Saturday, February 18, 2006

Johnny's update


Johnny finished his last double-dosing of Marquis two days ago. He had a vet appointment for a neuro exam which he did very well on, except he was still doing some mild leaning. Today he seems a bit worse, but it could be my imagination or it could be due to the fact that it's below zero outside and maybe he's a bit stiffer than normal. I am really hoping that he's finished with this EPM thing. We're both getting really tired of treating it.
To recap:
He got a very acute case in October of 2005. He was tested for EPM, which came up positive, Se deficiency, Vitamin E deficiency, west nile, and EHV/Rhino. Those were all negitive. His spinal tap came back positive and he had radiographs done of his neck, which showed some mild arthritis but not likely anything that would have caused neurological problems. He was hospitalized for a week. He was started on a 28-day round of Marquis. After about a week he got acute laminitus and was hospitalized for another week. About 4-5 days before the cessation of the drug he was completely back to normal.
About 2 weeks later he relapsed. He was put on antiinflammatories and then Navigator paste. After the 3rd (?) day of treatment he got laminitus, so he was taken off the drug for 3 days. He completed the 28-day dosage. He then relapsed 36 hours after his final dose.
He began treatment on Marquis again immediatly. He once again got laminitus, but the treatment was continued. Three weeks into the process, he relapsed, but without getting laminitus. He was immediatly bumped up to a double dose of Marquis, which we continued for three weeks.
Two days ago, the final day of his double-dosing regiment, he was taken in for a neuro exam and evaluation. He could walk, trot, canter, gallop, and buck.
The entire time he has been off hay and on complete feeds and sweet feeds only. I have been adding fat, vitamin B-1, Selenium, and vitamin E to his diet daily (all of which are supposed to promote nerve health, and the fat is supposed to hold the drugs in his system longer), and some days he is on banamine or bute. He is also on a glucosamine and vitamin/mineral supplement. He has been kept isolated in a small paddock, and is blanketed so he can invest more energy into killing parasites rather than keeping warm.
Wish us the best of luck. He's sick and tired of all of this, and so am I. EPM isn't supposed to take so long to treat when it's being treated this aggressively!