Speedy Update

After a busy workday, I saw Speedy G at Bakersfield Vet Hospital on Friday.  Sorry, no photos.  When I arrived, Dr. B and I went to his stall and watched him acting like his regular, goofy self.  Even though he looked great, Dr. B wanted to continue the injectable antibiotics and even administered another IM dose of Banamine.  Her concern is that his "bug" might reappear given the every-other-day nature of his illness.  I agreed.

Dr. B reported that when she arrived at the hospital on Friday morning, she was quite surprised to see how perky he was and that he had finished his dinner.  She was even more baffled when all of his blood work came back in the normal range.  Every parameter was normal: his white blood cell count was dead on with nothing even slightly elevated, his pulse and respiration were back to normal, and his fever was gone.  In fact his temperature had dropped below 100, a very good sign.  His nose looked really clean and he hadn't coughed. For a horse who had presented such obvious symptoms of disease the night before, he looked as though nothing had been amiss.

So what does he have?  She doesn't exactly know.  She's calling it an upper respiratory infection for now.  Since his blood work was clean, it wasn't clear whether it is/was viral or bacterial.  Just to be safe, he'll get another dose of antibiotics injected via IM on Saturday morning.  And since he's there, we're going to go ahead and do his fall fecal count.  I had wanted to wait until mid-November, but I might as well save myself a trip.  I'll bring in a Sydney sample later in the day when I am there.

So the plan is that Speedy G gets to come home on Saturday afternoon.  He'll continue with oral antibiotics for 7 - 10 days.  I certainly hope he looks good for Dr. B this morning when she sees him.  I'll let you know if he makes it home today.  Speedy G says thanks for the many well wishes - they must have worked!