Bowel Disease - Any Experiences?

[smirnoff_ice]

Re: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/sh...rue#Post2711198

then...

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/sh...rue#Post2720507

Well he was out to sleep today.

He had the surgery and they found nothing, but took biopsies of everything. Results came back today and confirmed bowel disease, so owners requested he was put to sleep.

Just wondering if anyone has any experiences of this in horses? If it's treatable and if so, how?

Many thanks.

Lou. x

 

[Llwyncwn]

So sorry to hear this Lou

Is this the same pony who has been struggling for a while? What did the clinitians say about bowel desease - that conjours up many possibilities, what is this desease, how is it caused, what does it do, is there treatment if caught in time etc.

RIP little ponio

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Oh Lou! So so sorry. Which ponio was this? My heart goes out to you and ponio. I don't know much about bowel disease. Could have been a thousand things I guess. The only experience I've ever had was a friend's beautiful Hanoverian gelding that developed colic. He had surgery, never really recovered, went downhill over a couple of weeks, had second surgery and they found huge holes in the bowel because sections had died from the previous colic. He was pts and all I can say is it was the totally right thing to do coz he was in a wretched state before the 2nd surgery and he had gone through enough. Ponio galloping round heaven now, churning up the fields probably xxx

 

[smirnoff_ice]

Thank you you two! Dont worry Barb - he wasn't one of mine. He was a livery at our yard though and i'd become quite involved with him.

Yeah Hel - he's the one who's been ill for a couple of months.
I didnt quiz the owner too much on the phone - she was a bit upset, but i got the IMPRESSION that it was HER choice to have him pts, not the vets. Although i may be wrong. Just wondered if it IS treatable or if euthanasia is the only option. The vets said something about steroid treatment, but Harry already had laminitis, so this wouldn't have been fair.
At least he's out of pain now though.

 

[catembi]

My horse had protein losing enteropathy, which is a bowel disease similar to crohn's disease in humans. I don't know if this is what your friend's horse had? Symptoms - zero appetite & dreadful diarrhoea.

Catembi was treated for it v intensively with steroids, repeated scans, biopsies etc backed up with 'natural' remedies like probiotic yoghurt, milk thistle etc. He kept getting better, then worse, & it was so hard to decide what to do with him cos he'd be fine & really perk up for a few days, then suddenly go downhill again. At one point, he had lost 200kg.

We did finally 'cure' him, he was eating, lively, putting on weight & was discharged as completely better by Newmarket... & back in light work (on vet advice), then he had another relapse worse than ever before & was pts less than 2 weeks after being discharged.

If your friend's horse had this, I'm afraid that 95% of horses who come down with this, according to my & the vet's research, are pts. In my v extensive digging for info, I found one pony who pulled through, and one more who survived but is still on steroids & has ups & downs.

At the time, we kept going with Cat because he kept having 3 days at a time when he really seemed to be improving. If I could go back in time, but with the knowledge of how it panned out, I would have pts at the beginning because I can't describe how awful it was watching Cat die in front of me an inch at a time when I just couldn't help him.

So if it was this, or something similar, I'd say that your friend did the right thing to spare her horse six months of ups & downs, & to spare herself six months of agonising. The emotional rollercoaster was awful & I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Hope this helps. It has made me cry just thinking about it.

 

[GreedyGuts]

Sounds like protein losing enteropathy. The walls of the intestine become thickened by an infiltration of immune cells which affects normal digestion and absorption of nutrients. Sometimes it is a result of lymphoma, and abnormal/cancerous immune cells thicken the gut.

Steroids can help get it under control, by subduing the abnormal immune response, but often this doesn't work for long.

Sounds likethis pony had a lot going on, and that the owner took the kindest option.