I have been reading the Harry Potter books, which I can not wait to finish (I am not really a Harry Potter fan, though to the fans' credit, they're probably a lot less repetitive read one per year.) Anyway, hence, the title of this entry.
Willig has hives. Mysterious hives. They started with a couple bumps on Monday the 10th. Wednesday the 12th I started taking his temperature. Saturday the 15th I quit riding him because they looked like they would be uncomfortable under the saddle and girth. About Wed the 19th they started going down. Friday the 21st they were mostly gone on his body (with some "ripples") but a lot on his neck and some edema on his belly. Then on Thursday the 27th the small bumps reappeared, like they did on the 10th. The progression was small soft bump, hard small bump, flat round bump, bump with a depression in the middle, then spreading bump (for each one). They started on his butt and moved up to his neck, with only a few on his face and none on his lower legs. They never oozed or anything gross like that.
The vet came out last night, said she had no idea, and this is our approach:
Friday the 28th - 2 packets of dexamethazone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexamethasone) - I am mixing it with water (today I'll try oil) and syringing it since he doesn't eat grain, and to make sure he gets it all
Sat 29th - 2 packets dexamethazone
Sun 30th - 2 packet dexamethazone
Dec 31st - Jan 4th - 20 tablets twice a day for five days of prednisolone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prednisolone)
Jan 5 - 9 - 10 tablets twice a day for 5 days of prednisolone
Jan 10 - Feb 10 - 10 tablets once a day for 30 days of prednisolone
Then we tackle the environment:
Alice ordered different sawdust; we did have fir, which is supposed to be the least allergenic, and I think now it's aspen. This started last night.
Feb 11 - 18 - soak his hay
Feb 19 - 26 - buy new (presumably more expensive) hay
Feb 27 - March 4 - no hay - give him equine senior
March 5 - 12 - new sawdust (probably the bagged stuff)
March 13 - 20 - no blanket
March 21 - 28 - no carrots
Beyond that, I don't know what we'll try.
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