State of the Barn Address

The boys are both doing better. Yesterday was the first day of the new year that no one got any drugs.  I know, crazy right?

Ben is feeling like his old self.  He still shows some soreness in his right front because of the laminitic changes in that foot.  However, I doubt anyone but me would notice.  I trimmed the foot again this morning and brought the heel down another couple of millimeters and that has helped.  It will take 8-10 months of careful trimming for that to fully heal, but he is nearly 100% sound on it.  Considering that there were a few days last month when I came very close to making that last vet visit for Ben, I think he is doing very well now.

Meanwhile, he is happy and feeling good enough to be ornery about being locked in for breakfast this morning.  When he gets impatient, he kicks the back wall, which is not good for his leg or the wall.  He does not do it often anymore because every time it happens, I add an extra 10 minutes to his incarceration and refuse to let him out until he stands politely.  He is a smart fellow and he knows better, I take this morning's protest as a sign of good health.  Besides, it is hard to stay mad at him because he wants his freedom so he can come over to me and get his daily hug quota.  It is hard to be annoyed with a giant donkey who just wants a hug and an ear rub.

I had still been giving Ramsey Previcox every day as he was sore and short-strided without it.  After Ramsey had surgery when he was a baby, he had a lot of trouble with the tendon contracting in that leg because he would not use it.  To this day, whenever he gets lame on that leg and he stops using it fully, that tendon contracts again.  It happens in just a matter of hours and is why pain management is crucial for him.  Ramsey may be all grown up now, but inside, he is still the baby donkey who spent two weeks at Cornell.

We have had a lot of cold, damp weather this winter and that really seems to bother Ramsey.  Today though, the sun came out and we had a glorious sunny day in the 40's.  I skipped the pain med and he did fine.  If he gets stiff again, I am going to try him on the turmeric paste once more as I hate to have him on pain medication for prolonged periods, especially at his age.  I suspect he will always need something to help in the winter months, but he is better.  Sunshine sure does help.

Ramsey is still not thrilled to have Ben around.  He has accepted it and they coexist well enough, but Ramsey would not mind in the least if Ben were to disappear.  I had hoped that Ramsey would like having another gelding around to play with, but mostly, he just feels like his home has been invaded.  He tolerates the occupying force, but he would still rather hang out with Mom.

I don't think Ramsey will ever grow up.  Which is OK because I love him as is:)

The girls are doing well.  Tessa is fine with Ben.  She loves her donkeys and Ben is just that much more to love.  She is a funny horse who generally lives in a state of semi clueless contentment.  She is entirely oblivious to the subtler donkey dramas going on under her nose and lives in a bubble of happiness that I often wish I could enter.  If I could bottle that, I'd make billions selling it as an anti-depressant.  She is also the herd defender though.  If she sees something that might pose a threat to her herd, she wakes right up and charges in to defend them.  Coyotes give my pasture a very wide berth.

Emma is usually the bridge between Ben and Ramsey.  She has a somewhat hesitant friendship with Ben that both annoys and fascinates Ramsey and it often draws him in, if only so he does not feel left out.  Of all my animals, Emma has the most complex personality (well...she and Connor might share that honor).  She remains shy, thoughtful and wary, but is also the quickest learner and the bravest (and most stubborn) of the bunch.  Emma knows her mind and it takes a mighty effort to change it.

The herd are all finally doing well once again.

Me though - my nerves are shot, 2017 has already been a tough year.

Everyone agrees that this latest problem is definitely a tick borne disease, but it does not show up on a regular Lyme test.  It is either a strain of Lyme that the tests do not recognize or it is some other tick borne disease that we can't identify.  Ben was hit the hardest, but he has recovered. The tough part now is that this disease really exacerbated any underlying defect in the hooves and joints and that will linger.

Ben had some minor hoof wall separation in his right front foot when this started and that turned into laminitis.  Ramsey's right front foot is compromised because of his surgery and he has some arthritis in that leg as well.  This illness went straight for the weakest points and hit them hard.

There was a question about whether or not the Lyme vaccine I gave everybody was effective at all.

The answer is: I have no idea.

Will I continue to vaccinate them for Lyme?  Probably.  The data I have seen so far indicates that it does work in horses.

Does that mean it works in donkeys?  No one has any idea.

It may be that the vaccine did help.  Ramsey has a longer vaccine history than Ben and he was not as bad as Ben.  Did the vaccine help?  Was it because I caught it early?

Beats me.  Maybe the vaccine only helps Tessa and just makes me feel like I am doing something to protect the donkeys.  I don't know that either.  I also don't know what else I could do.

The vaccine does not cover all of the different strains of Lyme and it doesn't do anything for other tick borne diseases.  And that is what has me really stressed.  I feel like I am under siege and I have no way to protect my animals from an enemy that can't see or defend against.  That is a problem I see no solution for and one that is going to keep my barn on high alert.

Bulls-Eye

Remember last year when I had to treat my whole herd for Lyme Disease?  One of the things that clued me in to them being sick was a very weird rash that Emma developed out of the blue last March.  It was a very odd rash that I could find no reason for, especially as the weather was brutally cold and dry.  Not exactly typical rash weather.  

Not only was the rash odd by itself, it was also odd in it's virulence and resistance to treatment.  Despite all efforts it progressed to a staph infection that had to be treated with antibiotics.  The way it cleared up instantly with antibiotic treatment and the way that Emma went from being grumpy and not wanting to be touched back to her cuddly self with that treatment was one of the things that made me call the vet and insist on testing for Lyme.  At the time, I think the vet was doing it in large part just to appease a paranoid owner, but, sure enough, they all had Lyme Disease.

Fast forward a year....everyone is doing well, knock-on-wood.  It is Spring and shedding is in full swing.  Emma has lost most of her outer coat and suddenly, her fluffy, soft undercoat is revealed along with this.....

Do you see it?  The perfect, dark brown circle over her flank and belly?  

That is where the rash was.  Because of the way it presented at the time and the way she lost the hair when it occurred, you could never see how perfectly round it was.  Last year, it seemed to show up and spread in a random pattern.  My jaw nearly dropped when I watched her walk by last evening at just the right time and in just the right light to see exactly what that rash really was.  I have never heard of animals presenting with the classic bulls-eye rash of Lyme Disease.  Now, I am wondering if it is just one more thing we humans are too egocentric to see.  

If that isn't a Bulls-Eye, I don't know what is. 

Plan of Attack

My vet and I have come up with a treatment plan for my little herd (with a bit of input from the great people at the Donkey Sanctuary - thank you).  The treatment for Lyme is generally 30 days of antibiotics, with doxycycline being the first choice.  There are several issues though, the main one being that doxycycline is in short supply and the price has become astronomical (I actually doubt that the supply is really limited anymore as the problem that caused the shortage happened in 2012 and has been long since resolved.  However, there is a lot of demand for it now due to the massive rise in Lyme disease and the drug companies are milking it for all its worth).  The cost of treating just Tessa would be $1500 for the doxy alone.  The two donkeys add up to about the same so add another $1500 plus vet visits.

Fortunately there are some other options.  My vet has treated a LOT of horses in the area and has had good results using minocycline instead instead of doxy.  It's not the first choice, but it seems to work.  In fact Riding Buddy had to treat Hawkeye last fall, which I have been meaning to write about, there is some really interesting hoof stuff there.....

At any rate, I can treat all three with minocycline for about $500 vs. the $3000 doxy would cost.  We weren't sure this was safe for donkeys as my vet has never used it in them before and I am not familiar with this drug.  However, the Donkey Sanctuary says it should be OK and I definitely trust them so we're going to try it.  If the price difference weren't so huge, I'd opt for the doxy, but a $2500 price difference.....yeesh!

The minocycline arrived this afternoon and everyone got their first dose.  I managed to get all of them to eat it with just a little help from the molasses bottle.  I'm very much hoping that that will continue, the last thing any of them need is sweet feed.

The really big worry is what to do after treatment.  Lyme is a bacterial infection so they can get reinfected as soon as treatment ends.  During the warmer months, I find at least 15-20 ticks per day, especially Spring and Fall.  I spend nearly an hour a day searching for and destroying deer ticks.  It obviously isn't enough and nothing seems to work to keep them off. 

Most worrisome is that it is the nymph stage of the tick's life cycle that transmits 90% of the disease and I almost never manage to find those.  The biggest adults are about the size of a sesame seed and the nymphs are the size of a pin head.  The nymph is the second in on the left.... 

The vet has suggested I try Ultra Boss, which is a highly concentrated Permethrin Insecticide.  She says it does seem to help, but I hate to use so much of that stuff.  I'll probably do it anyway because what else is there?  I am besieged.

Things are a little easier for the dog as there are some products that do work to kill ticks on dogs although, the ticks are rapidly becoming immune to them.  I used to use Frontline Plus on Tanner, but found that the ticks in this area are immune to it now.  I am currently using Vectra on Connor, we'll see how long that works.  He is also vaccinated for Lyme, which is somewhat controversial as there is some question of its effectiveness.  However, Connor's vet saw over 300 cases of lyme last year, with many of them resulting in catastrophic kidney failure (the first thing we did when Tanner got sick was test for Lyme - he was negative).  The dogs who have been vaccinated have not become ill so Connor got the shots.  I'll also continue with the Vectra because there were also over hundred cases of anaplasmosis just at that one clinic.  This is a very small town and only a very small percentage of animals ever get tested so those are very high numbers. 

For whatever reason, cats almost never get Lyme disease.  It's possible, but rare as they have a natural resistance.  I'd really like to see some research into what gives them immunity.  Maybe a better vaccine could be made from that?  Hopefully, someone is working on that.

There is no vaccine for horses.  However, many people in this area (and especially in areas like mine where the exposure rate is extremely high) are using the dog vaccine to vaccinate their horses.  I first heard of this several years ago and the risk seemed too high at that time.  Now....I might do it.  It's a questionable thing to do, but a lot of horses have now gotten the shots for several years with no adverse reactions and, so far, none of those horses have gotten Lyme or been reinfected.  I am not aware of any donkeys who have gotten the shots though so that is rather (a lot) scary.  Which is worse, a possible vaccine reaction or almost certain Lyme disease? 

Testing for Lyme is very simple now.  There are two options.  The first, easiest, cheapest test is called a SNAP test.  It only requires a few drops of blood or serum and actually tests for Lyme, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis and heartworm all in one.  The same test works for both horses and dogs and it only costs about $30.  The other Lyme test was developed at Cornell and is fairly new.  It is more expensive (around $70-80 here) and only tests for Lyme, but it gives a lot more info.  It can tell the difference between an acute or chronic infection and can differentiate between a bacterial infection vs. a vaccination response.  If an animal has been vaccinated for Lyme, you'd have to use the Cornell test.  The treatment is the same regardless of which test you use.

As for me, I have been tested several times over the past few years and, so far, am negative.  I've been bitten several times that I am aware of, however, a tick has to be attached for at least 24 hours and hot water will kill them.  Since life can not go on without a hot shower every morning, I've avoided the plague so far. 

I hate being right

I've had the feeling for the past couple of months that something isn't quite right with my beloved long ears.  It's not something I could easily put my finger on, just a bunch of little things that are off.  It's Emma not wanting to be scratched or petted.  It's the rash she got that turned into a staph infection.  It's the way she turned back into her lovable, huggable self two days after I started her on antibiotics. It's Ramsey shifting his weight off his good foot or stomping at flies that don't exist.  Ramsey acting grumpy.  Ramsey is many things; he's bratty, pushy, spoiled, charming, huggable, lovable, nosey, but never grumpy.  I knew there was something wrong.

When the vet was here last week I had her test them for Lyme disease.  The results came back today.  Emma is off-the-charts positive and Ramsey just a little less so.  I knew what she was going to say as soon as the phone rang.  I really, really hate being right.

We'll begin treatment just as soon as we figure out what the best option is for donkeys.