EPM redux with Isis
Yesterday morning around 8:00, Chris, the barn owner, went out to give Isis her morning hay. Isis startled when Chris walked around the corner of Isis’ shelter. Isis was shaking and seemed to have trouble focusing her sight. She was anxious and would not lead unless Chris walked next to Isis. Isis would pull back on the halter when she was tugged on. Isis was also quiet and subdued instead of yellow and knocking her bucket around at feeding time. Isis walked normally and did not seem to have any problems with coordination. She seemed hypersensitive to noises around her and would show the whites of her eyes when she heard a sound she wasn’t sure about. She had a good appetite.
Chris called me about 8:15 AM. I arrived at the barn shortly after 9:00. By the time I was out there, Isis had improved. She nickered at me when she heard my voice. She came over to me and seemed to be very comforted by being near me. I checked her vision by slowly moving my hand near each eye. I could get within 5 inches of her eye by slowly moving the palm of my hand towards her eye before she would move her head away. She was the same on both sides.
Isis seemed to be coming back to normal pretty quickly. After I’d been at the barn about 15 minutes, Prize (Isis’ neighbor and former pasture buddy) walked over to see the humans. Isis pinned her ears and kicked at the wall. I knew she was feeling better then: that is normal get-away-from-MY-human Isis behavior.
The vet said I had three options: the vet could come out and examine Isis, we could treat Isis with another round of Marquis, or we could use banamine (anti-imflamatory) for 24 hours and re-evaluate after that. She had her first dose at 9:30 AM and her second dose about 12 hours later. She seemed fully back to herself by mid-day. I’m going out to the barn tonight to check on her again tonight.
The big question now is what caused this? Nothing in her diet or regimen changed. We had finished a power pack of Safeguard (five consecutive days of working at 1000 pounds) because she seemed to have a heavy worm load. Was it stress from having dewormed her? Or maybe she is having an EPM relapse?
I’m waiting for the vet to call me back tomorrow to find out what the next steps are.
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