grand Canyon in the middle of August.  That may now have to be put off a couple of days while I take him to the vet and get new x-rays to check on his progress.   If he's healing up, he can be turned back out to the big corral for the second 30 day treatment which my house sitter can handle!  Keep your fingers crossed!!!!!