Posted 2008-10-19 9:56 AM (#93233) Subject: 106 degree fever
Veteran
Posts: 282 Location: southcentral pennsylvania
Last Sunday, I noticed one of my horses was not himself. He was in the pasture with the others, but standing, not eating, dull eye, etc. Took temperature, and to my shock, it was 106! At first I thought the thermometer must be broke, but really knew better, as he was very warm to the touch. A call to the vet had him to the farm within 20 minutes. He stated that when I called, he thought I may have miss read the thermometer.....but, I had not. He was given banamine and oxytetracylcine I.V. The vet thought perhaps Potomac Horse Fever may be the culprit, and I had caught it before the diarrhea began. He had been vaccinated for it, but the vet said we have had a number of "break through" cases in our area, as the strain is changing. His temp was down to 99.4 by 3:00p.m., but still lethargic. The vet came again on Monday and Tuesday to give the oxytetracycline I.V. The temp continued normal, but the lethargy and poor eating continued. I also noticed it seemed like a strain for him to put his head down to eat. He would eat if I hand fed him. So, with no answers, I loaded him and we went to the Marion M. Dupont Equine Center in Leesburg, VA, about 2 hours by trailer. He was put in Intensive Care Isolation, and had a temp of 103.6 at noon at the center on Tuesday, even though it was 99.4 at 7 a.m. that morning. Long story short, he had jugular phlebitis from the I.V. administered oxytetracycline. With aggressive treatment, he made great progress and was released Thursday afternoon. We have guite a protocol of things to do here on the farm for the next week.....hot packs 3x/day, DMSO applied after skin dry from hot packs, temp taken 2x/day, banamine 2X/day for 3 days, and doxycycline 2x day for 5 days. I am thankful I caught the fever before laminitis set in, or other complications! PHF was ruled out because of the absence of diarrhea. Leesburg listed the cause of the fever as "Unknown." They said they have fevers of unknown origin from time to time. My vet said the same thing. The Good Lord blessed us richly in the fever caught early, and "Shiek" doing well. The local vet will examine him Monday afternoon.
Posted 2008-10-19 8:59 PM (#93251 - in reply to #93233) Subject: RE: 106 degree fever
Regular
Posts: 97 Location: Newport News, VA
We recently had a horse with a high fever and swollen back legs. The vet came and diagnosed PHF and began treatment with IV Oxytetracycline. The fever resolved quickly, the horse never had any diarrhea or any other signs of illness. Several days later she developed laminitis. Then, about a week or so later, she ran a fever, again. This time the vet said she had Flu. I don't think she ever coughed. In the meantime, two other horses (one was mine) developed swollen back legs with no fever or any other signs. My vet, who just did a phone consult, said it was probably due to fighting off some type of virus, possibly something she was vaccinated for. He prescribed 1/2 dose of Banamine twice a day and hosing and wrapping her legs. He said he would not recommend "throwing" antibiotics at it, especially with no fever. In two days she was completely normal and never ran any fever. The same was true of the other horse. The vets of the first horse say the other two horses had PHF, too, even though they never even had a fever. My vet never bought into the PHF diagnosis. He said every case he had ever seen was very sick. Apparently, in endemic areas, it is pretty common to think PHF first with unexpalined fevers.
Posted 2008-10-20 7:53 AM (#93261 - in reply to #93233) Subject: RE: 106 degree fever
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 474 Location: White Mills, Ky.
We had a horse with PHF several years ago. High fever and explosive diarrhea. He splattered every wall of the stall. Up until then, we had never even heard of PHF. Now, we vaccinate for it each year.
We were told that it is carried by mosquitos and is common in areas that tend to flood. We are less than a mile from the Nolin river, which floods often and leaves puddles in the fields in which the mosquitos love to breed.
Posted 2008-10-20 8:11 AM (#93262 - in reply to #93233) Subject: RE: 106 degree fever
Regular
Posts: 97 Location: Newport News, VA
PHF is not carried by mosquitoes. They aren't truly sure how horses get it, but know it is carried by some aquatic snails and mayflies. They believe horses get it from ingesting the flies or snails. It is often found in areas not considered endemic after floods, where possibly these snails are washed out into pastures where they normally wouldn't be. I have heard of a lot of cases in MO and KY ( I just have happen to have friends in both these places that have talked about it) this year, where it isn't usually found, but there was a lot of flooding. It is not contagious horse to horse. They have also seen groups of cases when mayflies swarm and people use lights at night, which draw the flies and then you have large die offs in concentrated spots and possibly the horses ingest them. There is discussion of the vaccine not being all that effective. That is the vets' explanation for the minor symptom "cases" at my barn. The horses were vaccinated, which kept them from getting really sick, but they still got a minor infection.
Posted 2008-10-20 1:14 PM (#93280 - in reply to #93233) Subject: RE: 106 degree fever
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 474 Location: White Mills, Ky.
Thanks for the info. After reading your post, I seem to remember snails being mentioned as a possible carrier. Again, our close proximity to the river seems to put us at a slightly higher risk.
106 degree fever
