Horseytalk.net Special Interview
Shino
Shino's struggle for life.
By Dr. Muhammad Saleem (Manager, The Brooke Faisalabad)
He was near death due to severe dehydration and debility. He had been suffering from diarrhea for the last three days. This was partly due to his diet of un-boiled cow’s milk and husk and improper diagnosis by a traditional healer. Dr. Muhammad Saleem, Manager, The Brooke Faisalabad, tells the story
Three days ago, in the morning on my way to the Brooke clinic I received an emergency call concerning a very ill foal that had collapsed and needed urgent veterinary attention. I drove as fast as possible to find a very young foal lying motionless on the ground as its anxious owner looked on.
The foal, whose name was Shino, was near death due to severe dehydration and debility. He had been suffering from diarrhea for the last three days. This was partly due to his diet of un-boiled cow’s milk and husk and improper diagnosis by a traditional healer.
Luckily a friend of the owner told him about the Brooke, which is why he brought Shino in for treatment.
Shino is unfortunate, because his mother died from delivery complications at the time of his birth and from that day he has been struggling for his life. His owner had clearly developed a bond with him but due to a lack of knowledge in neonatal care, he was having a hard time coping.
Shino was thoroughly examined and then given treatment which included rehydration and administration of pain and diarrhea relief injections. He started showing signs of improvement within half an hour of rehydration and as the pain relief drip finished, Shino was trying to stand up.
I prescribed the follow-up medicine which included multivitamins and the appropriate soft fodder and asked the owner to bring Shino to the clinic for check up after two days.
Today when he bought Shino to the clinic I was amazed to see him running and sprinting around in the park next to the clinic, looking healthy and active. The owner said that he followed the advice and prescription and he is very happy with the results.
He thanked the Brooke and everybody at the Faisalabad clinic for saving the life of his young foal saying we did more than he had expected to save Shino's life.
As I am writing this there are still lots of cases like Shino in Faisalabad and many of them are not as lucky. The Brooke is working for the welfare of these equines, by treating them, educating their owners and building social and physical structures for a sustainable development.
