Blood test results - help!

[emfen1305]

I've had Toby's blood results back and the only two things that were abnormal was a low iron level and then he said about the inflammation level being high meaning there is a pain somewhere but it was only the short one meaning that something happened which meant he was in pain shortly before the test (up to a couple of days). Has anybody else had this and what did you do? (sorry I am trying to relay from memory what he said, I am waiting for them to email me the test) Bit of a pointless post really but the vet said the best thing to do is come and retest in 2 weeks to see if it was a one off or if it is high again then clearly he has some pain somewhere! Has anybody else had this?

Bit of history - he is a 10 yr old cob x diagnosed with grade 4 ulcers last October, scoped clear after 2 months of treatment but still not right so went in for a bone scan and identified hot spots in his hocks, xrays done and showed mild arthrtic changes so was injected and brought back into work. Was fine for a few months but for the last 2 months he's gone very lazy and dead to the leg under saddle especially in the school, hacking is better though can still be a bit lazy but fine on the lunge. Had saddle and back checked due to this and both fine, had saddle checked again and it still fits so I am at a bit of a loss. He's definitely worse when ridden, not lame just reluctant to move forward but will happily pop round a course of jumps with no hesitations (he started refusing before we had is hocks diagnosed).

If the retest does come back and the inflammation is still high, i would just have no idea where to start! As soon as i get the full results, I'll post to see if anyone can help decipher!

 

[Birker2020]

Might be that the hock joints need medicating again as he is feeling pain in them. The injections can be variable with some horses going for a long period between injections and some horse show only a limited time span of pain relief if that makes sense.Maybe a lameness workup will sort it out for you and if it is the hocks you might want to consider something longer term.

 

[emfen1305]

Might be that the hock joints need medicating again as he is feeling pain in them. The injections can be variable with some horses going for a long period between injections and some horse show only a limited time span of pain relief if that makes sense.Maybe a lameness workup will sort it out for you and if it is the hocks you might want to consider something longer term.

It was something I considered but they were only medicated in January and the vets did stress that they were only mild changes.. he had a full lameness work up whilst there and never presented lame at all which is why we went to the bone scan, even when they nerve blocked it made no difference! I am wondering whether to just go for the longer term options while i still have the insurance money!

 

[BBP]

AST can react to pain, it can also be a marker for liver or uncle issues when looked at in conjunction with other blood marker anomalies. If high on its own it can be caused by something as simple as a bang or knock that causes the horse temporary pain. That's my understanding from a long history of blood tests anyway! I would retest and see.
Thinking about the laziness, how are his feet? Mine has gone a bit slow but it's because he is shortening his stride due to some heel pain. I thought his feet looked fine but the more research I've done the more I'm learning.

 

[emfen1305]

AST can react to pain, it can also be a marker for liver or uncle issues when looked at in conjunction with other blood marker anomalies. If high on its own it can be caused by something as simple as a bang or knock that causes the horse temporary pain. That's my understanding from a long history of blood tests anyway! I would retest and see.
Thinking about the laziness, how are his feet? Mine has gone a bit slow but it's because he is shortening his stride due to some heel pain. I thought his feet looked fine but the more research I've done the more I'm learning.

I posted the full results on a thread in the Tack Room - "Anaemic" horse - what to do next in case you are interested i had a great explanation from one of the members about what they mean. The vet is coming to retest for the high SAA and high globulins to see if it was a one off and if not then *shrugs* no idea!

His feet are due in a couple of weeks so I will ask the farrier, I did notice what looked like some bruising on his left fore, at the bottom and side but no heat and not lame so maybe he's just knocked it. His hind toes are naturally long and they are a bit too long for my liking but he's been like this for a few months now and had a couple of reshoes and trims since then so would have hoped if it was feet he may have picked up a bit after a trim or gone worse!