Jack, Lion Flion Fame Potomac Horse Fever

Jack is HOME!!! He will have a long road of recovery over the next six months just rebuilding his body through lots of TLC. I can’t ever express how grateful we are for everybody who supported us both with donations and moral support

Wednesday Update:

Potomac Horse Fever. Something that hasn’t crossed my mind since I left Pennsylvania 16 years ago. We always vaccinated for it in PA. But it became standard for vets in other states suggesting it wasn’t an issue there.

Vaccinate your horses.

Just do it.

Trust me. You do NOT want to end up in the situation I am in.

Jack has finally been diagnosed. PHF is not easy to diagnose hence why it took three days to keep running labs and different diagnostics. He is showing signs of improvement including getting an appetite back. Still a guarded prognosis. He hasn’t had a fever since we realized he was sick. Vet feels he spiked and dropped before he became symptomatic.

Good news is the treatment for PHF is the same as we have been doing since arriving at Mizzou. We are hoping and praying he continues to head in the right direction and can come home soon!

Tuesday update. No major changes. Protein levels haven’t climbed yet but it takes time. He got 2L of plasma and will get more of he needs it. He is still slowly eating a little bit and his blood work still looks good.

The good news is he is negative for colitis-X. Which is a great thing.

I said I wasn’t going to do this but Jack is way to important and I’m going to suck it up, swallow my pride, and beg and borrow to do whatever I can for him.

Jack went off his feed July 7th. Not abnormal. He ran 2nd in the 1D the next morning while I had no idea he was battling being sick. He would do anything I asked him to.

He stayed off his feed, first bet misdiagnosed him with Trichinosis. Treated a few days and he continued to worsen.

He is now receiving intensive care at Mizzou with some of the best vets around.

While still not a confirmed diagnosis, he does have a severe case of Colitis and is still very sick.

Vets are optimistic but adamant he’s still very sick. His proteins are on the low side and since I don’t want to take chances, I gave them the go ahead to start plasma transfusions now rather then wait. They will do that overnight tonight. Original estimate was $5,000 but the plasma will increase that to around $7,000 or more. I’ve already paid the $2500 deposit and we are scrambling up every penny we can to pay whatever it takes.

If you met Jack….then you already know….and you know why I’m asking…..