I started this in the "Weather" Thread and decided to split it off...l
So... Kechi has had issues since we brought her back home in February 2016. I've downplayed them, but have kept our vet appraised of what's been going on AND she's been given basic checks/exams 2 times since she started losing a lot of weight (one before foaling and one since). But after last Thursday's storm -
Kechi (the dam of Jynx) totally freaked out, completely quit eating (again - she's lost a lot of weight and I've tried many things with her) and then went down hill. I turned her out on Friday with the other two - thinking that would be better - only to have them "hound" her pretty hard... I think they ended up keeping her off the water as well as the hay (WAS spread out, but ...). She curled her legs under her and went down mid- morning Saturday and I didn't realize right away that she wasn't just resting
. When I fed them at noon again, I realized just how bad of shape she was in - I put a bucket of water in front of her and she drank. Then I tried to get her up - she couldn't. She and Jynx ate their feed from a shallow pan, set in front of Kechi.
So, Larry, Sierra and I got her on the fiberglass cover that was on our truck originally (works great as a solid drag!) and moved her from the un-sheltered round pen, to the shaded area feed pen with the "Jr Mares" that they were out with before they foaled. We then put 2 slings up on the pine tree (thankfully the branches are holding) with old riding horse girths & rope and got her on her feet. She drank, ate feed, drank, picked at her hay and let Jynx nurse. Every 2-3 hours, I've gone out and given her another feed, freshened her water & cleaned up around her - she's also been hosed off several times to cool her down and clean her up. She is passing good manure w/o sand, urinating fine (nice yellow color - not clear and not brown) and other than when first found down, her mucous membranes have been nicely wet and pink.
This morning and again earlier this afternoon - she is alert, not really happy about "hanging out" in the slings and whinnying. For the first time since February 19th, she's cleaning up her feed w/o dumping it or "throwing it" every where. The feed pan sits inside of our hay wagon along with her water bucket and it's in front of her - limiting her foreward movement. Maybe we will now gain the weight back she needs and come all the way back??? I will be taking her out of the slings this evening for a couple of hours. Figure I'll put her back in them for tonight - as I have to leave for work by 630 tomorrow morning. I'll feed her/clean up before I go, then Larry will check on her about noon (he has a class tomorrow when he gets off his night shift) and Sierra will check on her before I get home when I will take over again... PHEW.
O, and yes, she probably should have been seen by a vet and maybe put on IV fluids - except right now the cost is beyond what we could do since we are currently putting every extra penny on a surprise bill I got for the MRI I had last month (most covered by insurance, but). I have been talking with the vet about what to try to get her to eat - we've done the different feeds - for at least 3 weeks at a time (to get her swapped over and then eating it by itself). We hadn't treated her for ulcers and I'm picking up meds for that today. Also, she wasn't totally dehydrated AND when offered water - she drank on her own. I think that the combination of not eating her own feed regularly (she'd leave it - almost always seemed to have a partial bucket of feed and every couple of feedings I'd dump it out for the pasture ponies to pick thru), the heat and the humidity and then the running the other two were doing (KoKo has dropped a lot of weight, too - but nothing like Kechi).
Kechi has had issues in the past with eating, weight issues and general unthrifty-ness and plenty of vet visits. Sometimes treating for ulcers when she was a weanling/yearling made a difference, sometimes it didn't. The folks who purchased her had some issues with her overall health, too. The vet and I are talking about doing a blood draw to see where we are health wise and see if that offers any clues (didn’t when she was a yearling - she was given a series of injections of Winstrol and suddenly started picking up).
The family and I have already discussed the possibility of euthanasia and raising Jynx w/o her dam. I'm really hoping that whatever happened to make her eat on her own w/o dumping it, is the turning point and we can get her better again from here. Have I said in another post anywhere, that I've got a serious love/hate thing with this little mare???