Seriously?!

'Cause I needed something else to deal with... Sonny decided today was as good a day as any to COLIC!! Yes, you heard me right. Colic. Son is prone to these little bouts of tummy trouble. But today? Really? He was fine at 6:15 when I fed. He was fine at 8:30 when I put Beaus frozen corn wraps on. At 9:45 when I came out to take off the corn he was kicking his belly, looking at his flanks, and pawing. By the time I had the corn undone he was down. I ran for the house (of course the one time I didn't have my phone with me) to call his Mama and the vet. Since we know this about him- we usually try banamine and hand walking for a while to see if he will progress on his own. But, like I needed the extra stress today.

An hour and a half of walking and a dose of banamine and he passed manure. He was symptomatic a bit longer, but then seemed to get over the hump and went back to being his big ol' self. His Mom had planned to come out today anyhow- but this made her get here quicker. I called off my Brownie meeting- I couldn't stomach the thought of leaving 2 sick horses. We went to the clinic to pick up extra banamine... just in case. We spent the day just hanging with the ponies. Which otherwise would have been a great time- but all of this had me physically not feeling well. I don't take sick critters very well, and this just about did me in! Not to mention that I got my period today too, and my Mom is VERY sick (she has a sinus infection, the flu and phenomena simultaneously!) so I'm worried about her.

With Sonny's scare, some of the attention was taken off Beau for a bit- but then it was back to hosing and antibiotics. I've spoken with 2 different friends now who have dealt with cellulitis- and it seems that this level of discomfort is the norm. My vet is comfortable with keeping him at home and continuing the treatment plan, but it worries me to see improvement be this slow. The hock is still swollen and hot, and he clearly doesn't want to be touched there. He is very hesitant to walk, until after he has been hosed- then he will go ahead and move. I feel like such a bad "mother" because he is clearly in distress... but it seems like this is par for the course with cellulitis- and I don't have a fortune to spend with other diagnostics. Sigh. So, we wait another day and hopefully improvement continues- even slowly; just as long as we continue to improve and he will bear weight. As per Andrea's suggestion in the comments, I asked about bute vs. banamine when I conferred with my vet tonight. She suggests banamine is a better fever reducer, and is better for soft tissue (bute works better for bone) but we added 2gr into the mix tonight to see how that affects things. I don't want to over medicate- I don't want him to go off his feed... I also will increase his hosings- that seems to make him more willing to move. I also borrowed an ice boot from a friend- so I can also use that in between.

I'm off to check on Sonny and do one final bandage change/ cold hose. It's got to get better right?!