Calling Those who's horses have/had Hepatitis

Suec04

Suec04

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My new mare has mild-moderate Hepatitis. She is on a Liver supplement from the vet and her 'levels' have reduced since she has been on it and I am awaiting news on the second blood test to see how we are progressing. my question is about the on-going maintenance of her. obviously I will be taking advice from my vet but wanted other owners experiences too. I am aware she will have to be on a low protein diet, but what do you feed/do with your horses to avoid a relapse? I have checked her fields for toxic plants etc and there are none that I can see, however there is a lot of clover?

many thanks for your help. this is all new to me. I've only owned her for 3 months :/
 
My son's pony has recently suffered from acute hepatitis and spent two nights in horsespital. She was found in the morning all tucked up, been scouring, was dehyrated and her bloods were all over the place. We never got the bottom of the cause but it can be bacterial/viral. She also had a liver supplement once discharged along with the antibiotics. Again advised to feed a low protein diet but she only gets molasses free chaff anyway, I do now feed her milk thistle as this helps support the liver function. If she needs extra then I shall give her micronised linseed.

I hope that your mare makes a good recovery.
 
Thanks for your reply. my mare is recovering (fingers crossed ) from Vaginitis so the Hepatitis could stem from that bacterial infection then? I shall have a look at the milkthistle and linseed that you have mentioned. thank you. does your mare go out onto grass?
 
I have one who had it 2 years ago, in previous home, he tested clear twice last year before I bought him, I treat him as normal he goes out overnight during the summer, in during the day on haylage, is in full work, I am feeding him a token feed of grass nuts with a small amount of linseed, I avoid oils as they are not easy for the liver to break down, he is a good doer so hardly requires any feed. The vets said to treat him as normal but to watch out for weight loss, he could do with losing some, lack of energy but to otherwise just get on with using him, he seems absolutely fine.
 
April is out 24/7 and now doing well. She went to a small show with the boys a couple of weeks ago. At the time of her infection she had an ultrasound too which fortunately showed no liver damage. Glad your mare is getting better. I'd never heard of it before in horses so was a bit shocked. It's not very common and although it can re-occur careful management in terms of feeding should help prevent that so my vet said.
 
be positive said:
I have one who had it 2 years ago, in previous home, he tested clear twice last year before I bought him, I treat him as normal he goes out overnight during the summer, in during the day on haylage, is in full work, I am feeding him a token feed of grass nuts with a small amount of linseed, I avoid oils as they are not easy for the liver to break down, he is a good doer so hardly requires any feed. The vets said to treat him as normal but to watch out for weight loss, he could do with losing some, lack of energy but to otherwise just get on with using him, he seems absolutely fine.
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thank you. this is very positive :) I have been hearing horror stories of how I won't be able to ride her now and that she can't have a normal life! My mare is also a very good doer and will be on the same routine as yours hopefully. :)
 
Update: most recent blood tests show a reduction in certain enzymes but the Bile ones?! were the same - still too high, should be 10 but hers are 19, though have dropped from 29 originally. vet talking about biopsy and possible stay in horsepital :( I really don't want her to have this unless its absolutely necessary and vet thankfully wants to wait for a few more weeks to see if the supplement brings them down further. finger crossed :(
 
HI, My boy had to have a biopsy about 2 years ago due to liver dysfunction, he didn't have to stay in luckily though, it was not nice to watch but he was sedated and none the worse for it. Horse was very poor and we ended up having to treat with steroids :-( took about 6 months all in for bloods to come right ( can not remember which enzymes were off - sorry) but now you would never know there was anything wrong - he is a normal horse in work with no special diet. Of course we keep an eye on his weight and his coat, any signs of deterioration then this would be one of the first things that we would check.
Don't despair and try not to worry too much, people are generally always quick to give you the horror stories, but there are usually lots more happy endings out there !
Obviously you need to know worse case scenario but ensure it is balanced by the 'more than likely' scenario too ... good luck and hope she turns the corner soon !
 
Thanks Jojoeena :)

I'm glad your boy is better now and it gives me hope. it has been going on for 6 weeks now and I was beginning to think it was never going away but having heard how long it took your boys bloods to come back normal, I am feeling a bit better about it. that's why I put this post up, to hear other peoples stories, especially the good ones :D
 
You're welcome !
Forgot to say that it was a 'bacterial infection' that caused his, although what that was down to is unknown.
My vet did advise against the use of Milk Thistle during the treatment as although it is said to support the liver function (not sure if that is anecdotal (sp?) or scientifically proven) it still has to be processed initially, we took him off all hard feed with the exception of a small handful of Alfa A and lots of oil, think it was corn oil (controversial as oil is hard to process but it was to do with getting as much calories into him as possible with the least amount of processing - he was a complete hat rack) so maybe discuss the pro's and con's of using MT whilst your girl has an issue rather than as a support once she is back on track - I'm sure they all have different stances on this, what mine said made sense to me at the time.
From my experience anyway, 6 weeks is not long but once the bloods started in the right direction they were fairly quick to be back to normal :-)
 
I did only start April on the milk thistle once the liver tonic given to me by the vet had been finished. It actually contained milk thistle anyway.

If you think about yourself having an illness it will take time to recover. I am still monitoring April carefully.
 
Mine has liver issues currently. Been advised to try vitamin c as well as milk thistle and steriods. Hope your pony gets better soon.
Mine horses levels started in the thousands and was still very much alert and ok. So I think yours will be just fine :)
 
nuttychestnut said:
Mine has liver issues currently. Been advised to try vitamin c as well as milk thistle and steriods. Hope your pony gets better soon.
Mine horses levels started in the thousands and was still very much alert and ok. So I think yours will be just fine :)
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thank you :) hope so. she is such a sweetheart, despite 6 weeks of complete box rest! :) Hope your horse makes a complete recovery too x
 
Falconers said:
I did only start April on the milk thistle once the liver tonic given to me by the vet had been finished. It actually contained milk thistle anyway.

If you think about yourself having an illness it will take time to recover. I am still monitoring April carefully.
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yes, I checked the ingredients of our supplement and it has milk thistle in it too. thank you for your support :)
 
All three of mine have come down with this; definitely something they have ingested. They do not look as though they have liver problems (all as fat as pigs even the TB) but they tired very easily after 20 mins of work (walking - couldn't even get them to trot).

We had similar levels with out three; treated with antibiotics, Vit B supplement, milk thistle and liver support. Levels are slowly getting back to normal so we have been riding again for 3 weeks, but they are still being treated with all of the above (bar antibiotics). Next bloods due next Tuesday to see if there is any more improvement.

Mine weren't on box rest and because of their weights I couldn't use steroids. One of them had a biopsy but nothing conclusive from the results so I refused this for the other 2. If we cant get to the bottom of their treatment next week, then one of the others might have to go up for one though :(
 
CBAnglo said:
All three of mine have come down with this; definitely something they have ingested. They do not look as though they have liver problems (all as fat as pigs even the TB) but they tired very easily after 20 mins of work (walking - couldn't even get them to trot).

We had similar levels with out three; treated with antibiotics, Vit B supplement, milk thistle and liver support. Levels are slowly getting back to normal so we have been riding again for 3 weeks, but they are still being treated with all of the above (bar antibiotics). Next bloods due next Tuesday to see if there is any more improvement.

Mine weren't on box rest and because of their weights I couldn't use steroids. One of them had a biopsy but nothing conclusive from the results so I refused this for the other 2. If we cant get to the bottom of their treatment next week, then one of the others might have to go up for one though :(
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this is the thing with my mare - she needs to lose weight really. she doesn't look ill and I just put her tiredness down to being unfit. we had only been working up to walking for an hour for two weeks before she got Vaginitis, due to lameness issues. She has been on two sorts of antibiotics, no steroids due to her weight, Danilon twice a day and a liver supplement from the vet. I would just like her to go out, even if its just at night and in during the day. I feel so sorry for her, plus mucking out twice a day is not much fun for me either! :D . but now I worry that her eating the clover in the fields will not help. I'm sure its full of protein, which limits her grazing somewhat as the fields are full of it! :/

the vet has assured me that everything she has is reversible, its just gonna take time to put it right. very frustrating all the same :(
 
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