Service horse receives expert care from Vet School

When the horse you’re dealing with is a prescription for its owner’s health, the last thing you want is for the horse to succumb to its own health problems.

That’s why, when Picasso, a Pintaloosa miniature horse, went lame, it was crucial that the problem be resolved.

Picasso is a service animal, prescribed by a doctor for his Milwaukee-based owner, Andy Mueller, who needs the horse to maintain an exercise regimen to keep his diabetes under control.

Mueller and his spouse, Colleen, own a boatyard. They had considered getting a pet dog, but worried that a dog might bite or frighten their customers.

The prescription was the only way the Muellers could get a stable license in Milwaukee, which prohibits livestock in the city. Soon, Picasso’s daily walks were part of Andy Mueller’s exercise routine.

When Picasso went lame, the Muellers brought their little work-horse to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (VMTH). The surgical repair of patellar luxation (where the stifle or “knee” joint locks up due to a deformity) went well. But as luck would have it, Picasso’s issues didn’t end there.

After he returned home, Picasso was accidentally given a bute (anti-inflammatory agent) dosage meant for a full-size horse.

Back to the VMTH he went.

“What was done at the UW was perfection,” Colleen Mueller says. “That’s why we drove up to the VMTH. We’re a little gun-shy about going to anyone else.”

Luckily, the staff at the School of Veterinary Medicine’s Large Animal Hospital was able to diagnose what was wrong. After seven blood transfusions, Picasso finally recovered from the poisoning, as well as the salmonella infection that took hold. But because the bute had created chronic ulcers in Picasso’s colon, he needed a special diet.

That worked for a while, until Picasso started getting colicky. He’d alternately get constipated or develop diarrhea.

“A piece of the puzzle was missing,” Andy Mueller says. “He’d been doing well on the diet. Why was he not doing well now?”

Again, Picasso made the trip to the VMTH. A nutrient absorption test performed by Fernando Marqués, a large-animal veterinarian at the veterinary school, revealed that Picasso’s small intestine wasn’t functioning.

“We narrowed it down to an imbalance in the feed,” Marqués says. “He needs an exact dosage of nutrients because his intestines are damaged.”

Today, Picasso needs lots of special care, but is eating and walking normally, and has gained back all the weight he lost. Andy Mueller is thrilled.

“They really know their stuff,” he says. “We can’t thank them enough.”