Ball games and blood tests

[BBP]

A few shots of the bonkers black pony doing what he does best...being a dog!
Giving his football a hard time:

And his stick:

And proving he can behave:

The good news (for those who have taken an interest) is that I got his blood test results back today. 6 weeks after his last blood test and his liver GGT has gone down from 560 to 360 (ish) and his AST also reduced. Bile still normal. So although his enzyme levels are still high they are moving in the right direction. His spike came after I increased his ration of last years hay (cut when soil was still wet from the floods). After the last blood test when his levels had tripled in 6 weeks I stopped feeding last years hay and switched to this years. That's the only real change, feed has been the same otherwise and he has been in light work/games. It's nice to see that being in work isn't harming him as to rest him now is impossible, as you can see from the pics he is a bundle of energy! We are going to retest in another 6 weeks to see if the downward trend continues. If the trend keeps going down then it looks like he was effectively being poisoned by micotoxins in the hay after it was cut in poor weather. Just happy it looks promising so far.

 

[ridefast]

He looks fantastic! Have you been feeding milk thistle? I gave this to mine when she had a mild liver infection last year, levels were back to normal within 2 weeks.

 

[BBP]

Thanks. He has been milk thistle and global herbs restore for 12 weeks now. I guess if the hay was the problem it was never going to resolve until the assaulting matter was removed. I'm really hopeful he will keep improving now.

 

[FlaxenPony05]

Ahh he is so lovely and very cute. Glad he's improving, what's liver GGT/AST?

 

[BBP]

Ah sorry, they are very long named enzymes that indicate how the liver is functioning. We lost a little pony to sudden acute liver failure in may so got the other 4 tested and found high enzyme levels in all of them. Showed that their livers were fighting off some sort of assault, from toxins or an infection but we don't really know what. Lots of indicators that point to last years hay but we can't say for certain.

 

[mightymammoth]

what a lovely boy he is.

 

[BBP]

Thank you.

 

[FlaxenPony05]

Ah sorry, they are very long named enzymes that indicate how the liver is functioning. We lost a little pony to sudden acute liver failure in may so got the other 4 tested and found high enzyme levels in all of them. Showed that their livers were fighting off some sort of assault, from toxins or an infection but we don't really know what. Lots of indicators that point to last years hay but we can't say for certain.

Sorry about the little pony but what good thinking to get the others tested, and how interesting that they all had high enzyme levels.
He's such a lovely boy!

 

[ester]

Good news on the tests at last

 

[OldNag]

Good news! At he is improving. He is just gorgeous!
I am now wondering where my kids' space hopper is and if they would notice if I "borrowed" it for hoss to play with?!

 

[Beatrice5]

Can I ask what the symptoms were that the others were presenting if any ? What would indicate liver damage / problems ?

 

[BBP]

They say that lethargy, loss of condition and photosensitivity can all be indicators of liver problems. However I can honestly say none of ours have shown any symptoms, mine in particular is shiny, full of energy and if anything has looked a little too well all year. If littleun hadn't died suddenly I wouldn't to this day have known there was an issue. Looking back, little pony had never carried her weight well in all the time I knew her, and had become mega itchy in the few weeks prior to her death. In hindsight this may have been that her skin was photosensitive, but at the time even the vets didn't think of that. I do wonder if she had ragwort damage from before we got her and if whatever it is that affected the others just pushed her over the edge.