Clostridial Myonecrosis is the same as Blackleg in cattle. It is also called gas gangrene. When my vet lanced Max's abscess, she said gas came rushing out of his neck. I hope she was wearing a mask!
So how did Max, my four year old quarter horse gelding get clostridial myonecrosis? We will never know for sure, but he fit the 'mold' to come down with it. If you read the link that I posted earlier, Clostridial Myonecrosis Study you will see that the study included 37 horse, of which 27 survived. That is a 73% survival rate which is astounding! The median age of the horses in the study was three with the range being from six months old to twenty years old. This is SIGNIFICANT.
To calculate the 'median' age, you rank the age of the horses, from smallest to largest. Then you take the number of observations, 37, and add 1. This is because it is an 'odd' number of observations. Take the resulting number, 38 and divide by 2. The median age of horses in this study is at the 19 observation point which is three. So think about that...the middle observation of the ranked data was three years of age! THIS IS A YOUNG HORSE DISEASE!
The next important point to notice is that the majority of horses were being treated for colic. The horses were given an injection of 'something'. Some horses received Banamine injections or vitamin B injections.
It is also important to note that cleaning the injection site with alcohol will NOT kill the spores that cause Clostridial Myositis.
Breed and gender do not influence which horse will acquire this disease.
So back to Max...at the time of presentation with Clostridial Myosisis, he was 4.5 years old. Remember, this is a young horse disease: he fits. He presented with signs of colic on December 7th. The majority of horses that contract this disease are being treated for colic. I suspect that when a horse has colic, that their immunine system is more suspectable to this bacteria. Some university needs to study that hypothesis in my opinion. On December 7th, I gave him a shot of vitamin C; BUT I tried to load vitamin B1 in the shot only to discover the bottle was empty. So there was vitamin B1 contamination. I DID clean his injection shot with alcohol, BUT I used a 3/4 inch needle. I have since learned that you should ALWAYS use a 1 1/2 inch needle on a horse.
That's it. That is what happened to cause Max to come down with this deadly disease. It does not sound like much, does it? But is was enough...
What would I do different? I would NEVER give a young horse an injection to treat colic unless my vet told me to. I would never give a young horse an injection of vitamin B. And I will NEVER use a needle shorter than 1 1/2 inches long on a horse again.
Max has now been at Williamson's Equine Hospital for 41 days. The range of hospitalization in the study was 1 to 63 days with the median duration being 12 days.
When I took him into the hospital, he was swollen in his neck (about twice the normal size), his head and his chest. His chest looked like he had TWO balloons hanging down. It was horrible! Max could hardly walk and he was grinding his teeth due to pain.
The veternerian knew exactly what we were fighting. We both knew Max was fighting for his life. Neither of us expected him to live. Dr. Williamson told me I would have to leave Max and with tears in my eyes, I said what I thought might be my last goodbye.
Max started to show good improvement. An abscess formed and the vet put a drain in Max's neck on the 12th. I thought I would be able to bring him home on either the 16th or the 17th of December...then the phone rang. It was the morning of the 14th. Max had taken a turn for the worse. The vet said he could hardly walk and he was now swollen down to the coronet band of BOTH front legs. She was starting him on a different antibiotic. She prepared me for him not making it through.
She did not call. I did not call. I waited...AND PRAYED. Many people have prayed for both Max and Dr. Williamson. The next call came in on the 18th. Dr. Williamson said that he had responded well to the new antibiotic and that he should be able to come home around the 23rd! What great news!
Around the 21st, Dr. Williamson did surgical debridement. When she finished cleaning the wound in Max's neck, you could have put a softball in his neck and it would have had room to rattle around! It was a HUGE hole!
We cleaned the barn. We cleaned Max's stall. We were set for him to come home! Then we had a personal family emergency which required Max to stay longer at the equine hospital. This was a blessing in disguise because he needed another drain. I was hopeful that he would come home the second week of January, but then the diarrhea started. Dr. Williamson stopped his antibiotics in an attempt to get the diarrhea under control. As of January 13th, it was not undercontrol. She said it would just take time...which I understand.
Right now, it looks like Max will survive and have a full recovery. As I hear news, I will update the blog on his condition. If you would like to learn more about this disease, here are two more excellent articles. If you own a horse, please take time to read this information. A quick response is essential if your horse is going to survive...as well as an EXCELLENT vet...and LOTS of prayers!
Here are the other articles:
Clostridial Myonecrosis
No comments:
Post a Comment