Another day, another visit. Axel is still swollen. No better, no worse. I went out yesterday before all the New Year's festivities. I walked Axel around the arena again for 15 minutes or so. The bute from the day before must have been working because he didn't seem lame. That back pastern is still swollen though. He was in the same mood as the day before. Pretty normal, a little cranky but willing to follow me around the arena.
I ended up emailing another vet today, one that another boarder uses and recommends. The vet emailed back within the hour (on a holiday) and is coming out tomorrow to check out Axel. He said "Ventral edema of the sort affecting your horse can be due to a number of causes. Among them, congestive heart failure, liver or kidney disease, low blood protein levels (hypoproteinemia) or vasculitis, as well as infection. I agree that a thorough physical exam with bloodwork, including serum biochemical profile and complete blood count would be appropriate." So yay, a vet that emails promptly and is willing to do a few tests. At least so far, I like him better than the previous. Though the barn owner's don't really like him, not sure why. To each their own of course. We'll see what he says about Axel tomorrow.
2 comments:
Elise, I'm reading through all your ventral edema posts and just got to this one. Your vet's diagnosis here is EXACTLY what my vet said initially. This is like reading a mystery novel...thanks so much for directing me over here!
Yeah it's been a big mystery around here. One of the winters my other horse ended up with a tiny bit of swelling as well. So far the best I can figure is it's old horse + too much hay + winter + standing around a lot. I think maybe the next step would be to see if either of them have an insulin resistance or something like that.
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