Decisions.. opinions? Ideas for a lame shetland.

Lintel

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I realise that no one can tell me what to do but I would just like to be able to write this all down and perhaps get opinions, stories or options from others as it has helped before!

I have a little WHW rescue shetland who is awfully lame again.
He has Cushings, is ridiculously sensitive to grass, arthritis through his back end and a real aversion to the vet/needles/other people etc.
Keeping him in, he is stiff, sweats up is unhappy.
In the hard standing(soft rubber!) he looks over the fence desperate to get out on the grass.
Out in the (poor and fairly non existent) grass his is a happy wee man but is then the totally lame from laminitis beginning to flare.
He is a rascal with his painkillers and his prascend but I manage to get them into him through various and different means each day! He is estimated at 20, not exactly ancient but we don’t know his last history other than the 7 year between WHW/myself.
Am I missing a trick somewhere here?
I don’t want him having a miserable life I would rather PTS but equally I don’t want him missing out on the rest of his life due to my mis-management possibly?
At the moment he is in a deep bed at nighttime with soaked hay and has a couple of hours daytime on the little grass we have and the rest of the time in the rubber area with his soaked hay, he always has his buddy Hipo with him. He also wears hoof boots on the front as someone had suggested here before for him(thank you!)
Recent bloods showed his levels were perfect and no other abnormalities, teeth and jags were done but he requires IM sedation even to get near him to properly sedate then jag.. he is some chap!!
 

SEL

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WHW got their vet involved when my friend's loan pony had some lameness issues - & resolved it too. Lameness definitely laminitis related? Is there quite a significant amount of rotation?
 

Lintel

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WHW got their vet involved when my friend's loan pony had some lameness issues - & resolved it too. Lameness definitely laminitis related? Is there quite a significant amount of rotation?
Interesting, I didn’t realise they would do that! They are aware of the issues but hadn’t come forth with that suggestion- I believe there has been previous significant rotation previously however X-rays would be near impossible due to his temperament and not something I would want to put him through to confirm what is likely already known.
 

Getbackboys

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so sorry to hear this shetlands are the sweetest things and can be quite difficult for their size if they have suffered in the past, bless him/her. First question is do you have padding in the hoof boots or is it just straight hoof sole to sole of hoof boot, get some gel pads that go inside them, you cut them to size that will definitely help, yes do contact WHW and tell them the problem and ask for their help at the end of the day the pony ultimately belongs to them and his welfare is their concern, i hope you get it sorted, mine is 36 this year bless him
 

Lintel

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Thank you! Gel pads sounds a great idea! Will look into this just now!
A grazing muzzle something I hadn’t considered but definitely worth a try!
Thank you both Amazon here I come!!
 

Laurac13

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My rescue mini Shetland is late 20’s was diagnosed with Cushings years ago and prascend did the trick till it didn’t he then tested positive for EMS and had a treatment of meds - can’t remember the name but it sorted him ? he has Very minimal grass unsoaked hay and a balancer in chaff and hasn’t had a lami incident since, maybe worth speaking to your vet about a EMS test it does involve a blood test , good luck xx
 

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Vets do sometimes do prascend trials without a blood test. Might be worth asking if they'd let you do the same for metformin (EMS medication).
 

meleeka

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Hoof boots will help with comfort. A mouse mat cut up is just as good as gel pads and softer than some.

I’d wonder if his ACTH levels are low enough if he’s got cushings. He shouldn’t be that sensitive to grass, especially if poor. Has he had a blood test recently?

Agree a muzzle will help.
 

Bonnie Allie

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We have one similar and for ours it’s all about metabolic rate. As long as she is exercised, hand walked only as she is 30, the laminitis and arthritis are under control.

If she has to be boxed, we have rubber mats under very fine shavings in a deep bed. This helps with the arthritis as well.

Should she have a stiff day, which interestingly is when there is a weather change coming through, we give her a bit of bute so that she can have her daily walk. Next day she is fine again.

Provided she gets exercise, her metabolic rate can manage the grass and her is mobility is great.

Im a woman of a certain age with the beginnings of arthritis post the big M and I have to exercise every day to manage my weight, arthritis and mobility. So I do the same for the horse.
 

Tiddlypom

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Do contact WHW and see what they come up with. Maybe they have a little herd of equines who are turned out together on zero grass, and he could go back there?

Otherwise, if he's miserable and lame despite your best efforts, then there is no shame in calling time on him (with WHW permission). In fact, that would be the humane thing to do.
 

Lintel

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Thank you all, negative results for EMS in February/March when his levels were checked for cushings, have bought a muzzle and will see how that fairs as a long term option once we have this flair back under some control again. Mouse mats sound an excellent idea, I’m all about a bit of money saving will pop out for one today!
That’s interesting to know about the exercise, if he manages to get comfortable again I’ll try that and see how it goes! Going to give it to the end of the week to regain some sort of control of his situation hopefully and if we are still at the same stage I’ll give WHW a call and see if they have any options.
 

Getbackboys

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do remember muzzles do rub down the teeth and at an older age they wont have long left also how long are his teeth is he able to still nip at grass, i ask this because my 36 year olds front teeth are so small in front he is really living on mash to keep him in tip top condition and the grass is just there because it is grass and tastes nice but he cannot get enough of it to sustain life. also i found when trying muzzles what made the horses hate them so much was the claustrophobia they felt because the nostril parts were covered with webbing so i cut the webbing off around the nostrils so they could breath better. whilst saving money and using the mouse pads they work for one day then they get too thin and defeat the object whilst the proper gel pads designed to carry the weight of a pony/horse do last longer and do not lose their spongeyness, so no false economy there. not sure how long you are leaving the hoof boots on for but try not to leave them on 24 hrs and remember because of the lack of air to the hoof the pony will get thrush and hooves will become soft so spray foot with purple spray and try to have at least 12 hrs with no hoof boots on, mini horze crocs work well and allow the foot to breathe and you can still put some gel pad in those,
 
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