1 week ago
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
The Cougars/Velociraptors/Chupacabras Are Back
:-/
I honestly don't know what is going on with my horse. It's 2:15 am and I just got back from the barn. Again, I arrived at the barn to find that Salem hadn't eaten his grain. But this time, he was pacing his paddock and looking worried, just like the freak-out episode that he had back in September.
A few weeks ago, when he had the infection, things were totally different. Thankfully, that was just a minor infection that he bounced back from in a few days. And I am thankful that my BO has actually taken my concerns about the rats seriously and things are greatly improved. I haven't seen a rat in weeks. So I don't think this episode has any similarities/causes as that incidence. That time, my guess is that he had some sort of infection/bug that was caused by the rat poop in his grain bin.
But this time, it has all the hallmarks of his mystery freak-out in September. I have no idea what caused it that time and I have as little clue as to what caused this one either. It's something in the nursery/grove nextdoor, as far as I can tell. But our last farm was also bordered by a nursery/grove and he was totally fine there. I've thought about moving him, but I have no idea where we would go.
If Salem isn't better by tomorrow, I'll be calling Dr. F again and having him give Salem another shot of reserpine. I hate to drug him, but I have to do what I can in order to make my horse comfortable.
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10 comments:
Sorry to hear he's so troubled again. That is a mystery - too bad you can't set up a camera to see what's up.
Hope things turn around soon and that the answer appears. Very curious situation...
Coyotes?
ugh I hate mystery ailments...
I hope he feels better very soon!
Thanks, guys.
Kate, I have been trying to figure out how I could set up a camera! I do have an outdoor security camera that has night vision/microphone/etc. but I would have to set it up to something to record--?? And I am technologically inept, unfortunately.
Salem has been slightly less anxious and (thank godness!) he is back to eating, but that's only because we're taking his hay/grain out to him in his paddock. I left a message for my vet earlier today, so Salem will hopefully be getting his Happy Shot in the next day or two.
Carly, we don't have coyotes here. We do have Florida panthers, but I've never seen one. We also have gators, but we're pretty far from any water, so I seriously doubt that's it.
I'm still going with the whole velociraptor theory. It's the most plausible one so far. ;-)
Does he avoid the stall because he's afraid of being cornered in it or because there's something in it bothering him too? Could it simply be a barn cat up in the rafters or prowling the woods? I hope you can figure it out and/or I hope the meds help like they did last time.
A1d, he seems like he's scared of something in the grove next-door. When he's in his stall, he wants to be @ the door looking out so he can keep an eye on the grove. :-/
He has calmed down a lot, is no longer pacing/weaving, and will eat in his stall, but he still seems a little on-edge. Since he got so much better after a few days (and since my vet was out of town for several weeks, although he thankfully just got back), I didn't think it warranted an emergency call to a different vet. But my vet is scheduled to come out to my barn on Monday, so hopefully we can make things 100% better for Salem.
Hi! Just found your blog. :) at our FL barn, we also had a nursery next door. One day ALL of the horses on the side facing the nursery were freaking out. MAJOR freakout that lasted 3 days. Some of the horses settled but remained wary; others had to be moved to the other side of the barn. On the 4th day, us humans could smell decay. Something had died in the nursery; we thought it was a raccoon. I still wonder if it was making sounds we couldn't hear but the horses could, & that's why they were so frightened. I hope Salem settles & the problem disappears.
And I'm a dumb-dumb and just realized this post was from 3 months ago! Hope everything is ok.
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