HO Reuter, [03 Dec 2022 at 08:11:56]: I need some advice on managing a 2 year old lame white rhino bull - a tame orphan walking with other white and black rhino orphans. He was noticed to be listless, “off-colour”, but maintained appetite two weeks ago. He seemed to have shoulder pain on a videoclip. I advised meloxicam in feed treatment to which he seemed to respond well at first. Now, 8 days later, he still on daily Inflacam, but he is walking more stiff-legged again and lethargic, but still eating his lucern. It seems lame / sore on both fore-legs, maybe all 4. There is no history or sign of trauma, chasing, no change in routine or environment. Any advice on diagnosing cause for the pain, and then treatment options? Thank you! J A, [03 Dec 2022 at 08:23:04]: Hi H O . Have you done any blood work? Alex Lewis, [03 Dec 2022 at 08:37:21]: I have had several sand colics that started as type of lameness look. HO Reuter, [03 Dec 2022 at 08:50:36]: Did you treat with psyllium husk fibre? At what dosage? No blood work up yet. We decided to try anti-inflammatory treatment first before darting. Some owners have a “special” reluctance to dart their orphans. As he responded well to anti-inflammatory treatment at first, we did not do anything. Alex Lewis, [03 Dec 2022 at 09:50:49]: Yes and obviously change how they getting fed, also think might be pica. I think change of feeding helped enough. HO Reuter, [03 Dec 2022] These rhino are fed in troughs, and also still get some milk. He walks slowly - the first two videos yesterday are the symptoms after Inflacam for a week. The others are more than a week ago. Henry Labuschagne, [03 Dec 2022 at 10:22:49]: Consider Previcox oral if gastric ulcer is not a DD. Big horse dose ¼ tab q 24h. V-Tech has an injectable omeprazole that works well for ulcers and is practical in terms of dosing. I would also consider a MgSO4 footbath. Give bran mash with molasses and MgSO4 if a mild impaction is possible. Nele Sabbe, [03 Dec 2022 at 11:54:04]: H.O., I would put laminitis on the list of D.D. Lucerne isn't ideal to feed to laminitis patients either... I am not sure if they have any grass (tef, eragrostis, even bloubuffel or other) to give him. They will probably have to mix it as he probably won't eat it otherwise... J A, [04 Dec 2022 at 12:53:03]: HO, are his mucous membranes nice and pink? HO Reuter, [09 Dec 2022 at 22:55:44]: The 17 months old orphaned rhino bull with pain symptoms seemed to do well on Inflacam for a while, but then became more lame, after discontinuing inflacam treatment. I went to examine and treat him 2 days ago. His mucous membranes seemed normal pink with normal capillary refill time. Whereas he seemed most lame on left front before, he now was most lame on right front, but reluctant to walk, and dragging feet rather than lifting. The hooves / nails did not feel very warm or painful when touching / pressure before darting, but difficult to assess. The symptoms do not seem to be colic, sand impaction related, more sore legs, feet, laminitis suspected as Nele suggested. The haematology results showed slightly anaemia, white cell and differential count were normal, serum chemistry of liver, and kidney enzymes, CK, serum albumin and globulin all normal. I injected with Nuflor, Inflacam, Bcobolic, Kyroligo, treated with Omapracote after reversal and daily dose since then, inflacam as well. He is on milk feed once a day, lucerne and Rhodes grass fed 2x day plus ad lib Rhodes grass and veld grazing. As a result of the pain, he does not move much to feed in veld and also his appetite is not too good some days. Muscle shivering and increased respiration rate have been noticed some times. I presume from pain. Henry you had recommended Previcox tablets. Can you confirm dosage recommendations for 300 kg rhino. (At 5mg daily dosage (dog dosage) it would be 6-7 chewable tablets 227 mg?) Have you had better anti- inflammatory / pain killing response to Previcox than meloxicam in rhino or horses? Any other advice to treat the pain, inflammation, lameness? Bart Gazendam, [09 Dec 2022 at 23:25:37]: Hi! Interesting case, in horses with laminitis I also give them paracetamol 20 mg/kg or aspirin 20-100 mg/kg. Does not only help for pain but supposedly also increased blood flow to the feet. Not sure if anyone has given that to rhinos, Albertus perhaps? If it is laminitis, cold hosing the feet also helps sometimes (not sure how tame it is?) Have you got a video maybe just out of interest of the standing and walking animal? Kresen Pillay, [09 Dec 2022 at 23:34:46]: Hi. We have used Previcox in horses at 0.1mg/kg, much lower dose than in dogs. We have used it in elderly elephants with osteoarthritis at that dose and helped more than meloxicam. I would likely use at that dose if wanted to try on a rhino. We have had some elderly rhinos with arthritis who were placed on gabapentin and amandatine, I dont have dosages off hand, probably not going to be very useful in your case. Nele Sabbe, [10 Dec 2022 at 05:07:43]: Hi, Previcox at 0.1mg/kg works well on rhino Henry Labuschagne, [10 Dec 2022 at 07:10:29]: Nele is spot on. Previcox dose in horses and rhino is much lower than dog dose. 0.1 mg per kg in rhino. I agree with aspirin in laminitis cases. In horses I use the Salicylic acid rectal gel from Vetscripts with good effect. HO Reuter, [13 Dec 2022 at 23:14:41]: Haematocrit was 0.32, so a bit low. Clinically mucous membranes seemed normal pink. He seems to do OK on Previcox and Omepracote at the moment. Will keep monitoring and check colour to assess anaemia. Would you use Previcox instead of Inflacam, and then also Aspirin or Paracetamol? Henry Labuschagne, [10 Dec 2022 at 08:30:22]: I would first use Aspirin for 3 days then Previcox Albertus Coetzee, [10 Dec 2022 at 09:18:32]: HO some comments re pain options. We used paracetamol at same dosages as mentioned, Ibuprofen at a dose of 1000mg per rhino bid. The two above works very well. In very sore acute cases flunixin per os is by far superior than any others. Then carprofen at 1 mg/kg IM will last 48 hours. Also an option if oral Rx is not possible. So my thoughts would be control initially with oral flunixin then go to oral paracetamol or ibuprofen. Henry Labuschagne, [10 Dec 2022 at 11:46:25]: Do you prefer paracetamol to aspirin in horses and rhino ? Albertus Coetzee, [10 Dec 2022 at 11:48:36]: Hi Henry, I can only comment on rhino, so yes, paracetamol due to less side effects Henry Labuschagne, [10 Dec 2022 at 11:52:33]: In horses I find the rectal Aspirin gel very effective and no side effects. Albertus Coetzee, [10 Dec 2022 at 11:55:32]: Definitely worth exploring in rhino. We use rectal fluids to rehydrate, so a rectal gel would be an option while busy HO Reuter, [10 Dec 2022] I like the previcox for chronic medication as it seems to work very well, and it is easy to give such a little tablet. The oral Flunixin works really well too, but he might refuse to eat it after a while. For laminitis specific, on rhino and horses, I see better results with Previcox as with Flunixin. To be honest, I have no experience with aspirin or paracetamol, but will definitely keep it in mind for the future! Jacques ODell, [11 Dec 2022 at 05:53:50]: Would it not be more painful for a laminitis animal to drag the feet compared to a normal twinkle-toe step? This almost looks like the joints are painful. Louis Greeff, [11 Dec 2022 at 07:05:40]: Morning HO I had a black rhino that did exactly the same a few years back and had a white rhino orphan with the same symptoms 4 years ago It was diagnosed as arthrosis by x rays taken by Johan Marais. The arthrosis led to OCD. Just like cattle, the Ca:P ratios are important. Lucerne, water and good roughage like in your case sometimes skew the ratio and then you get this joint pain. It usually happens in fast growing animals that are well fed. In both my cases the water and the lucerne was to blame. The water was very high in Ca and lucerne is naturally high in Ca. We corrected the white rhino by supplementing phosphate in the form of phosphoric acid (Drinkfos) Took away his lucerne and gave water that was put through a water softener. He took 6 months to recover. The black rhino was another story........he was the baby of a tame cow that came from a zoo. He grew very fast. He was treated with all kinds of pain meds and by the time I got to him his lesions was too severe. We also corrected his diet but he still has a limp in his left front leg. HO Reuter, [11 Dec 2022 at 07:27:03]: What would cause arthrosis in a 17 months old rhino. Treatment options other than pain killers? Thank you Louis! Louis Greeff, [11 Dec 2022 at 07:29:15]: My advice : Test the water Take away the lucerne Give good quality tef Keep on giving his milk Supplement milk with PO4 (Good idea to ask Ockert for a supplement) Give joint care meds (MSN, Hyaluronic acid, etc) Give Previcox as pain meds GIVE TIME........IN THIS CASES THAT IS THE BEST MEDICATION. My white was 15 month old when he started.....black was 12 months old Jacques ODell, [11 Dec 2022 at 10:57:19]: It is a good idea to just stop giving lucerne to all white rhino… Regardless of current health status Ockert Botha, [12 Dec 2022 at 06:56:47]: HO, contact me on 0829226355 would like to sponsor a joint supplement as well as aspirin rectal gel. Also needs to stay on Omeprazole whilst still painful so will also send some Omeprazole powder. Are you sure there is no early septic arthritis? HO Reuter, [12 Dec 2022 at 20:12:27]: Thank you very much. I‘ll call you tomorrow. Haematology results did show normal WC count, so I presume no bacterial infection. J A, [13 Dec 2022 at 19:43:49]: How anaemic is the rhino? I've seen a black rhino who started with shifting lameness, ended up being Idiopathic Haemorrhagic Vasculopathy. It has so many ways of presenting itself. Seen it in two white rhino as well. Usually in captivity. All that seems to work is high dose corticosteroids. HO Reuter, [13 Dec 2022 at 23:14:42]: Haematocrit was 0.32, so a bit low. Clinically mm seemed normal pink. He seems to do Ok on Previcox and Omepracote at the moment. Will keep monitoring and check colour to assess anaemia. HO Reuter, [18 Dec 2022 at 22:56:05]: The white rhino bull with shifting lameness was on Inflacam and Omepracote for 2 weeks, then changed over to Previcox plus Omepracote, still on Rhinomel milk substitute (including P), Calgophos, Rhodes grass mixed with lucerne instead of just lucerne, and walking better (less lame) than a week ago. We’ll add Vetscripts joint supplement from next week. I believe Louis was right with his suggestions for treatment for arthroses. Thanks Louis, and everyone else for your advice! Calgophos label recommends treatment for 3-5 days only. Can one for give much longer, or for a few days on, few days off? For how long can we give 1/4 tablet Previcox daily (with Omepracote) before risking side effects? Since he responds well to current treatment I thought to keep on Previcox for at least another week, then reduce dose or see how he does without anti-inflammatory treatment. Possibly Paracetamol instead?
