We're In This Together

Could you buy a bale of bagged haylege and sift it through this hay in a big net?? Usually that tempts them to eat it all especially if it's been in the net a few hrs before giving it :)

Also use the mint cordial, that was a vet that gave me tat tip as mint is good for the tummy :)bi use mint tea with Manuka honey for my IBS :)
 
I believe I know why he wasn't eating that hay.. The haynets were resting on some mouldy hay. Washed them all and he appears to be eating them fine now. However when I rung out on hay I will be swapping to haylage for the moment. Spoke to M who said, in short, forget the issue of sox having a taste for haylage and might not go back to hay and that we just need the weight on him. And to keep going with washing his legs etc. Going to try to speak to D this week. He is the expert. On the whole, sox is doing ok, I guess. The weather is annoying me he was fine last night and I came down to him dripping this morning! He seems to be slowly putting on weight , his shoulders have more coverage... still ribby though.
 
Really good news!:)

Spoke to D this afternoon. He said his weight will just take time and he will get there. I expressed concerns regarding his legs and it normally been a two man job to tackle soxs legs then you have to .. not duck the kicks but to not do loads to make him get to the stage of kicking. D said to continue with the hibi scrub and we will get there.. D felt as its continued into Nov and no real improvement that the sun may not be a trigger or cause that 'he had cracked heels , that got infected that developed into a secondary infection.. That sox doesn't have a liver problem or a severe immune disease'. When I mentioned I wanted to clip his legs he felt this was a fab idea and I could either borrow their twitch or when M is next down to sedate and try to get as much off as possible. 'In cases like sox once there gone, they don't often return' He did say the is another option but it is more expensive and that would be to keep sox at the vets for a week and the vets basically do it for a week..Prevention is keeping his legs clean, dry and healthy

I am a little unsure as when I have previously got rid of the scabs they have returned. D agreed it was difficult but to keep going. Also when sox was fighting this he was also fighting the IBD or another infection and it had already weakened his system so that cant have helped matters...

He is the specialist. I am going to try to trust him :)
 
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Matt is back down tomorrow. He has a fun job! Sedating sox, clipping legs, trying to tackle/ remove scabs, taking bloods, assessing him in general, seeing to the abcess.. Hopefully he sees an improvement!
 
Well Matt was here today. Matt said he is looking a bit better but still got a long way to go. Which I knew. Erm, in regards to his legs D didn't speak to matt so Matt didn't bring the clippers/ twitch or knew anything about it. In regards to his foot , he is still sore on it and advise 4 days of wet poultice and 3 days of dry poultice. If still lame by next week I need to give him a buzz. Bloods taken and matt will ring me back on Monday ( Hopefully!) Checked his head and its healed up thank god!!
 
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Yeah it is isn't he!! Bless him... I have him two years and 6 months almost and only now do I feel like I am actually starting to know him!! Hardly any heat in his foot tonight !! Whoop!! His scabs also seem to be getting better to, thank god! Just got to keep going!
 
Right! Inflammatory marker hasn't really changed a lot and is still a little high, above normal range. Protein apparently is okay and his white blood cell count is a little low... steroids to go to half a dose for 2 weeks and a quarter for the last week. And reassess once again in a months time.

Was able to speak to Dave ( In charge of soxs case and European specialist in internal medicine, very lucky to have a fab vet!)
Apparently you cant really pre...vent IBD but keeping the diet simple can help. For the triggers it can be a range of things. Dave suspects it was most likely dietary that caused it, but cant know for sure.
Steroids are the best way to control the inflammation. I was worried it was be hard to control once the steroids were stopped. Though generally once the triggers have gone and its been supressed generally IBD doesn't return, its pretty unlucky if it does. In regards to the inflamed gut. Its just inflamed really.
Just because sox can absorb food normally it doesn't mean his gut is 100% healthy but he is gaining weight, slowly but he is. So no major gut issues .

In regards to the bloods as Dave had asked if Matt had spoken to me. I mentioned just that matt had spoken to me about the inflammatory marker been higher then normal and the white blood cell count been low but that was it... Dave looks at the results and say the inflammatory marker is borderline and that he isn't really too concerned about the results.
 
Yeah :) Pretty pleased with that actually :) I may think I know what caused this. Or the possible cause. ... Back in May, I took two photos of sox 2 weeks apart, the first photo he was at a good weight and jumping the second he had started to loose weight. Around 10 days before the first photo we had moved them onto another field. For the mext 2 weeks give or take he was quite loose. So much so I had to keep him in on a night. Just with dave saying it could be dietary this in the only thing that changed.
 
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