I gathered the gumption to get out of the house today. First I had a coke. High test, with sugar and caffeine. Then I drove out to check on Pluto. His rear end still looks skinny to me. However, I decided to check against photographic proof. I don't have perfect pictures of his butt over the years, because normally I focus on his front end, or his body as a whole. But I think that he hasn't lost as much as I thought. I think that his hair is maybe matting down a little on his behind, so it looks worse than it is.
The electrolyte pellets I got for him don't appear to have helped, at any rate.
He's never had a particularly large rump, when you get down to it. (Unlike his owner.) His back end is petite compared to his barrel.
I pondered the possibilities of EPM (which could be caught from hay, if an infected possum had spread its ick to the hay before it were cut) and Cushing's disease, either of which could lead to muscle wasting. But he doesn't seem to have any other symptoms that would indicate either of those two.
I've upped his food a little more, and I'm just going to keep an eye on things for a bit longer. And keep taking pictures so I'm not relying on my memory. Perhaps I'll come up with some way to actually measure his butt.
It turns out that when you google "how to measure a horse's butt", the answers aren't very helpful.
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| Pluto's dirty, matted butt today (fine, YOU try to keep a grey horse clean) |
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| Pluto's somewhat cleaner and less hairy butt at Thanksgiving |
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