One of our committee members has recently been through a truly harrowing and distressing experience, with her three horses all getting sick with a mystery illness. No-one seemed to know what the problem was and, in spite of the valiant and dedicated efforts of her vet, she lost one of her precious friends.

It began with her finding her 18 year-old horse with his head swollen to twice its normal size. His eyes were about the size of cricket balls and swollen shut. His cheeks, gullet and all around his face were also swollen to at least twice the normal size. The symptoms were localised only to the face – there was no swelling inside the mouth, but the back of his throat was very swollen. He was looking for food, though he could only swallow minute amounts due to the swelling. His temperature was normal, as was his heart rate. His blood work showed no elevation in white blood cells and everything else was normal.

Every one was stumped! He was treated across the board for infection and allergic reaction (though to what they did not know). He had been in a new paddock which has a lot of native bush in it, but no-one suspected it was anything he ingested or else his whole body would have reacted, not just his head.

The question was raised as to whether it could be viral or toxin. Then the question of avocado poisoning was raised. Unfortunately the cases for these are so few that only one has been documented and information was scarce, even on the internet. The Ag Department was contacted, but had little to offer.

After one horse tragically losing the fight, the good news is that the remaining two are recovering slowly, but it’s taking time. Their owner is trying to build them up with gentle exercise and says they can manage only about 10 minutes at a time, then they’re exhausted. She can’t speak highly enough of Michael, the vet at the Oakford Equine Hospital who, she says, has “truly gone above and beyond” and with his continuing care all are hopeful a full recovery will be made.

So here is just a reminder to check your paddocks for bad plants. Although avocados were suspected by the vet, it has not been confirmed, so check everything!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 at 11:38 pm and is filed under Education, News.