Horse not eating? Could be pigeon fever

[Desert Topaz]

My 26 year old mare stopped eating all of her hay on occasion in November. In December she was never finishing her hay. The vet thought it might be ulcers, but the ulcer treatments didn't fix her. We pulled blood, her blood work was fine. She sent off blood for the pigeon fever test... the numbers were huge. The internal form, so abscesses in and around the major organs. Bad for the young and healthy horse, catastrophic for a horse that is neither of those. With my mare's problems (age, skin allergies, respiratory allergies, navicular, lymphangitis) we decided it would be kinder to put her down than have her go through the months and months of aggressive antibiotics to try to clear it up, especially when there was no guarantee it would work. I said goodbye to her today.

So, for those of you in pigeon fever areas, be aware that this is a possibility, especially for your not so immune healthy horses.

[sansibar]

My condolences

Now Im going to ask my vets if my area is an area of concern for this.

[Desert Topaz]

Now Im going to ask my vets if my area is an area of concern for this.

I don't think it's further east than Colorado/Wyoming at this point.

[BEARCAT]

Sorry about your mare.
My TB dropped a ton of weight this summer from Pigeon Fever.

[MunchkinsMom]

I'm so sorry about your mare. I want to thank you for posting this, as this is the first I had heard of pidgeon fever having an internal effect like that.

[Watermark Farm]

Oh! I am so sorry! Hugs to you and godspeed to your mare.

People should know that horses can and do survive internal pigeon fever. Horses develop internal pigeon fever only rarely, but it seems to be the immune-compromised ones who do, usually following a regular external case. Treatment is expensive and somewhat of a longshot, and for some horses it's not fair to subject them to this long haul. The mortality rate, untreated, is 100%. The mortality rate, treated, is roughly 40-50%. My own immune compromised horse came down with it last year, and survived. It was 12 straight weeks of meds and confinement, and fairly expensive (about $1600 out the door, antibiotics and repeated bloodwork). We started with a powerful Naxcel/Rifampin combo and later switched to TMS/Rifampin.

I'm so sorry again about your mare. I have to say that there were MANY times I wondered if I'd done the right thing by my horse. It was very hard on him, and there were some days where I did not know if he'd survive, plus it was extremely stressful for me --- absolutely no life for several months. Kudos to you for making the decision to release your mare from suffering.

[ThatScaryChick]

I'm so sorry that you had to put your mare down. :( Do you know how she contacted pigeon fever? I'm not really familiar with that disease. How is it spread?

[Desert Topaz]

Thanks for your condolences. I miss her very, very much but I am absolutely sure I did the right thing. The cost wasn't part of the decision, $750 a month just for the meds and it was going to be a minimum of four months. I knew as soon as the vet told me what was wrong that letting her go was going to be the right thing.


In a nutshell (remember, I'm not a vet) Pigeon Fever is caused by the bacteria Corynebacteria pseudotuberculosis. In the external form it causes abscesses along the midline, anywhere from the horse's chest to their genital area. The abscesses swell and have highly contagious pus drain from them. It takes months for them to get over it, but those with the external form do recover. The internal form, due to the placement of the abscesses in and around the major organs, is much harder to treat and recovery is not guaranteed. It's transmitted by flies and can live in the soil for months. Most cases start in the fall. All it takes is one fly carrying it around to arrive at your ranch and land on broken skin (like a cut or fly bites.) It's all over the place where I live, so it was only a matter of time till it got to mine. So far it seems to favor the west.