From what we could tell - even though we withheld food and water, he had a whole bunch of foam in his gut. Not only did he have foam, he had some pretty bot larvae. Gross. I'd include a pic of Skate's friends, but it might gross someone out. The actual scoping was really cool...his esophagus is really clean and pretty and his stomach looked great, too, minus the friends. (Alright, pic added - as requested!)
I decided to have him scoped since he seemed to respond so well to the Ulcerguard and had started eating hay and being a saint undersaddle. I guess its even better that he's been so good lately and he's ulcer free - I was beginning to worry about how I was going to handle dealing with an ulcer prone horse for the rest of his life!
So, I guess the mystery continues as to why he'd been such a cranky pony for the past month or so...but like I told the vet, as long as he stays his happy go lucky self that he's been this last week, I'm happy!
I decided to have him scoped since he seemed to respond so well to the Ulcerguard and had started eating hay and being a saint undersaddle. I guess its even better that he's been so good lately and he's ulcer free - I was beginning to worry about how I was going to handle dealing with an ulcer prone horse for the rest of his life!
So, I guess the mystery continues as to why he'd been such a cranky pony for the past month or so...but like I told the vet, as long as he stays his happy go lucky self that he's been this last week, I'm happy!
So, hopefully I'll have some good updates of our progress if his good attitude sticks around. On that note - I got a pretty darn good leg yield all the way across the arena yesterday. I was VERY proud.
You asked for it!
7 comments:
I'm happy for no ulcers! YUK on his friends but I would LOVE to see the picture.
I wonder what else the Ulcerguard does that would make him change back to his happy self.....did the vet have any ideas?
YAY for the leg yield!
She said his stomach ph may have changed recently - either due to spring grass or just an upset in his routine (friends moving in/out of his herd)...which was enough to cause him to have a slightly upset stomach. She said its all just a guess...
We are giving him a dose of ivermectin once a week for 3 weeks to get rid of the bot larvae, as the glandular region of his stomach seemed to be irritated.
Its still possible he has ulcers in his colon - but there's no way to check that or even treat it reliably.
Glad he's ulcer-free and happy!
Were any of the mares around the barn in heat during his cranky phase? If he was gelded late (or just extremely sensitive to the hormones floating around) maybe he was just responding to the mares?
Either that or he could be like Pro and occasionally just have moody weeks for no readily discernible reason ;)
I second the picture request. Maybe put them up on Flickr or something and just include a link though ;).
Gabby, are you going to leave him on the ulcerguard? Could it be the larva?
If I had an ulcer in my colon you can be I would be cranky too!
Yeah - vet said it could just be larvae aggravating that area of his stomach, but its not highly likely. Apparently, those bots larvae are pretty normal to find. Blech.
And y'all asked for it, I'm gonna post a pic of our new friends : )
I'm glad you posted the picture, or I would have been hopping on that bandwagon too, LOL!
I'm glad to hear he is ulcer free! How long was he on the Ulcerguard? Was it long enough that if he had some minor ulceration it could have resolved before the scope? It could be a multi-faceted problem that is just sorting itself out. I hope he remains happy! And a BIG YAY on the leg yield!
Yay for leg yields! Yay for pics! Yay for being ulcer-free! Yay for Skate being a happy pony!
And fingers crossed that he STAYS that way!
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