Not sure what is wrong.

[puzzle]

A freind of mine has a wonderful 1D barrel horse that has recently(3 weeks) become ill. According to her he has not had any fever that she can tell. He has lost weight, looks like he has aged several years( currently 12), has difficulty keeping his balance, walks very heavy as if he is unsure of the distance from his feet to the ground, his knees have a lot of snap in them when he takes a step as if he needs to lock them in place to maintain his balance, his lips continuously quiver, he tends to be lethargic showing very little energetic play as he use to. The vet told her this may be damage from the west nile he had many years ago. I do not know if that is the case. The vet ( according to her ) was not very in depth in his check up. Any suggestions??????

[mart]

Yes !!! Get another vet ASAP !! Any of those symptoms require immediate attention from a reputable equine vet !! If possible get him to a school or a clinic where they can do a complete work up !! It is not unusual for a vet not experienced in large animals to make guesstimations as to what the problem is !! Those symptoms do sound like WNV but I have never heard of residual neurological problems after having the disease !! Sounds more like a current infection rather than an old one !! He just needs to see a good equine vet !!

[Cuttin74]

Have you checked for EPM?

[joseph]

if its been going on for several days sounds like epm. west nile gets them down pretty quick. steroid shots is the only thing i found that kill's west nile and plenty of clean water.

[mart]

She said in the first post that it has been going on about 3 weeks !! Epm and wnv have similar symptoms !! I just think she needs to take it to a good equine vet since it has had it this long !!

[joseph]

maybe i should have said since its been going on for over several days.thanks for the correction mart

[mart]

Not a correction, Joseph, I just thought that you might read like I do sometimes and missed it !! LOL !! Anyway I am wondering how the horse is doing !!

[Barrelracer]

kinda sounds like wnv i would do wat mart said get another vet

[puzzle]

The test for WNV came back negative. She did move to another Vet and at this time they are thinking EPM. Blood and fluids have been taken but the vet said it could be as long as 2 weeks to get results back on everything. The horse has not improved but he has not become worse either. She was referred to a facility that can treat EPM and they told her they could start treatment now but if the results were negative it would be wasted $$ ( expensive). She hates to take a chance on following a false hope but she does not want to do nothing at the same time. Thanks for all the help!!!

[mart]

Tell your friend, we will say a prayer that her horse is OK !!