at a loss what to do with this young horse 2 steps forward 10 back

[tikino]

my 3 yr old got a abscess in august and will on box rest stopped eating lost a load of weight and interest in life. vet came out and took bloods and her her liver bloods where all of with Gamma GT highly elevated, also Alk Phosphate, AST, CK. vet at that time queried grass sickness because she was so anorexic and was also producing excess saliva etc. we bought alsorts of feeding etc and then got equine dentist in again (he had saw her about months previous) he notice she had a few diastemas as her teeth were changing so he washed her mouth out etc and treated this.

eventually she would pick at grass and we decided she would be better out if she would graze slowly she started picking at bucket feeds etc. we continued to take her bloods at regular intervals and the above bloods where still elevated but improving slightly each month. then she stoped eating again.

she went to the vet school at this stage and they repeated the bloods and still elevated and they performed a liver ultrasound but liver looked normal which they found strange. they spoke about doing a biopsy but decided to leave it at this stage they also notice when checking her mouth that she had a few loose caps and ulceration which they treated but said she was to young to treat the diastemas as her adult teeth need to be in before they can treat it properly.

so she came home and went back on to hunger strike and after a few days eventually started eating with the help of antibiotics that my own vet prescribed. bloods still not great but better.

last lot of bloods took on thursday and all still elevated but report says further improvement in liver parameters so wee are all really pleased. vet says why don't you start lightley backing her.

then disaster strikes, on Saturday i felt sorry with her because she was in due to her having rubbish feet and she keeps pulling her shoes of on the fence. i decided to take her for a wee walk so i got on my other mare (her mother) and took her out for a wee walk ride and lead wee quietly walked round the fields and it was just lovely mother and daughter both my pride and joys out a lovely walk then it all went bank as she came to a halt and refused to walk forward first i was like come on Ellie don't be lazy then i realize all was not well. so promptly got of my other horse Skye and by this point Ellie was sweating like made and her back end had seized she has mega tied up. so nephew came to the rescue with my horsebox and vet was called to the field.

vet has been out every day since Saturday bloods have been re taken and we are awaiting the result i am at a total loss as to what is going on with my youngster and what they way forward is. any advice will be taken on board as i am stumped what to do for my baby

 

[flintfootfilly]

Sorry to hear about your youngster.

I'm interested, not least because my gang have had raised muscle enzymes (especially CK), and more recently raised liver enzymes (which happened 4-8 weeks after a diet change to include substantially more copper, zinc and selenium).

My gang have never looked unwell, but their regular bloods have told a rather different story.

Do you have any idea what has caused the elevated liver enzymes? If you can get rid of that as a factor, then that's got to be good. If it tied in with box rest, was there a change in diet that may have caused it? What quantities of any feeds were you giving?

How high did the GGT get, and how quickly has it reduced? Only curious, because my gang's GGT is staying persistently around the 3-400 mark on a couple of ponies 3 months after the elevation was first seen.

Interesting that the CK was raised when the first blood was drawn. You know that CK is generally considered to be purely a muscle enzyme, and not liver, so the fact it was raised then may suggest some muscle problem happening at that time (or could be stress or prior work etc)?

What level did CK reach when she tied up? Have you followed it up with any more bloods to see how quickly the CK is dropping (in a normal horse, it should return to normal within a few days)?

There are all sorts of things that can cause tying up, one being EPSM (aka PSSM) - University of Minnesota, and Beth Valentine both have interesting sites on it. But also too starchy a diet can cause tying up problems in otherwise normal horses. Another possibility is a selenium deficiency (which is what I'm pursuing with my gang, but still not sure about it), but you have to be really careful not to feed too much selenium as it can soon become toxic.

If you are feeding a full ration of a good balancer (like Top Spec), then you should have the selenium covered, but if you're not feeding full rations of a balancer, it may be something to consider, and to speak to a nutritionist about.

Has the filly ever had any bloods done previously? Would be interesting to check whether her CK levels were elevated on those (I discovered with my gang that any blood they'd ever had done had slightly elevated CK levels).

Only other thought on the liver stuff is has your vet discussed it with Andy Durham at Liphook, who is very good on equine liver stuff and might give more ideas on how to approach it?

Good luck.

Sarah