Arthritis, opinions?

[sarelis]

A friend of mine has a 17.2 IDXTB, 18 years old this year. He has been intermittently lame for the last few months, firstly behind, now in front as well. My friend has been using a chiropractor & has had some sort of spiritual healer to see him, but this poor boy was not improving so I finally told her to stop fannying around & get the vet. He has been to the lameness clinic today & has been found to be riddled with arthritis in every joint of his forelegs. They have not investigated his hinds as of yet as he has been through enough for one day, they want him to come back next week for further tests. She has been advised that he needs box rest for the next few days, then he can be turned out on dry, level turnout without other horses only, and has to be stabled at night. She is obviously very upset, and is busy making arrangements for him to be kept as advised. I feel terrible for her, but at the back of my mind I am wondering if it is really in the horse's best interests to keep him going? Has anyone here got any experiences that they could share? My feeling is that as a large, heavy horse, who let's face it is not getting any younger, who turns himself inside out when turned out alone & whose condition will probably worsen, it is actually fair on him to keep him alive? I have no experience of horses with chronic arthritis, an anyone tell me how effective the treatments are at halting the progression of the disease & keeping the horse comfortable? Also she still doesn't really have the full picture as his hind end has not been looked at, the vets have also said that he could have a bone disease or problems with his tendons too. My friend is perhaps not the most objective person, I am concerned that she might keep him going out of sentimentality even if this horse is not going to have a decent quality of life

 

[spottyUnicorn]

Seems a little odd to me that vets have suggested horse is out on its own and stabled at night ... if the arthritis is really bad being stuck in a stable wouldn't help. Perhaps this is a short term recommendation while the situation is being assessed, or your post isn't reflecting the full picture of all his issues. As you said vets are still doing tests, and sounds like they don't yet know the extent of the problem or what other issues are involved, so probably premature to be thinking the worst. Personally I think if the horse needs to be pts the vets would say so.

Arthritis isn't that black and white. Treatments/prognosis is dependent on what joints are involved and to what degree. There are several different drugs that can be injected into joints, a courses of tildren given, they can operate and screw some bones together ... there are many things they can do some more successful than others, a lot of it depends on the extent of arthritis in the first place, and of course you have to take into consideration any other issues the horse has.

This is my experience with a big IDxTB and arthritis: I had my boy x rayed about 4-5 years ago now as we were considering medicating his joints as he was starting to become occasionally lame/gait change and there was obviously outward signs of something going on just above his cornet band on one leg, looking outwardly like ringbone. X rays showed up that his lower fore limbs had a lot of boney changes throughout - more so than you would think with his way of going, and considering he hadn't had long periods of unsoundness. My vets view was it would be pretty hard to get a needle in to medicate his joints due to there being so much boney growth, he was also a bit sceptical about how long it would work for before it would need re-doing. Instead my boy was put on Danilon which has been pretty good at managing the situation. I had been continuing to ride him until last early autumn, taking into account any off days he might had and over the years easing up and adapting what I asked of him of course.

In the autumn he was noticeably different, and over the winter months more so, and then again in the last month. His freedom of movement in his lower joints on one leg has actually declined rapidly in a very short space of time, after being relatively consistently odd/short striding for a number of years. He will have a last couple of months now with some sun (hopefully if it ever stops raining) on his back some tasty grass and cow parsley, a lot of fuss and will then be pts. He's happy in himself, but his front legs are letting him down, he won't cope with another cold wet winter. I had him in a couple of nights due to this horrid weather and he's come out really stiff in that leg both mornings. He still bosses his companions round and can still do handstands! He is enjoying being a horse, he is healthy in every other way and looks fab, but I know his time is up, and pts is now the right thing to do, I'm sure your friend will know it too when she gets there. You know your own animal best, and your friends horse could still have many happy days ahead of him yet. Good luck.

 

[smellsofhorse]

It would depend how happy the horse is in day to day life.
I would not keep a horse going for sentimental reasons.
I have this issue at the back if my mind.
My 20 year old warmblood had ostioarthritis and ring bone in.his front legs.
Recently we discovered he has cataracts.
As soon as I know he isn't happy and I can't help him, I will send him to the paddock in the sky, :-(

 

[Birker2020]

I agree with blucannoo1990. Once you get to the stage where you have to high dose bute every day in order to keep a horse paddock sound and quality of life is diminished through other problems such as continuous box rest and boredom you have to think if you are keeping it going for you or for the sake of the animal.

We can't afford to be selfish as far as our horses are concerned although this is easier said than done.