Author: Amanda C

They ultrasounded Presto’s belly yesterday, and the good news is that they didn’t find any intussussceptions. They couldn’t really make a definitive assessment on strictures though, partly because his small intestine was enlarged and inflamed. Obviously it’s very irritated, which we knew already from his colicky behavior, but seeing how enlarged it was made them decide that his gut needs a bit of a break from trying to digest things. They want to give him 12-24 hours off of milk and with limited water so that his intestines have some time to “rest”.

But how to do that?

They built him a foal fort. Basically they just blocked him into a section of the pen with hay bales, shavings bags, and a round pen panel so that he and Sadie could still see each other, but he couldn’t get to her to nurse. They were quite proud of their fort and sent me pictures of it, and of how mad it made Presto.

He started pawing at it almost immediately (he has Sadie’s attitude, thank goodness, because it’s probably the only reason he’s still alive). I was joking with the vet about how long it would last, because we’ve all seen SadieSmash, and I’ve seen Presto back up and SadieSmash a water trough already. It’s genetic apparently.

Yeah. Maaaaaybe 15 minutes til the fort breach occurred. It was worth a try.

So she was going to try a muzzle last I heard… I’m not sure how to keep that on an angry baby either, short of duct tape and superglue. But hopefully they can accomplish it so that his tummy gets a break, and hopefully the break is what his intestines need to help heal and “reboot” themselves.

While I’m super thankful that I was able to take off work to stay up in Midland last week, it was really hard to drive my car out of the parking lot at the vet clinic yesterday. I didn’t want to leave Presto, not when he’s still feeling crappy. It took all the strength I had in me to push the gas pedal and drive away, and it was an extra shitty drive home. It sucks feeling so utterly helpless.

His weekend was okay, still pretty up and down. He has periods where he feels really good, but then periods where his stomach still hurts a lot and he looks colicky. He feels good enough to want to nurse a lot, but then all that fluid gets in his stomach and it hurts. He goes from fairly happy baby to fairly miserable baby within minutes.

His bloodwork actually looked better yesterday than it has pretty much the whole time. But with the way he acts so colicky after he nurses, the vets are afraid that he’s got a stricture  or intussusception somewhere. Considering his bloodwork and how long it’s been, he should be digesting things more easily than he is. They’re ultrasounding him today to check, and I really really hope that he doesn’t have either. A stricture is basically a narrowing of some area, in his case it would be somewhere in his intestine, usually caused by scar tissue. An intussusception is when the intestines start folding into themselves. There are not a lot of treatment options if he does have these, especially if it’s severe.

So, please keep your fingers crossed today for good results from the ultrasound. He’s fought too long and too hard to be brought down by a complication like this.

Not gonna lie, Presto being sick is hard. Really hard. I’m not much of an emotional person but this week has managed to hit a pretty wide range. When Presto is feeling good, I feel good. When Presto is feeling bad, it’s like my heart is stuck in a vise. Yesterday was one of the latter.

He had a couple of very brief good moments, but for most of the day he obviously felt pretty crappy. His protein had dipped and his electrolytes were out of whack again. We live in a constant cycle of up-down-up-down. By the end of the day his bloodwork was looking better but it was obvious that his tummy was hurting. 

After 7 hours of sitting out there with him, I was drained of positivity and had to leave. If horses really can sense our moods, I didn’t want that around him. I gave the vet my number and she said she’d keep me updated overnight if anything changed. Bless her, I think she’s about to hook me up to a Valium drip and put me on Ulcergard.

He looked pretty bad by that point, and had all of us worried. I talked to her a little before I left and asked her if I was torturing him and she emphatically said no, he’s a fighter and still has a chance, and we should keep giving him one. No one is ready to give up on him yet. They ran him another liter of plasma (he’s full to the gills with plasma by now, he’s had so much) and he perked up a bit. I slept with my phone 6″ from my ear so it would wake me up if she texted again. Everything is just so touch and go with him right now, and he goes up and down so fast. There is constant fear of a bad text or phone call.

Thankfully the vet texted this morning and said he’s feeling good again. Up and nursing and playing a bit. At this point I really just want him to feel better. When he has his good moments he looks so normal and so happy, bucking and playing like any other foal. I want him to feel like that all the time. 

We’ll keep plugging away at it, and keep giving him every opportunity to make it through this. I’ll keep buying as many donuts, sparkling waters, and beers as it takes to keep his vet team going. They’re angels, and of course, big fans of Presto.

Yesterday was a better day for Presto. When I got there in the morning the vet was running him a bag of plasma and at one point he turned his bum around and half-heartedly tried to buck at her, which made both of us really happy. Later on in the afternoon he had a really impressive 30 seconds where he looked almost normal.

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Then he laid flat out for 3 hours because he’d tuckered himself out too much. He’s still super super weak. His bloodwork is a bit better as far as balancing his pH, but his proteins are still really low due to the diarrhea.

He was also nursing a bit better yesterday (still not as much as normal, but better). His general routine is to sleep for an hour or two, get up and drink some water and nurse, stand there and try really hard to be interested in what’s going on, and then lay back down again. The majority of his movements are in slow motion. He still looks quite sick most of the time.

Having to fight off both strains of Chlostridium obviously is not ideal. One is hard enough. Both is nuts. The objective at this point is to get his system working optimally again so that he can start to heal himself and be better able to fight off the infections. He’s getting everything he can possibly get, but with foals you have to be really careful to not make changes too fast or you can completely overload their system. 

Obviously he’s still a super sick baby and he’s got quite a hill to climb. He’s a fighter though, and he sure is giving it his best shot.

And of course, just as importantly, I have to keep thanking all of you guys day in and day out for the continued support. It’s amazingly overwhelming to see so many people rooting for my little dude. There have been a lot of tears this week, especially those of appreciation for the kindness of strangers.

Unbeknownst to me, a reader Tonia set up a donation fund towards Presto’s medical bills. Trust me, no expense is being spared in our efforts to save him and money is absolutely no object here, but the help is really sweet and much appreciated. I’m having an issue trying to get the link to embed in this post on my phone but hopefully she’ll come post the info in the comments.

I’m hoping for another good day today… so far it’s been up/down/up/down so it would be really awesome to start stringing together some “up” days.

Well, yesterday wasn’t a good one for Presto. He wasn’t nursing as well, poop still very liquid, and he was very very dull. Little guy is still extremely sick, and still testing positive for both C perf and C def.

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The (now huge team of) vets are doing everything they can think of to do for him, but it’s still very much touch and go. As of right now it could still go either way. Presto is fighting, but he’s awfully sick.

This morning he’s a bit more perky again, and nursing better, so we’ll see what today brings. Keep up the good thoughts guys! He really needs it.