A Members Experience of the Potentially Fatal Theiler's Disease.
A Members Experience of the Potentially Fatal Theiler's Disease I am an 18 year old girl from Canada Ontario! I bought my horse when I was 14. I worked for a man who had horses and I cleaned stalls for him. | |
When I found out I had to do everything in my power to get Denny! He is an Appaloosa gelding who is 9 years old now. I have had him for about 4 years. I have been so lucky! He is a very hardy horse and I have not had any vet bills except for regular shots and getting his teeth done.
This year has been a hard year for him! He is a very dominant horse and he doesn't go out with geldings, as they usually fight. This spring he was out in a 12 acre field with a few mares and a gelding. Needless to say he got into a bad fight but he bounced back from that. After that he got the regular shots that he gets every year.
A few weeks later another horse, belonging to a girl at the barn, had partially lost his sight, and had facial and rear end paralysis. He had to be put down and his body was sent away to find out what was wrong with him.
It was only a matter of 3 days from the time they noticed he was sick until he had to be put down. A week later another girl at the barn was lunging the horse that she leased and he let out a buck (this horse never bucks so it was odd), he stopped, leaned against the fence and the girl called for our instructor but by the time he had got to the round pen the horse had fallen to the ground and his eyes were rolling into the back of his head. This horse was hit with the illness in a matter of minutes.
A few days later my instructor found his stallion lying on the ground. He had a heart murmur the illness had already attacked his liver. He had to be put down as well.
A few days later my horse had been ridden for a lesson and my instructor was hosing him off when he noticed that he threw his hip out a few times and was dragging his toes. He immediately phoned us and phoned the vet. The vet told us that we had to get the horse to the University Veterinary Clinic ASAP or we had to put him down.
We sent him to the University (it is the best vet clinic around here). When he got to the university 7 vets were around him as soon as he got off the trailer, weighing him, putting IV into him, urine tests, blood tests, and much more.
He was in the University clinic for 7 days and had tons of blood work and monitoring. He also had a liver biopsy that showed that he had 75% liver damage but there were spots that were already starting to repair. He is on a special diet to help his liver. He now is at home and is starting to get better everyday. We found out that this illness is called Theiler's Disease.
We have had a hard time with this. We found out that this disease came from his tetanus shot. Yet the vet that administered the shots told us that it was not the shots but a virus that is going around the barn. By law they have to put the barn into quarantine and they did not! They have also given the last 3 horses that had shots preventative shots. This proved to us that they knew it was the tetanus shot that caused the illness.
So we have had a stressful time with everything that has happened. I would love to be able to talk to people that know about this disease or that have had the same experience. If that is not possible, I would like to raise awareness of this disease. I would rather have people know about this disease and watch their horses after they are immunized so that they do not lose their horses too.
We noticed my horse was sick and the whites of his eyes and his gums were yellow caused by his liver shutting down They can have paralysis, stop eating, or not eat all of their food, become blind and I believe there are other symptoms.
Best Wishes Kate.
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More About Theiler's Disease
Also known as serum hepatitis, Theiler's disease is the subacute death of liver tissue and may result in acute encephalopathy as well as liver failure. It is called serum hepatitis because it frequently follows the administration of tetanus antitoxin one to three months earlier.
The usual signs are central nervous system disorder (anywhere from mild circling to maniacal behavior), jaundice, and dark urine. An affected horse may be blind. Diagnosis is based on the signs, history of tetanus-antitoxin administration within the previous three months, and elevated SDH, which lowers quickly if the horse is able to recover.
A liver biopsy is the only way to make a definitive diagnosis, but if the history, signs, and laboratory findings are there, a biopsy is not needed.
There is no specific treatment for Theiler's disease other than supportive therapy and avoidance of stress. Intravenous fluids are helpful, and Xylazine (Rompun) may be used to control the horse's actions.
Ammonia production in the gastrointestinal tract should be reduced by the administration of neomycin. For the same reason, low-protein feed and grass hay should be fed until recovery has occurred.
Author: Brent Kelley, D.V.M., is a practicing veterinarian living in Paris, Kentucky.
This information has been reproduced with kind permission of Thorougbredtimes.com
Photograph supplied by Voices for Horses Related Articles When disease attacks the liver
Added on: 31/10/08.
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