azoturia

[loz9]

hoping someone may have an answer to this quick question:

can azoturia develop slowly over a couple of days, or is it always a rapid onset?

Thanks in advance!

 

[royal]

always rapid onset I believe.

Even in a horse that has only tied up mildly and owner doesn't realise, if kept out and/or working ie: in same routine, the horse would become much worse very quickly....

 

[lhotse]

Azotoria, as has been stated usually starts suddenly. In my experience, the horse will seem to be reluctant to move forward one minute, and unable to move the next.

However, it is one of those conditions that doesn't always follow the text book. My mare had one classic episode, after an enforced spell in the stable due to ice. She had the typical symptoms of muscle spasms over the hindquarters, sweating and elevated heart rate, and responded well to treatment from the vet and was back in work a week later.

Several years later, fit, turned out everyday and fed carefully, she developed shoulder lameness out on a hack. She had been acting a bit silly, so took her back to the yard, and gave her some bute and kept her in. Next day, she was nearly sound but had the vet out the following day as a precaution. She was now almost completely sound, and was given a full work up by the vet, who could not put her finger on the problem, which now appeared to be coming from the fetlock. A bloodtest was taken, more to see if she was having some kind of calcium uptake problem.

My vet rang me later that day to say that her muscle enzymes were through the roof, and she has to have twice daily bloodtests until her enzymes returned to normal, with work increasing after the second week.

So, not every case of azoturia is the same, and I would say that some go unnoticed, especially as some horses can tie up relatively mildly as a result of being tired and through lack of salts, so may get turned out at the end of a ride, then ridden next day, thus compounding the damage being done to the muscles. The damage then becomes acumalative until the problem becomes evident.