Mastitis in 18 yr old dry mare - nothing's working

[patandchickens]

Honestly, you need a different vet for this one. Your current vet may be wonderful for other things but is entirely missing the ball on this one and should certainly not be "baffled". Ideally you could take her to your state vet school, but failing that, there must be SOME other vet around you could get a second opinion from.

Totally agree with basically all of the above suggestions (heat packs, need for a culture, not to milk her out, and the likelihood that it is not simple mastitis). Blood work would seem desirable too.

GOod luck,

PatrA

 

[thebritt]

Thanks for all your input. She has never had a foal (as far as we know - she's a Mustang, and was captured by BLM at age 3 yrs). We've sent in 2 samples for cultures, and both came back clean - no bacteria detected

.

 

[cmjust0]

If no bacteria were detected, then it would make perfect sense that antibiotics and antibacterials aren't bringing about any improvement. It would also indicate that you're looking at something that's not actually an infection at all...

I hate to say it, but if that's the case, a cancerous lesion would make a lot of sense..

 

[patandchickens]

a) what has been cultured -- nipple discharge, or the open weeping abscess discharge? (I am thinking you mean either both or the latter; but if by some chance it is only the former, that may not necessarily rule out an infection)

b) it is certainly sounding more like something more complicated, like some sort of growth, and requiring bloodwork and possibly biopsy to diagnose... so if you wanted to pursue this, it is really sounding like the sort of thing you'd want to take to more of a specialist, e.g. a large equine clinic or state vet school.

Best of luck to you both,

Pat

 

[thebritt]

Quote:
The cultures were done on the nipple discharge only. The weeping "wound" showed up about 2 weeks after treatment started. The vet did suggest a biopsy if there was no improvement after this round of IM injections. She acts quite normal, but her udder is definately tender. She still runs around with her pasture mate, and grazes all afternoon throughout the yard when we let them out. The vet we see is a large animal vet - that's all they do. I certainly hope it's not a tumor!

 

[Brindlebtch]

I really would go for a biopsy, pronto.

 

[mekasmom]

Quote:
I would begin to presume it is a tumor so advanced that it has caused a lesion. This is an 18yo horse. Cancer would be a major concern in an elderly animal. I mean, she's not 20, but she's not 5 either.