Re: RC: Starved Horses

[Tivers@aol.com]

In a message dated 3/29/99 4:13:07 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
Lisa.Lyttle@ericsson.com.au writes:

<< BTW, I'm turning my mare out for a month or two as she has a cold she
 has had trouble shaking, and for personal reasons I really need to turn
 her out for a while.  My parents (who have rehabilitated starved animals
 before) suggested that the reason Valkyrie had trouble shaking the cold
 may because of a depressed/weakened immune system due to last year's
 trauma.  Any opinions?
 
 I don't think she had sufferred any worm damage during her period of
 neglect - she was very underweight, but not wormy - however is there a
 method of assessing whether a horse has sufferred worm damage in the
 past?
 
 Lisa >>

During and after severe catabolic activity (tissue breakdown), and even after
hard work, the immune system is depressed--resources are focused on repair and
the animal is vulnerable to opportunistic bugs. 

I'm sure there are ways of detecting evidence of past worm infection, but if
there is no evidence of a current or recent infection then what you have to do
is monitor the comeback and, if it doesn't seem to be going along well, look
for other causes. A complete blood panel would be a step in the right
direction in this regard.

ti


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