We got the word this evening in a phone call from Dr. Melissa Hines, chief of the Equine Medicine Service at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. The myelogram on our wobbly horse, Copper Kid, did not show the areas where the spinal cord is compressed. Both WSU’s radiologist, who conducted the myelogram today, and Dr. Barrie Grant, the surgeon who would have done Copper’s spine stabilization operation, could not detect the areas of compression on the myelogram images. Without being able to identify them, surgery wasn’t an option. If you can’t see them, you can’t fix them.
This doesn’t mean Copper doesn’t have spinal cord compression. The myelogram essentially takes a two-dimensional view, rather than a three-dimensional view as you would get from an MRI. (Horses are too big for MRIs.) The myelogram captures the ventrodorsal, or top-to-bottom, view of the spine, and if the compression is occurring only laterally, or side-to-side, it may not show it. Dr. Hines had cautioned us last week, when I dropped Copper off at WSU, that even though it’s rare, sometimes this happens.
In cases like Copper’s where the myelogram does not reveal the compression, Dr. Hines said they routinely test the spinal fluid for a neurological disorder called EPM, or equine protozoal myeloencephalitis. EPM is caused by a parasite and is not really endemic in our area. Given Copper’s history, clinical signs, and our location, it is very unlikely he could have EPM … but you just never know. It would actually be a good thing if he turned out to have EPM because it is treatable. We will have those test results by Thursday this week.
If Copper doesn’t have EPM, then all we can do is bring him back to the ranch, arrange a stall and pen for him where he can be safe and visit with his buddies over a fence, and then hope that nature will help stabilize him over time. Our biggest concern will be winter, where the snow and ice can be treacherous for an animal that is neurologically impaired and unstable on his feet.
The good news is that Copper was able to get up after the myelogram — that was a big hurdle and a major worry, because the procedure can exacerbate the neurological instability. Some horses have never been able to walk again afterwards. So we were sweating that one. Also, the WSU folks have now seen him lying down to sleep and getting up on his own (although he’s a bit shaky doing it!). We had not seen him sleeping lying down in the two weeks after he had the relapse. Although horses can snooze standing up, at some point they really do need to lie down to get a deep sleep. Thus we were relieved to hear he is now doing this.
I plan to head back to Pullman later in the week to pick him up.
The photo above I took a couple of years ago when Copper was able to trot around on pasture. Here’s the video again I took when Copper left the vet hospital a couple of weeks ago:
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