Friday night, June 10

This poor horse, Hobo, an adopted Mustang and beloved member of the family of my friend, Kim, was given the EPM vaccine (Equine Protozoal Myelitis) and is here in the Equine Emergency Hospital because of it. All the local veterinarians are insisting we give this vaccine because they say there is an outbreak in our area. The disease comes from Opossum droppings.

Hobo's neck is so swollen (the shot is given in the neck) the vet is afraid his airway is obstructed so she is feeding a small camera through his nose down into his airway and looking for danger signs.

It seems to be O.K. now but Saturday morning they had to perform a tracheotomy on him because his airway did close.

Kim is trying to calm Hobo and make him feel better by massaging the tips of his ears (he really loves it and it seems to help). He's having trouble standing, he can't pick up his head, he's having trouble breathing and his neck is continuing to swell and he's weak. He doesn't seem to be able to swallow and his temperature is 103.5 (normal is 99 - 100). He was given the vaccine yesterday.

Note: Several of my other friends have also vaccinated their horses without incident

Dr. Cadle performed a blood test (it is now 2:30 a.m.) and found that he is severely dehydrated and all his chemicals are out of balance. She strung together 5.5 litre bags of hydrating fluid and added potassium to try to keep everything in balance. Throughout the night they did this 4 more times! He's so sick he can't stand up and is dying.

The next morning, Hobo's neck was more swollen and still continuing to swell, his airway closed so they performed a tracheotomy. Dr. Cadle tried everything she could think of but he couldn't be saved

Hobo died at 11:00 am June 11.

Happy trails, Hobo. Wait for us at the gate...

For additional information, try this link: http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/health/vaccinations/eqepm33/

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