I Believe in Miracles

It's been five weeks since Coco was diagnosed with a rare bacterial infection called Lawsonia Intracellularis. The infection targets weanlings primarily between 4-7 months but has been diagnosed in older horses in very rare cases. It's considered a new diagnosis in horses and is seen most commonly in pigs. The bacteria is very difficult to culture, and since it usually infects weanlings and is quite rare, the research has been limited on the treatment, recovery and long term effects.

Coco was doing exceptionally well before the diagnosis. These pictures were taken a few weeks before she presented with symptoms. The research I have done indicates that it is almost impossible for horse owners to observe the infection early on. The horse doesn't show any symptoms until the infection is developed to a dangerous degree. You can see in these pictures that Coco was well muscled, had a shiny coat and no swelling on her chest or along her underline.






Unfortunately I don't board Coco at one of the farms I visit daily. I had checked on her on Friday, September 30th. She had lost some weight since being weaned, one month ago. She was a bit overweight before she was weaned, so I wasn't worried about that. I was more concerned that her coat looked a bit dull. I made plans to deworm her during the coming week just to be sure. I got a phone call from the owner of the farm where I keep her who is an oustanding horseperson and friend. He called on Monday, October 3rd to let me know she had a bit of diarrhea. He had given the horses some salt with their grain and wondered if maybe she had gotten more than her share from the common feeder.


When Jessie and I arrived to check her on Tuesday morning, she had terrible diarrhea, a rough, dull coat, an edema (swelling) along her underline and was listless. The skin around her eyes was blotchy, white and black. She urinated and her urine was white. We called for the vet immediately.

While waiting for the vet, we haltered Coco in a foaling stall with the other colt she has been turned out with. She had only been haltered once before this and had struggled and fought for about half an hour. That day she didn't make any fuss, just tried to back up and sit down. She stood with her head low, as if it was hard to keep herself up and her eyes looked dull despite all the commotion of being in the barn and the other colt calling out to the herd outside.

The vet showed up in a matter of minutes and immediately set Coco up with a catheter (the tube in her neck) for intravenous fluids. She was fairly dehydrated from the diarrhea but was still making an effort to drink periodically. He inserted a 14 gauge needle (thats a big one!) for the catheter and Coco didn't flinch. My stomach dropped as I realized just how sick she must be.

He gave her some Banamine to help her feel a little better so she would try to keep herself hydrated. He also gave her 2 bags of I.V. fluids, 40cc's of antibiotic and a dewormer. He took a blood sample and a fecal sample to be sent away to confirm his suspicion of Lawsonia. He showed me how to use the catheter so I could flush it regularly throughout the day and administer more Banamine if she showed signs of colic. He thought she may have salmonella, an extreme case of parasites or "worst case scenario; Lawsonia". The treatment plan at this time included 40cc's of the antibiotic "Chloramphenicol", three times per day approximately eight hours apart. The vet took the samples to the clinic to be analyzed and promised to get back to me as soon as possible.

Here you can see the edema along her underline. It was about the width of her chest, it started by her pectoral muscles between her front legs and ran the length of her belly.

These pictures were taken the day after she was diagnosed. We took her outside to be in the sun and move around a bit. Her ankles had both rocked up in this awkward position. She was moving with a lot of discomfort but showed some interest in eating the little bit of grass growing in the sand ring. She showed no signs of distress being alone without her pasture mates.

Here you san see the swelling between her front legs. The edema is a classic sign indicating low protein.

When the vet called back he had a pretty good indication from the bloodwork that she had been infected with Lawsonia Intracellularis. It would take approximately one week to get the results back from Gueph to confirm the diagnosis but her total protein was very low and her Albumin was dangerously low. It was so low that it didn't register on the test and threw the machine into an error. He said my options were to treat her with at least 6 bags of plasma transfusions. He said each bag cost about $400. She would also need an intense course of antibiotics, which was about $150 per bottle. Each bottle would last for about 4 days, and she would need 2-3 weeks of this. He said without treatment she would have about a 20% chance of surviving on her own. He said I could think about it for a while if I wanted and that he would euthanize her if I decided not to treat her. He said there was nothing that could have been done to catch the illness sooner, that this is usually how it presents. He said the farm where she was boarded would be a very low risk for this so it was just an unfortunate, rare incidence and that the other foal may be at risk. We had the other foal tested and his bloodwork came back normal.

I asked the vet while we were on the phone if it was better to get the plasma treatments started immediately and he said yes so I asked him to come back to the farm to start treatment as soon as possible. He said it would take an hour or so to thaw the plasma and he would be back once it thawed. I got off the phone and had a mental breakdown and melted into a puddle on the ground. Well, not really...but I was upset.

I have been so fortunate to have good luck with my horses. I had never had to make a decision like this before. I had made a difficult decision to sell my first horse when I graduated from Meredith Manor. I had been scared when my dog Sofie had a lump on her neck that could have been cancerous but turned out not to be, but other than that I had never been asked if I would prefer to turn down treatment and have one of my animals euthanized. I've sat with a friend while her horse writhed in pain until she could make the decision to put the horse down and felt at peace when other people have made that decision for their animals to end the pain. I've understood when other professionals just could not justify the expense of keeping a horse alive with a poor quality of life and made the decision to have their horse euthanized.

In the back of my head was one of the phrases I heard over and over at Meredith Manor, "If it doesn't make money, it doesn't make sense". I knew that spending $3,000 minimum on a weanling that was out of a mediocre mare (in terms of her ability to compete as an Open reining horse) didn't make sense. I also wrestled with the fact that I feel so strongly about responsible breeding. I believe that breeders need to be prepared to take care of the products they produce and that if they did, we wouldn't have nearly as many issues with the slaughter of horses due to overbreeding.

I thought about all that Coconut's dam, Peanut, had done for me and my career. She was the bargain of a lifetime at $800. I decided that my choice to treat Coco was justified by the fact that I had so little invested in her and Peanut so far, she was so strong and robust before falling ill and that the vet didn't seem like he had given up on her. I decided I didn't want to be the kind of person who doesn't give a baby animal a chance to fight for life and that being present for her birth and life so far was well worth the hole in my bank account. It wasn't really something I had money for at this time because I had just purchased a show horse a year ago and spent a lot of money on my show season, with hopes to build my business in a new direction. I was also hoping to purchase a reining horse to be a permanent part of my lesson program and she was going to be a major expense for me. Oh well, I decided money was just money at the end of the day and that my life would be richer if I gave her a chance to live. I didn't even think at this time that things could get worse.

The vet had said there was no guarantee that even with the treatment she would survive, but that if she did recover, she would recover fully. I felt confident in the care that I could give her and had a lot of faith in the vet despite his response to a lot of my questions: "well that's the million dollar question".

By the time he returned with the plasma, I had picked myself up and brushed myself off and was ready for whatever we were going to face. I had Googled Lawsonia and was ready to ask some questions about the treatment and prognosis. The vet brought back a copy of the bloodwork for me to see. I didn't understand much of it, except that it showed that she was fighting off something, the numbers were all over the place and that her protein was dangerously low.

Here you can see the figured in red showing abnormalities, and in the picture below the Albumin (ALB) is below 1. The first column of numbers shows the value in Coco's blood, the second shows the normal range. Her total protein (TP) was also below the normal range.

The plasma would help replenish some of the albumin in the blood and some of the protein. The bacteria had infected the small intestine and caused it to thicken into big loops. The small intestine had just about shut down and wasn't digesting the nutrients she was getting from the food she had been eating. The vet said that she would start to feel a little better pretty quickly but that she would be sick for 2-3 weeks before she really started to get better. He also said that she would look worse before she started to get better. She was already dehydrated and as the antibiotic started to work and the small intestine started to return to normal, the fluids would be drawn from her muscles and her skin. She was going to lose more weight. At this point she looked like she had lost about 40 pounds in the past three days.


The antibiotic (pictured below) was administered orally.

When the vet returned to give Coco the plasma he noticed some teeth grinding and suggested we medicate her for ulcers as they can be a problematic symptom. In further independent research I noted that several of the case studies had died of ulcers.

This was the saline solution I used to flush the catheter system with every time I medicated Coco with the antibiotic. She had some dried blood in the tube every day.

We administered two bags of plasma the first day, and two bags the following day as well as one bag of synthetic plasma. The synthetic is about half the cost of the plasma but Coco reacted to it by balking back and sitting down, then laying down. We weren't sure if this was a coincidence or if it was a reaction to the synthetic so we backed off.

The flush, four bags of plasma, one bag of synthetic plasma and two bags of I.V. fluids from day one.

Coco started to look a bit more lively within a few hours. She showed some interest in eating the hay in her stall and drank about 2 inches down from her water bucket. I got her a salt lick which she licked profusely and I was pleased to see her bite it and paw at it a little. I left that day at 5:30.

When I came back at 11pm to medicate her she was very uncomfortable. She wasn't writhing or fighting, she was standing still rocking back and forth on her back legs and I could see her flank seizing up in spasm. She wasn't comfortable standing on either of her back legs and there was some swelling in all four ankles. She had her tail forced between her legs and her hindquarters were quivering. She had extremely loud and unusual gut sounds.

I exploded into a million frustrated, sad, anxious pieces (not really, but that's what I felt like doing) and wondered if I was going to have to make a decision to end Coco's pain. If it was only going to get worse for a little while and she was this bad now, was it humane what I was doing or was it selfish to want to keep her alive?

I felt awful calling so late at night but I wanted to confirm how to administer the Banamine through the catheter and the dosage. I gave her 3cc's and she seemed more comfortable within minutes. Exhausted and feeling defeated, I went home to try to sleep for a few hours until the next dosage wondering what I would find when I came to the barn in the morning. It was a stark contrast to seven months ago, driving out to the farm anxiously to see if Peanut had gone into labour yet.

In the following days I noticed the swelling on her stomach shrinking slowly. The swelling on her ankles remained for about a week. It went down first in her front legs and took almost 5 weeks to come down in her back legs. Most times when I came into the barn she was lying down. For the first 5 days I had to encourage her to get up.

It was an exciting day when I came into the barn and she was standing, and another exciting milestone when she was up and alert standing with her nose at the bars of the stall.

I saw her lose more and more weight, a total of just over a hundred pounds within about two weeks. Her ankles became so swollen that the skin broke open and scabbed. We covered her broken skin in baby rash cream when she started going outside for small amount of time. She also developed dime-sized sores on her hindquarters and a number of small round sores on her muzzle that the vet guessed were ringworm. The fungus had taken advantage of her weakened immune system. The sunlight would help kill the fungus. The first day that we turned her out, we left her for two hours. I had to chase her and clap my hands to get her to walk slowly. When I caught her to bring her in she was breathing heavily and had some blood in her nostrils. Her breathing settled back down to normal once she was in the barn standing still. She had blood in her nostrils and was breathing heavily again the second day that she was turned out even though she barely covered any ground during the two hours. She was still lethargic enough that she walked right under the electric fence.

Again, I panicked a bit that it was awful what she was going through. Was she going to develop any other conditions with her weakened immune system? Were her ankles going to have permanent damage from the awkward position they had been forced into? Her eyes were bright and she was trying to eat. That was what I went on for days. I drove to Lucan every morning for 6am to medicate her and check on her and also after a days worth of teaching and riding, for her last daily dosage at 11pm. I did hours of research during the first week and found out that Coconut water has been used in humans as a substitute for plasma. It was used in the first and second world war and has been used since then in tropical areas where blood was not readily available. It's also been used to rehydrate and to rebuild albumin levels. I read that it has incredible healing powers and kills the fungus that causes ringworm. I confirmed this on some medical websites, asked the vet and decided to give it a try. It wouldn't hurt her and maybe it would do some good. I didn't have the guts to give it to her intravenously, which is what they had done for humans to subtitute for blood, but I did give her about 100cc's three times each day orally. I also made a dramatic appearance at the grocery store in my muddy boots to buy as much plain yogurt as I could find to offset the antibiotic.

Some swelling here in her front ankle and it's tough to see but under the hair the skin was all broken open.

Below you can see the ringworm that started to break open on her nose during the first week.

Pictured below is Coco, down about 70 pounds on the third day. She's standing in front of the electric fence that she walked right through, very slowly. You can see the rest of the herd looking at her. Her coat had become really rough and dull with patches.

Here you can see her ribs, her sunken hip and jutting shoulder. This was the end of the first week and both ankles were rocked forward, although not quite as badly as the first couple days.


Below you can see that the swelling was almost entirely gone with just a little tiny bit left sitting closer to her legs than the middle of her pectorals.

After 8 days the ringworm started to look like it was going away. It seemed like a long time for it to start to clear up. Maybe the young coconut water helped...??

Here Coco's feet are covered in Desitin to prevent moisture and infection in the scabs from the broken open skin. By this time Coco had been sick for two weeks and I had to get ready to leave for Congress. Thank goodness for good friends. A friend and nurse who rides with me and happens to live in Lucan offered to help out with medication while I was away. Jessie would medicate her for the first two days I would be gone and continue walking her for a small amount of time each day (the weather had turned this week and we couldn't turn her out) and then my friend would pick up where we had left off in the afternoons while the barn owner picked up mornings and evenings.

There were a lot of medication charts that went around making sure she got all the medication and keeping record of her progress from day to day.

Her blood had been checked after two days of two bags of plasma each day and registered at 1.4. This was still well below the normal range but a marked improvement. After two more days with only one bag of plasma each day it registered at 1.2. The vet asked me if I wanted to give her some more plasma. Another tough decision. By that time she was looking brighter and the swelling was staying down on her belly and front legs. I opted to wait and see how she progressed and if anything changed for the worse I would give her additional plasma to the six bags she'd already had.

Here you can see how sunken in her hindquarters were becoming.

When I returned from my trip to Congress I found Coco looking like she'd lost a little bit more weight. This was to be expected because she still wasn't absorbing all the nutrients from her feed and she still wasn't eating as much as she should be. She wasn't expressing any interest in grain at that point. I did notice that her belly looked bloated. She was eating enough grass to have a big grass belly by the end of the day and without any muscle tone, she looked quite pot-bellied and wide. The vet said this was a good thing and that she would look like this for a while but should start to look like she was putting on weight, albeit slowly.

I noticed she had a few really dry patches of flaking skin. They seem to be starting to heal this week.

They are hard to see in this picture but she also developed some sores on the tips of her ears. They have scabbed and are starting to heal now also.






After being sick for one month, things seemed to be evening out. She was now eating as much grass as she could and was turned out for 8 hours during the day in which she covered a lot of ground and was usually found along the back fence of the pasture. She was drinking significantly and her manure was regular and healthy. She had smelt awful since her diagnosis. Apparently humans also give off a sweet, tangy odour when they are low in protein. It was enough to make your eyes water when you walked in the barn during the first three weeks and faded slowly in the fourth week. She finished her antibiotic treatment at the end of the third week at the recommendation of the vet and consistant with the research I did. The ulcer medication finished up about 3 days later and we stopped giving her the yogurt and coconut water but did give her some coconut oil with the grain that she was starting to pick at a little. She had some blood work done and her albumin was up to 1.7. I wanted to have a party to celebrate. I wanted to have another party to celebrate the day that Jessie and the barn owner couldn't catch her in the field because she was trotting away from them.

I figured Coco had a total of 2,880 cc's of Chloramphenicol (anitbiotic), 7,200 cc's of yogurt and 7,200 cc's of young coconut water, and was medicated orally 648 times.

Although Coco seemed stable I was concerned now about her ankles. Her right ankle dropped back down into it's usual place after 3 weeks. Her right ankle was still rocked up awkwardly at 4 weeks. I was starting to worry she would develop a clubbed foot. If this was the case she would never make a show horse or a lesson horse for me. She may not even be rideable at all.

It took four weeks for the sores on her hindquarters to scab and peel off.

Her hooves had developed a sharp ridge from the dramatic change in her health. It will go away as the hoof grows out but we may have to rasp it down as it starts to grow out because it is so sharp.

The dry patches of skin have started to heal but the hair had fallen out in a few small areas.

Finally, Friday November 4th, Coco's left ankle also dropped down into a healthy position. We had been wrapping her legs for 12 hours on and 12 hours off. I wanted to have another party and shout from the rooftops that her ankles were ok!

We appear to be out of the woods now. I did some more research and it appears that the only studies concerning athletic ability and body score in weanlings with Lawsonia have been done with thoroughbreds bred to race. It appears that they did not recover in body score enough to be considered as big and healthy as their siblings who had not been infected, as yearlings. They did, however, compete and race at an equal level as two-year olds. The conclusion of the study was that they may take a year or so to fully recover in coat condition, musculature and size but that in the long term the athletic ability is not affected.

I owe a lot to everyone who helped Coco and I through this ordeal. I'm thankful to have a skilled veterinarian who diagnosed her right away. The reading I did showed that a lot of vets did not make the diagnosis right away and as a result the condition continued to worsen. I'm thankful to have a group of students who were understanding on that Tuesday when the diagnosis was made and I had to cancel lessons in a hurry. I'm thankful to have a great friend in Lucan and an exceptional barn owner to monitor any changes and administer medications. I'm thankful for a super friend who has worked for years with standardbreds and has seen several cases of Lawsonia who gave me valuable advice and encouragement when I needed it most. The support online and daily at lessons was amazing. It's handy to have a boyfriend with some horse skills too... Thank you everyone.

And then there's Cathy and Olivia Coish who have been an amazing support group. They have offered to open up their home to host a trunk party with some friends as a fundraiser for Coco's vet bill. Check out "Loco Elevel Apparel" and "Patrick and Pecocksie" (Click Here). They have some beautiful things and have generously donated 10% of all their sales in October to Coco!

Everyone is invited to the trunk party at the Coish residence November 19th (please RS.V.P.). Below is a copy of the flyer.

FUNDRAISER for COCO - 10% of all sold
Faith is generously donating 10% of ALL her sales in October to Coco. She is creating/acquiring as much in
“horsey” T-shirts/bling etc. as she can for the party.
Please Come!
You are invited
to an in-home “trunk” party
Saturday, November 19, 2011. 1pm-4pm
619 Commissioners Rd. E. 519-668-6613
Refreshments will be served
Looking for something unique for a Christmas gift or an upcoming Christmas get-together?
Do you like to support local artists and fair-trade, environmentally-friendly policies?
Or maybe you just like to shop!
Please come by at any time during this Open House style shopping experience.
The artists who have founded this business create and buy for all ages in your family. Faith’s t-shirts and hats are for both genders. Her handmade products can be found in local stores as well as stores on the east coast.
Desi Pecoskie is a graduate from Fashion Merchandising at Fanshawe College, and Faith Patrick is attending Art Globalization & Business at The University of Western Ontario.
Check out their website below for pictures and some of the products they sell.
Please RSVP if you can but if you end up just dropping in unannounced, that’s fine too.
Cathy Coish
519-668-6613
catherine.coish@sympatico.ca
As I am now hoping for more people than originally planned, please be aware of the extra parking at the Starbucks and Shopper’s plaza’s 3 doors east of my home.
More information on the back ....
Pecoksie & Patrick is a traveling business founded by Canadians Faith Patrick & Desarae Pecoskie. The Pecoskie & Patrick clothing, accessories, and home décor trunk shows offer shoppers a unique in-home shopping experience. Pecoskie & Patrick bring the environmentally-friendly and fair-trade clothing line designed by Faith Patrick and the boutique style products developed by Desarae Pecoskie to you, creating a refreshing and comfortable in-home shopping environment. With new inventory arriving every month, Pecoskie & Patrick bring stylish and chic products to shoppers at affordable prices
□ Clothing & Accessories
- our brands include American Apparel (below their retail prices), Loco.Eleven Apparel, & Various Designer brands from Los Angeles California
□ Jewelry
- our brands include Wired Style Jewelry, Fake Minds Jewelry, Pecoskie & Patrick Jewelry, among other brands from L.A.
□ Canvas Shoes, Gladiator Sandals, Sheepskin Boots (for babies as well)
□ Handbags/Purses/Wallets
□ 1500 Thread Count Bed Sheets
□ All Natural Vegan Cosmetics & Body Care
http://www.wix.com/shoppandp/parties