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Joint ill long-term consequences

6K views 12 replies 4 participants last post by  Tabascountry 
#1 ·
Hi, my 3 day old foal has got joint ill, also called septic arthritis, in both hind fetlocks. Vet came so he got a couple of shots of antibiotics and some other things I don't really remember, in each of his gluteus. He looks fine now but I was wondering about long term consequences. Has anyone got any experience with this? Thanks a lot.
 
#2 ·
Unless they are treated aggressively and quickly, I have never seen one stay sound with regular training and riding.

I had one and it was OK but I sold it as a well-started 2 year old and do not know its long-term soundness. My Vet said if it trained sound at two, it would probably be OK -- at least for a good while. I know of several he treated that way and they have been the only ones I know that withstood training.

It was treated aggressively as my Vet was a Race Horse Vet with quite a bit of experience with this problem at big breeding farms. He treated it with IV antibiotics and did a joint levage with Chloramphenicol. That was one of my first experiences with Chloramphenicol. It has become my 'go to' drug for very difficult infections including joint infections from a puncture or open wound and for pneumonia accompanied by abscesses in the lungs.

I can be difficult to get and is very difficult to handle and use. I have used it to clean up Pseudomonas infections in broodmares and had them carry subsequent pregnancies without problems.
 
#3 ·
I intended to use this foal for trail riding and maybe some lower jumping courses. Of course he still has a long way to go (we don't train them before 3-4 years of age), but if there is a chance that he'll have persistent troubles with his joints then I guess it's better I accept that now and get myself a sound young horse, rather than waiting for this one to grow and hope he'll be OK.

My vet didn't say anything about doing a joint lavage, but I trust him since he's quite experienced. We'll see what happens in the next few days.
 
#4 ·
The Vet I used back then came from the race horse world, so that is what most of the horses did that he worked with. But, he said that if we did not treat the foal I had very aggressively, he would NOT hold up -- period. This guy never told me anything that did not work out to be absolutely true. More than once I insisted on treating a horse that he said would die. 100% of those horses died in spite of my heroic (and expensive) attempts to treat them. On the other hand, the ones he told me to treat in a certain way (even if it was different than commonly practiced) responded the way he said they would. He was using DMSO IV years beofore I heard of any other Vets doing that.

He retired more than 10 years ago and I still bother him every once in a while at his home in another state when I am completely stymied. I'd give anything to have him back as a Vet.

I would hope this foal stayed sound since he did respond to the antibiotics given him but I would consider this 'high risk'. Did he also have scours (diarrhea) and a high fever?
 
#8 ·
You may have dodged the bullet since he did not show other symptoms of being septic.

The joint lavage can be done on more than one joint but takes a skilled Vet. It is a very exacting and sterile procedure. They must be shaved, scrubbed and prepared like any surgical procedure. A needle is put into the joint capsule and fluid is drawn out and replaced with antibiotics. It is usually done 2 or 3 times to get all of the old fluid out. Then, they are wrapped with a very sterile wrap.

If the joints are still hot and sore, it must be done again the next day. The joint fluid will be off-color but will not look like pus. You are looking at a very sick foal and it usually needs IVs as well, so I would guess that yours was very mild or just getting started. I've had to milk a mare so she did not dry up while we were trying to save her foal.

The cases of joint ill I have treated were sure no fun and then you still did not know if the foal was going to live and be usable.
 
#9 ·
Agree with the joint lavage being the most likely treatment to save the cartilage. This is done on humans with septic joints as well. The bacteria can destroy the cartilage. The problem is that cartilage does not have blood supply, so if you put antibiotic into the blood stream it cannot get to the cartilage to kill the bacteria if it has become infected. So a localized treatment with antibiotic is more effective than a systemic one.
 
#10 ·
Also, if the foal is not septic, (bacteria circulating in the blood, They can hide out in the joints, and flare up again, so keep checking the temp for awhile
I only had to deaL with joint ill once, and that was enough! Saved the colt, who was by a very successful outside stallion, but unfortunately, he was never sound enough to show under saddle
Like Cheri said, you might have got lucky

Here is a good article

Septic Arthritis: Joint Savings | TheHorse.com

For the infection to get into the joints, it has to first have gotten there via the bloodstream, thus the foal was septic at one time, and just because the foal did not get diarreha ect, does not mean he did not have bacteria in his bloodstream at one point, and antibiotics will have eliminated the bacteremia, but the reason you need to keep watch for awhile, is that some bacteria in the joints might still have survived, and can cause it to lfre up again, esp before the foal has a chance to develope an immune system
 
#11 ·
Quick update:

it's now 3 days since he's got antibiotics and the swelling has gone down completely on both legs. He has no fever, his joints aren't hot and he acts like a really healthy foal in general. The only problem is his left hind leg, he's not using it properly (sorry, I'm not a native English speaker so I don't always know how to express), it looks okay when he's walking, in trot the stride is a bit shorter but when he's in canter he's almost dragging it. I called the other vet who's really good at horses and explained him the situation, he said I should give him some vitamins and wait a couple of days, that it will probably get better, but I'm a bit sceptic.

Smilie, thanks for the article.
 
#12 ·
I would be very skeptical. I just do not believe in coincidences. Could you get your Vet to take a simple CBC blood count? We frequently determine when to stop treatment for something by looking at the white count and differential on a blood check.

It is also very possible that this foal had a poor passive immunity (IgG level) from the mare's colostrum. This has been our experience with every foal that gets joint or navel ill and frequently to blame for foal pneumonia and scours as well. Nothing beats a good immune response for staying healthy, especially in a newborn.
 
#13 ·
I wanted to do that already, but my vets seem very laid back about the foal and they didn't say anything about doing the blood count. Maybe I'm just too panicky and my horse only needs time to recover. But if it won't get better tomorrow, I'll persuade them to check his blood.

This foal must have had a difficult birth, he was born on day 349 and was quite big, I've probably missed the birth just for a couple of minutes and when I found him, he was breathing strangely, he couldn't stand up and drink alone, so I had to give him the mare's colostrum after 2-3 hours. In the morning he was fine. So yeah, I'm 100% sure that something has gone wrong during the birth.
 
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