Has anyone ever seen/dealt with the symptoms of EPM?

Hiddenview · Member Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 98

I lost my paly filly, Paris, on Christmas. Well, I got home last night and spent quite a while with D (Delilah) my red roan filly before she passed away. She had the same exact symptoms as Paris, losing weight then progressing to where they laid down and couldn't get their hind ends to work to get them back to their feet. She drank but to eat it was like she couldn't get her mouth to work. She held her ears out to the sides just as Paris had done. She wanted to get up so badly but just couldn't get her hind legs to work. She finally laid out on her side, nickered at me again, and passed away. She also had quite a bit of rapid eye movement and she wouldn't blink, even when I'd touch around her eye. Towards the end she acted like she had no idea where she was or what she was doing - like Paris, she kicked the air with her legs like she was trying to get up. I had been feeding her separate (as I did with Paris as well) from the others and I thought she was coming around (fed them Omegatin besides free choice hay).

To have two fillies who were healthy otherwise suddenly have this happen makes me believe that they may have had EPM. Here in MN we have LOTS of opossums, coons, coyotes, etc.

Thanks

doubleopi · Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 11:45 am Post subject:

That is so sad. While I have not personally dealt with EPM, I know that Opossums can be carries. That's about the extent of my knowledge. I hope you find out what happened to them.

WithAnticipation · Weanling Joined: 06 Jun 2005 Posts: 8

We have a horse at the barn suffering from EPM. She has a hard time with her hind end movements, looks very funny when she tries to canter, has a hard time getting up. She can't eat any grain and had issues with her feet, I think she broke a bone in her hoof. But just a warning too, rabies can present as neurological too. Not sure how prevelant it is where you are, but it's not unheard of for a horse to get.

Here's a link of some info on it. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/drfenger/

skeenan · 2 Year Old Joined: 27 Jan 2005 Posts: 31 Location: NH

So sorry to hear of your loss...

My horse's former owner (friends of ours) found out her horses had been infected when she lost one of her mares. They had lived in FLA, where there are lots of opossums.

My gelding was treated and is symptom-free, despite being positive.

If you own other horses, I strongly recommend having them tested. If treated early, they may never show signs or symptoms. Chances are, if two were infected, then they have all been exposed.

EAhola · Member Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 152 Location: Colorado

Hi there,

You can do a blood test for EPM and then to confirm you can do a spinal. I would confirm that this is what you have before treatment because that can cost from $600 and upwards.

A horse can have EPM in a dormant stage and then something (stress) will fire it up. Some believe there are a whole bunch of horses with EPM but they aren't showing yet and this could be an epidemic.

I have a now 20YO QH that is due to foal in about 2weeks. She always dropped her back foot a bit at times. I figured it was due to her not being real fit, lazy, hip problems. So I started to supplement her with joint medicine. About 4 months ago or so she started to loose her coordination. Got really bad where she couldn't get from point A to B without it being a big ordeal. She had some other things going on (kidney/liver) but she was tested for EPM and came back positive. I was limited on what I could give her because of the foal. But we did our 28day treatment and she did get better. I'm getting the feeling that improvement still goes on for months after the treatment. So it's a slow upward battle. I gave her Marquis and on their lable they said to expect 1 level of improvement which we have seen. So I'm leary of getting her back to 100% but I haven't given up on her yet and I do feel she'll be able to foal just fine. She has fallen down (lost balance on back end) and gotten back up.

There is a EPM Yahoo Group where you can get lots of info if you join. Well worth it.

Now -- here's my 2 cent. From everything I've read. I've never heard of it moving as quickly as you say. So I would get the blood test and then spinal if you want. Also, from what I've read it can't be passed from 1 horse to another.
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