Viewer Viewpoint
And now, a few words from our viewers...

A Pony Bitten by an Adder
From the Mare and Foal Sanctuary
by Rosemary Kind

Late one evening a lady who had one of our ponies on loan rang us to say that the pony "Arthur" was sick. She called the vet who thought he had a mild colic and gave him a painkiller.

However, by the next morning, little Arthur was still very ill, he wasn't eating, his head hung down and
he had passed no manure. The vet was called again and gave the pony liquid paraffin, this did produce a small amount of manure. By now, his temperature was 104. We decided to bring him home where he could be monitored 24 hours a day under a heat lamp on a deep bed of shavings.

There was no improvement by the afternoon, and our vet took blood samples which showed that Arthur had been bitten by an Adder [snake] and also had a massive infection. Late that night, I sat up with him, and encouraged him to eat a bran mash sprinkled with lots of brown sugar, his favourite!

Gradually he started to pick at his hay and overnight produced some more manure. It's about ten days since he's been home and he has been going out into the paddock during the day, coming back under the heat lamp, which he loves.

The site of the snake bite is still sore and of course we will be watching out for subsequent liver problems etc. However, Arthur is now quite full of beans and barged through the stable door this morning in his hurry to get out with his stable mates.

Back to Viewer Viewpoint Table of Contents

Do you have something to say to the VetMed viewers?
Click here to read the User Agreement and
submit your work!

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in the Viewer Viewpoint
are not necessarily your Guide's views and opinions.

Previous Features
Check out other articles from your Guide

Previous Features - Check out other articles from your Guide

Veterinary Medicine Home Page - Main page for VetMed at About.com

Library of Topics - Browse the site library of topics