Friday, the vet called me back with an update on Isis’ meds: they should arrive Saturday morning via overnight, morning delivery. Yay! I should have had them on Wednesday, but at least they will be here tomorrow. With any luck, Isis will eat the meds in her food. My vet also said that we should have the results of Isis’ EPM ELISA titer results today or Monday. The Peptide-ELISA test is different from...
Continue reading...Isis
Baseline pictures before starting Oroquin-10
Isis’ meds should be here shortly, so I took some baseline pictures of Isis. Her muscling has changed even from the last set of pictures I took two weeks ago. She has lost more muscle over her back. Her ribs are more prominent below her spine. There is a dip there now, where there never has been before. Related Images:
Continue reading...EPM study by Pathogenes with Oroquin-10
Pathogenes, a company in Florida specializing in treatments and diagnostic tools for EPM, is sponsoring a study of Oroquin-10, a new treatment for EPM. It’s not a double-blind study, however the company, Pathogenes, has a protocol they are asking owners to follow. Here are the links I sent my vet for the clinical trial for Oroquin-10. It has both treatment and preventive dosing options. According to the EPM Horse web site, the Oroquin-10...
Continue reading...EPM diagnosis confirmed
The vet came out on Friday. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to be there because I had a physical scheduled at the time. (Ever look at the wait time for a physical? Six months. Sheesh.) Any way, my vet called me today at work with information on Isis. She said Isis does look like an EPM relapse case because of the uneven muscle atrophy (worse on one side than the other) and Isis is...
Continue reading...Video comparisons of Isis
For most of the summer, I’ve watched Isis just not quite seem right. Whether it was the heat that bothered her or something else (EPM, most likely) that gave her more off days than good ones, one evening in early August she surprised me. My girl was back that evening. She started trotting like she normally does, kinda dragging her toes, not very enthusiastic. And then she stopped and looked at me. Pivoted....
Continue reading...EPM again? Or something else?
Since June, I’ve noticed little things about Isis that didn’t seem right: she was dragging the tips of her back hooves, she was reluctant to trot or move out, and her regular spirited playfulness was gone except for rare occasions. It’s easy to right off these symptoms to other items. Maybe it was too hot out and she wasn’t having a good day. Maybe the rain rot on her legs made her stiff...
Continue reading...Isis did not have a good day
Last night Isis had a bad day. The weather has been cool and milder, but she was still sweaty. She looked down and not perky when I brought her to the ring. She stumbled with her back legs on the walk from the barn to the ring. She was stiff, dragged her back hooves along the ground, and not moving well when I free lunged her. I put the saddle on her and...
Continue reading...Isis was better today
Insulin resistant horses like Isis have trouble with heat. Insulin resistance is similar to a pre-diabetic condition in people: the horses who have this metabolic issue do not process insulin (and sugars) normally. IR impacts everything else in one giant cascade: IR horses’ immune systems aren’t quite at 100%, heat affects them harder than other horses, etc. IR is a maintenance issue and you never know when you’ll discover some new aspect that...
Continue reading...Isis, IR, and heat – update
Nasty weather this week. Temperature hit 98F today (heat index of 109F) and tomorrow the temperature is supposed to be 100F with thunderstorms in the evening. Looks like the girls will have tonight and tomorrow off. Some good news for Isis: The barn owner called me back. Isis seemed to be better around noon. She was eating her food and was back to being her lovable bitchy self. Phew. Related Images:
Continue reading...IR horses and heat
We’ve hit the first heat wave of summer. Two weeks ago the highs some times reached 80. Suddenly, the temperatures are close to 100F all this week. High temperatures plus high humidity means that the horses (and their humans) are feeling the heat as if Atlas’ burden was sudden dropped on their shoulders. Two out of three of my bay wonder mares are relatively okay in the heat. Kasane gets irritated in the...
Continue reading...Seven years later…
The first blog post on Ceffyl.net was on April 11, 2004. At that time, I had two horses (Isis and Logan) and four cats (Basette, Ambush, Stella, and Kiesha). Seven years later, I have only one kitty and three horses. I started this blog as an outlet for dealing with the medical issues my cats and horse had. Basette, my sweet little black cat, was a diabetic who never responded to insulin treatment....
Continue reading...Update on Isis
On the way to the barn, the vet called me back. Here is the surprising thing: the vet thinks that Isis might not have had another EPM episode/relapse. (Granted, she can’t say for sure since she hasn’t seen Isis.) She said that she thinks Isis might have had a head trauma. Blindness in horses can be caused by head trauma, and it usually resolves quickly. In June 2009, the blindness caused by Isis’...
Continue reading...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...
Continue reading...Memories of horses past
A dear friend of mine lost her mare, Cedars BlueMoon, today. Blue was 23 and, in her day, was a mischeivous, playful, smart little Arabian mare. She was also a 3/4 sister to Isis’ dam, Cedars del Taliah. Blue was a bay with four white socks and a pretty white marking on her head. I tried to explain to a friend what it is like to lose a horse. There is nothing that...
Continue reading...Horses in Santa hats!
I had to. I just had to. Okay, maybe I didn’t but it was too cute to pass up. What do you do when you find reindeer antlers and santa hats in the store? You take them out to the barn and put them on horses, of course! Only Kasane was brave enough to wear the evil antlers with bells. She was very good about it. Isis wanted nothing to do with them...
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