Please, Help me! I have a Very Sick Older Fox Trotter Mare ...

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear that Dollie isn't doing well. You sound like a well-informed horse owner who loves her mare very much. First of all, the signs/symptoms you describe do not come close to West Nile or Eq Inf Anemia. With West Nile, those horses that become clinically ill exhibit signs of loss of appetite and depression, in addition to any combination of the following signs — fever, weakness or paralysis of hind limbs, muscle fasciculations or muzzle twitching, impaired vision, ataxia (incoordination), head pressing, aimless wandering, convulsions, inability to swallow, circling, hyperexcitability, or coma. Horses with Equine Infectious Anemia show fever, petechial hemorrhages (pinpoint hemmorhages on the mucous membranes, anemia, depression, weight loss and dependent edema (swelling on the lower portion of the body).

In general, when blood and fluid come from a teat, it means mastitis. The other possibility is a tumor of the mammary tissue. Since the antibiotics made a major difference in the swelling, I would guess that this is likely mastitis. Your description fits that disease. However, the antibiotic may not be the correct one since the issue is still present. You may wish to send a sample of the fluid to your vet for a culture, but this may not work since the horse is already on antibiotics. My main concern is that the antibiotic choice is not correct. A vet can also ultrasound the mammary area and check for a tumor.

As far as the weight loss issue, she is getting older and sometimes as they age, horses have a harder time keeping weight on. You may wish to add some supplementation to her diet.

I hope this is helpful. Please let me know what other information, if any, I can provide.

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Thank You for taking the time to read about my mare. I do understand what you have told me. The feed I give her has all the supplements in it that my vet has told me to give her. She is an older horse and like I said we have gone thru a broke leg toghter. The swelling she had was directly under her belly. What throws me off is, she has no swelling or tenderness on or around her teets. And she did refuse part of her feed for 2 days. I have a trick for her that I had to do when I was trying to get her meds down her during the leg incedent, and have applied that trick on her for the last 10 days. I mix her meds with water and small amount of jello, then mix it with her feed. I believe if it wasn't for that, then she wouldnt be eating much these last few days. I wish I could email you a pic of the swelling a couple days ago, then it would be easier to see exactly what I have been seeing.
Thank You for your answer!
Denise Johnson

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