Vet Visit

Well I guess we lucked out on Tuesday. Cody used up all his calm then and left me with a crazy horse when the vet came yesterday. Granted I should know better than to bring him inside before we're ready to go. Had him and Axel in the aisle to groom while I waited and he was there maybe two minutes before he started sweating and peed on the cement! So I put them both in the arena and he ran around like an idiot for a good 15 minutes. The big side door in the arena was open so he'd run up there look out at the neighbor horses and then try and run to the back corner where he thought he'd be closer to the horses but he couldn't see them there so he'd run back to the open door. Over and over. We ended up having to give him his shots outside where he could see his friends and he still wasn't the best but at least the vet got the needles in okay and he didn't really notice since he was so concerned.

I'm starting to wonder if it's not Dolly that has him worked up but instead Logan. Because Tuesday Logan was in and he was calm as could be. And he stands next to Logan at the fence all the time. So either he likes Logan a lot or Logan is competition for Dolly and he wants to know where he is at all times, doesn't want Logan to take Dolly away.

That horse, I tell ya, I think he has multiple personalities!

Axel was calm and patient like he usually is. Both horses scored a 5 on their body condition which surprised me. I figured Axel would be a notch over and Cody a notch under but the vet said they were looking good. Got some suggestions for Axel's scratches and the vet doesn't think it's copper deficiency he said it's hard to test for and doesn't happen very often. He did say supplementing for it wouldn't be a bad thing if I wanted to see if it helped at all. He figured the scratches were bacterial and thought I could maybe try some Animax/Panalog. His only other thought was maybe some sort of chorioptic mite (which is mange) but that again is tough to test for. It responds to an IM injection but I guess it's a bit tricky and it's doubtful that it would be it. He did agree that if Axel had a less than stellar immune system it would explain him getting them so often and so bad.

So everyone is caught up on their Rabies shots and had their coggins pulled. I have their other shots at home that I'll give. I actually ended up with a combo that has nearly everything in it so I just have one spring shot and then a strangles shot in the fall. The vet did recommend a Potomac shot but everyone declined that one. The last I heard it wasn't really around here and people don't usually give that shot. Glad I bought my shots at the Expo though, the combo shot was about 3 times as much from the vet as what I paid. Yikes!

Vet Visit #1

Today the vet came out for spring shots and to basically check on things. He ended up getting there early so I didn't get the full fledged grooming done that I had hoped but neither horse had rolled since I groomed last so that was good. Cody did great in a stall while I groomed Axel in the aisle. But by the time it was his turn for the vet he was pretty hyper. He had a hard time standing still for his rabies shot and coggins. He could have been much worse of course. The vet decided he has a wide blaze and not an official bald face. Just a little fun fact I guess.

Axel went last since he had the most going on. He was his usual unfazed self for the shot and blood draw. The vet doesn't do his own xrays so we didn't end up having that done. I've gotta call another vet that does that and he'll email the films. But he did have me lunge him so he could watch. Axel hasn't been lunged since the beginning of December at the latest. He was quite feisty considering he's still pretty much lame. He picks the canter over the trot since I think it hurts less. So we trotted in hand for the vet since the lunging was a bit of a bucking fest. He did a flexion test on that right front and we trotted him again, he was very lame after the flexion. So we've decided on arthritis but we'll get the films to see just how bad it is.

So we discussed some options and talked about Adequan. The vet prefers Legend but that requires a vet to administer via IV once a month. So cost + vet appointment cost + trying to schedule an appointment all the time just seems like a lot of work. So I'm going to try Adequan first. It'll be spendy as well since there's a loading time but it's still cheaper than the daily supplements. I'm so excited to get Axel feeling better. We also talked about using some surpass for when his pain is chronic. It's easier to administer (topical) than bute and doesn't risk giving him any stomach issues.

He also checked both their teeth. Cody was less than cooperative which I expected but he was able to check him out as well as Axel and they both seem like they could use a float. I expected as much since it's been probably 4 years and before that a lifetime. The last vet said they were fine but I had my doubts. So we ended up making an appointment for next Saturday for teeth floating. A little sooner than my checkbook had hoped but it'll be nice to get it done as well as a thorough sheath cleaning. And S needs to have the chiro out so I might get in on that as well for Cody.

So all in all a successful visit with a few more to come. Lots of money but it's actually cheaper down here than it was when the horses were in Jordan.