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Veem
Junior Member
France
42 Posts |
 Posted - 14 Oct 2008 : 9:46:46 PM
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Does anyone have experience of this? My boy was diagnosed last Saturday and underwent treatment immediately. The treatment (or the reaction to it) is almost worse than the disease. He had his second injection yesterday and reacted more severely than to the first one, as for some reason the vet decided this time not to give him anti inflammatories which can reduce the intense reaction to the treatment. At least twice I thought I might lose my best friend in the whole world, but bless him, he has pulled through. Our other horse was a complete star, looking after him throughout everything and revealing what a sweet horse he is. After what he's been through over the last four days I know he's going to need huge amounts of special care. If anyone has gone through this already, I'd love to know what supplements you gave to ensure the speediest recovery. Damn all ticks. 
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Veem |
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Tahir
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
4572 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2008 : 04:29:43 AM
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I'm so sorry for your boy. I have never had a first hand experience of piroplasmosis so sadly have no advice to offer but I would like to just wish you and your boy a quick recovery.
Carla, xx. |
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Valentine Arabians
Gold Member
United Kingdom
586 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2008 : 06:03:30 AM
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We have a 14 year old Toskhara bred mare, who contracted piro as a foal in the US. She was imported to the UK, with the rest of Dick and Christine's herd and when the time came for the Reed's to return to the US, Caapria was blood tested...still had full blood antibodies. She was in foal at the time and was treated! She too, if I remember, had the horrendous reaction, but fortunately the foal in utero was fine...a filly. The antibodies are still very much prevalent, but the filly was negative, so we have Caapria and her filly went to Dick and Christine. Caapria, if stressed in any way, has a relapse of piro, so she is just treated with antibiotics for a period and the symptoms subside again.
If contracted as a foal, the antibodies usually disappear by the time the horse reaches the age of 4 (not sure about mature horses), in the Reed's case, Caapria was the exception, hence the reason she had to stay in the UK...the US don't allow horses with piro into the country.
Just give your boy lots of TLC and I hope that the treatment has worked on him.
Liz |
Liz & Walter Downes
www.ValentineArabians.com
Lincolnshire |
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jaybird
Gold Member
France
1192 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2008 : 06:13:42 AM
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Hi Veem
My mare had it in March, I caught it very early and yes they are very poorly for a few days with the treatment, I think this is partly to stop colic setting in and becoming another issue, any way the mare went absolutely black with sweat groaned like giving birth but was upright and eating her hayment in the morning, the vet treated her for three days with injections then a course of vitamins by day 7 she was out and completely back to normal, I know of another horse that had it and it was not detected for some time he was extreamly poorly and he took months to recover so depends I suppose. My mare is perfectly fine now being ridden 5 days a week and looking in the best of health.
Beryl |
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barbara.gregory
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
4531 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2008 : 1:07:21 PM
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What symptoms did your horses have? Useful to know.
Thanks
Barbara |
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MinHe
Platinum Member
England
2927 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2008 : 1:22:48 PM
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Piro is VERY uncommon in the UK, as the vector invertebrate that spreads it is virtually non-existent here (I believe there is a related condition caused by a similar parasite that is confined to parts of Dartmoor, but don't quote me on that).
So you are only likely to see it in imported horses here.
Keren |
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Veem
Junior Member
France
42 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2008 : 4:49:20 PM
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| Hi all, I’ve just tried, twice, to post a reply on here and each time I’ve lost it! I’ll try again soon as I have found out much more about Piro. Viv |
Veem |
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Veem
Junior Member
France
42 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2008 : 5:15:51 PM
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Hi again,
(I did the last bit in Word and copied it to the forum. I’m doing that again so I don’t lose anything - even the time it takes me!!)
As I was saying . . . . . . I’ve learned a lot more. The disease is caused by a parasite (Babesia equi and/or Babesia caballi) being introduced by an infected tick. The parasite then rapidly attacks the red blood cells of the horse.
Classic symptoms are very raised temperature, increased heart rate and yellowing of the mucous membrane of the mouth and eyes. However, many non specific symptoms can make it difficult to diagnose as they can vary from horse to horse.
In my case, Misha just didn’t ‘look right’. He didn’t want to eat or move. His chin was almost on the ground and his breathing was very laboured. Within a short time he was having severe colic. Evidently, without treatment he would not have lived for long. Only the Thursday we’d gone for a ride with a very energetic canter and the evening before he’d galloped down the paddock for his treats, giving me no cause for alarm. The consensus is that as an older (20), stoic horse, he had probably been harbouring symptoms for 24 hours, because the blood test revealed that the parasitic infection was very advanced.
Knowing the dangers of ticks here, we regularly check the horses for ticks and remove them immediately. (They have a final swimming test in White Spirit – which they always fail !!) It seems we have just been very unlucky. Especially my beloved Misha.
He is already looking loads better. I am giving him ground milk thistle seed, whole fresh dandelions, artichoke infusion, brewer’s yeast and a broad spectrum supplement twice daily. I’m hoping to get advice from a couple of UK vets later today, but would be eternally grateful if any of you have suggestions as to anything else I can do to aid his recovery.
Misha is a Russian WB (with perhaps a smidgeon of Arab blood), but I posted on this site as find it incredibly useful - so I hope you’ll forgive him for not being an Arab.
Thanks to all who have replied, Viv
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