Can horses get Narcolepsy?

So the old man Jack is still alive. Thank goodness. Now the issue is we have no clue what is wrong with him. Here is what is going on.

• This morning he ran over to me for breakfast. (he lives outside). He normally will walk over, sometimes trot, but I honestly don’t think I have ever seen him canter before breakfast.
• He knocked over the bucket his breakfast was in because he was so desperate to eat. He likes his food, but not like this.
• He took a lying down nap right after breakfast. He only naps lying down in the afternoon when it is sunny.
• He slept for 30 minutes and then was up for an hour and then he went back down for a nap for another 45 minutes. NOT NORMAL.
• I went out and checked him over and he was okay after nap. I don’t know what the difference is in him, but something was just off.
• I left for lunch and that is when they manager came back and he was lying down again so the owner got called to come over.
• I came back and he was standing up and grazing but he felt hot to the touch. I took his temp and it was 100.2. Well within normal range.
• He had good gut sounds but was a touch gasy, but not a crazy amount, I would even say he was normal with all the new spring grass growing.
• I walked away and right away Jack took another nap…this time standing for 20 minutes.

So what do you all think? Can horses suddenly be struck with Narcolepsy? What is wrong with him?

The old horse layed down again.

I am on lunch break and just got a txt that the old horse I was talking about in the last post is still not looking right. The owner was called. Man I hope they don’t have to put him down but I have this gut feeling that this might be it for him. I love his old guy. His name is Jack and he is such a perfect horse. My mom even took riding lessons on him 2 years ago and he was so great to her. I go back soon…I hope he is feeling better by the time I get there. I will cry a lot if Jack his to be put down. It was 2 years ago tomorrow that my mom got the gift of the riding lessons on him.

I think I found another Tumor on Gennyral :(

My horse is grey and like so many other grey horses out there he also has cancer. Just melanoma. I say it like that I don’t worry myself about it too much. His cancer is on the dock of his tail. You can easily feel three tumors, each about the size of a grape. My vet told me not to stress about it too much because the dock does not get a ton of circulation so the chances that it will spread are not great. This was 2 years ago.

Today is just such an in between kind of day. It is not raining, but it could be and it is neither warm nor cold. Genny slept with a sheet on last night and I left it on when I first turned him out. When I had finished the stalls and was getting ready to leave (I had to go and check one of our old guys…he is acting odd today) I looked out at my boy and figured I should check and see if he was hot before I left. He wasn’t that hot, but warm enough that I took off his blankie. He was itchy from having it on all night so he showed me where he wanted me to scratch on his shoulders and belly. And yes I know my horse has me trained very well. When that was done he turned and put his big old behind in my face so I started to scratch the top where he normally itches himself on the hot water heater.

Apparently he has not found a way to scratch the very top of his butt with his blanket on because he was dying. 10 minutes I spent just rubbing the part where the spine goes into the tail. During this long scratch session I noticed a bump. Every time I would itch the bump Genny would make a happy grunt sound. I started to feel the bump and it is round and hard and still kind of small. The bump is not that close to where the took the fat out for stem cells, but close enough that I am positive no bump was there last summer. His tail cancer was really itchy when it first started to grow too which makes me nervous. My horse already has a bum leg, he doesn’t need cancer on his main body also!

I am trying to stay positive because his tail tumors have not grown at all in the past 3 years. And really I don’t know if it is cancer at all. The vet is coming out at somepoint soon (hopefully not today for the old guy that is acting odd) so I will have him feel and tell me what he thinks it is. Doesn’t Genny know that he isn’t allowed any more health problems 😛 I still haven’t paid off his hospital bill yet and just finished the vet bill on the 1st of May!