This is the story of Kendra, a yearling Gypsy Cob filly. Her owner, Gail DeMarco, had recently imported her from the U.K, and she was sent to Arizona for her quarantine period. When she arrived at the ranch in Shingle Springs, she was dull, lethargic and inappetant. Close monitoring by her owners revealed that she had a fever of 104 degrees. Dr. Matt Judd from Slate Creek Veterinary was called to examine her. He determined that she had a serious pneumonia.
Her owner, Gail, gives her account of the news that she received that day: “When Dr. Matt examined Kendra, he told me that I had to get her to Loomis Basin Equine Hospital because they were prepared and equipped to treat a case of this severity. He told me that she had very bad pneumonia and it was likely that she would not make it. My husband and I immediately took Kendra to Loomis; we were frantic.”
Dr. Fielding and Dr. Higgins confirmed by ultrasound that she had a severe fluid accumulation on one side of her chest and a large pleural abscess on the other. Several liters of fluid were drained from her chest, and this significantly improved her clinical status by allowing her to breathe more easily and effectively. The prognosis given to the DeMarco’s was very poor, but the doctors were encouraged by her positive response to fluid removal. Fortunately, Kendra’s owners had a major medical insurance policy for her, which was extremely helpful in covering her extensive medical care. Kendra’s owners would have given her all the best treatment anyway, but it was a blessing not to have to bear the entire financial burden in addition to the emotional distress.
Kendra spent weeks in the intensive care unit. She received oxygen therapy, intravenous antibiotics, and multiple chest taps to drain recurrent fluid accumulation. She also received intrathoracic injections of TPA (Tissue Plasminogen Activator), which is an enzyme that encourages the degradation of fibrin in her pleural cavity. This is an advanced treatment that is thought to improve long term lung function by allowing more fluid to be removed with each tap and limiting the amount of scar tissue formation. It was a long road for Kendra with months of antibiotics and many recheck examinations. As you can see from the recent photos, Kendra is a BEAUTIFUL, happy, healthy horse and shows no residual effects of her life-threatening illness. Thank you, Gail, for the gorgeous recovery photos and best of luck to Kendra for a long and happy life!
