Evie
Evie was born at Redwings after her Mum, Fergie, came to us as an exceptional circumstances case. Fergie’s owner fell seriously ill and could no longer look after her beloved horse. At first, Evie seemed like a normal healthy foal, but this did not turn out to be the case.
After a few months, Evie started to become very miserable. Little blisters were appearing on her face and neck; her skin became crusty and her hair was falling out. No one was entirely sure what was wrong with Evie, so our vet team took samples of her blood, hair and skin, and sent them off to a specialist veterinary centre in Suffolk.
Evie's patchy skin after a few weeks
Evie was then diagnosed with a rare disease called Pemphigus Foliaceus. This is a disorder where the immune system thinks that the horse’s skin cells are foreign bodies that need rejecting.
Pemphigus Foliaceus is incredibly difficult to treat, and it took a long time for Evie’s skin to return to normal. She was bathed in soothing shampoo and given antibiotics – although she made it quite clear that she did not like them very much, so our vets gave her a little spoonful of strawberry yoghurt to improve the taste! Evie’s recovery was still taking a long time, so she was given steroids for a short while as part of the process.
Evie today
Eventually Evie’s hair started to grow back – albeit in a rather odd pattern! Sadly Pemphigus is not a curable condition, and it could come back at any time, so Evie will remain in the care of the Sanctuary where her condition will be carefully monitored. Pemphigus is an incredibly hard condition for any horse owner to deal with – and thankfully it is very rare – but thanks to the staff at Redwings, Evie will live a long and happy life.
