Just Shoot Me Now

Where to start....

It's been a roller coaster week.  Ben was feeling OK once the gabapenten kicked in for him.  We started him on the minocycline on Wednesday.  Thursday, he felt awful, but I think it was the antibiotic making him feel sick.

Friday morning, I spoke with the vet again and we decided that Ben would need to show some real improvement by Monday or he needs to either go to Cornell or I need to make a decision that I really don't want to make.

By Friday night, he was feeling somewhat better and I began to have some hope that the antibiotics were finally starting to help.  I do think there is some genuine improvement, but I am rather hesitant to call it that because we have been in this cycle where it looks like he gets better, then he crashes and ends up worse then ever.

He is finally off the banamine and on bute instead, which is much safer for him.  I am taking that as a good sign.  Today, he is moving around and his appetite and interest in life are back, although he still has a lot of joint and muscle pain.

***

Then.....I went out this morning and found Ramsey standing in the exact same spot Ben was in two weeks ago with most of the same symptoms.  The only difference is that Ramsey has a fever and Ben did not, at least not by the time I checked.  I could have missed a mild fever in Ben that precluded his symptoms because donkeys do not show signs of fever the way other animals do.

Ramsey's symptoms are much milder than Ben's were, it is not a holiday weekend and I have the right drugs on hand and started him on them immediately.  I am very hopeful that he will respond faster than Ben and get over this in a day or two.

***

We still do not know what is causing this.  The fact that Ramsey is now sick raises the specter of an infectious disease.  However, they have had no contact with other animals and I never go anywhere, so where did it come from?

I still think this is likely Lyme disease.  Two years ago, they all got Lyme disease at the same time.  I see no reason why it wouldn't happen again.

The symptoms I see in Ramsey are:

• Sudden fever
• Chills with hard shivering even under his blanket
• Joint and muscle pain
• Withdrawn, depressed aspect
• Loss of appetite

Treatment: Banamine controls the pain and brings the fever down.  Minocycline to treat the infection. 

Ben's Treatment: Bute for pain and inflammation, omeprazole to treat ulcers caused by two weeks of banamine, gabapenten for chronic pain, minocycline to treat infection. 

My treatment: Someone needs to book a room for me at the nearest psych ward.

A Very Sick Donkey

Ramsey's foot abscess has invaded his whole body and he is very sick.  His temperature is all over the place and he is very miserable now.   I spoke with the vet yesterday morning and she agreed that if he wasn't better by the end of the day, she would come out.

Right up until I left for work yesterday afternoon, he was still bright-eyed, cheerful and eating well.  I was concerned though, because his temp was still high and I wound up coming home early as I was worried about him.  By the time I got home, his temp had dropped to 97.8 (which is almost too low) and he was depressed and not eating or nursing. 

The weather is not helping as it is truly miserable with temps in the low forties and constant rain.  Snow or sleet is expected overnight.  Thank goodness I bought Ramsey a blanket, he really needs it right now. 

Since he quit eating and drinking, I am very worried about dehydration and weakness.  The vet finally made it out this afternoon and we gave him IV fluids, which I will continue for the next three days.  He has a an IV catheter under the green vetwrap. 

He seems to be having some trouble laying down on his own and this afternoon, when the vet was here, he lost his balance when she was looking at his foot.  He clearly wanted to lay down so I just eased him down rather then prop him up.  I sat with him and held his head in my lap and he wound up sleeping through the entire catheterization process.  It made him a perfect patient, but it scared me to death.  

He is on antibiotics, a higher dose of Banamine and IV fluids.  The abscess did rupture out of the top of his foot this afternoon in three places.

This is the worst abscess I have ever seen.  I have only ever seen one abscess that went systemic before and it was never this bad, it responded to antibiotics almost immediately.  On the other hand, that was in a very robust, four year old draft cross who weighed 1300 pounds.  Ramsey is too young for this nonsense, I'll be sure to give him a stern lecture about it just as soon as he gets better. 

I sure hope this is not typical of donkeys.  If Ramsey does not show some real improvement by tomorrow afternoon, I may have to try to get him to Cornell.