Gutted. The dreaded word!

benson21

benson21

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I have been so aware of laminitis, so have been careful with his weight, feeding etc, but guess what! Dopnovan has got laminitus!
He has been a little bit footy over the last couple of days, farrier was due today, so I thought I would have a chat. Donovan is trimmed every 6 weeks, so he still has 6 weeks before his next trim.
Farrier came round to his stable, I led him out and he said straight away, thats laminitus.
I feel so guilty.
So he is on box rest, danilon, 2 half haynets a day, got to change to a shavings bed. Anything else I should be doing?
I thought he was doing really well, he looks good, won at Heathfield show on saturday, looked happy.
But obviously I am doing something wrong.:(
 
Get your vet in straight away (if you have not already done so) as Laminitis is an emergency and your vet will be able to provide pain killing medication etc. as well as determine what has triggered off the Laminitis.
 
Ok, I must admit I know very little about laminitus. The farrier has said if you graded it 1 - 10, 10 being the worst ever, he would be a 1 and a half. So, still the vet?
 
benson21 said:
Ok, I must admit I know very little about laminitus. The farrier has said if you graded it 1 - 10, 10 being the worst ever, he would be a 1 and a half. So, still the vet?
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Yes definitely the vet, if only for analgesia and further advice and the ability to make a comparisin should he need to at a later date
 
If you know very little about laminitus (I admit I don't know nearly enough) then I would ring your vet for a chat about management. You will get some brilliant advice on here but ultimately your vet is the one who will advise you best. Fingers crossed it's just a mini attack and he'll be right as rain soon.
 
I'd guess its because of all the hot weather followed by rain then more nice sunny weather. Sugar levels in the grass will have shot up.

Fingers crossed he recovers quickly :)
 
Call a vet for some advice and if they can give you any painkillers. My pony had very mild laminitis, which luckily got caught very early and he was off box rest and in a bare paddock after 3 days. I still requested the vet to come see him, so she could use her hoof testers to see how sore he really was rather than me guessing that him trying to throw himself over the stable door was a sign he was getting better:rolleyes:.
 
There seems to be a lot of it about atm :(

Make sure you keep plenty of fibre going through him, two half haynets a day doens't sound much, can you weigh them? He needs around 2% of his body weigh, soaked if possible for 12 hours.

Best of luck, its horrible (((hugs to you and your pony )))
 
Benson21 has said pony is on Danilon, thats bute basically so it is on painkillers peeps :confused:
Sounds like you picked it up early and are doing everything right, fingers crossed for quick recovery for your little chap
 
So, I have phoned the vet, and I am going to call in the surgery on my way home for some advice as to what to do.
Thanks everyone!
 
I really feel for you as I was in a similar situation last year.

Have always been ultra careful, but our little retired pony, who was not overweight, came in from the field with laminitis in his hinds! Vet thought it was a combination of possible Cushings and concussion as he is not shod behind.
He had a month or more of box rest, and soaked hay, and coped really well considering he usually hates being in.

Sounds like you have caught yours really early and are doing all the right things.

Hope it all goes well. x
 
We went through a scare, and Shy was at that vet's the same day - honestly, you need to get it checked out, recorded, and then take the advice the vet gives you.

Go for a barefoot (low starch, no cereals,no sugar/molasses, very low calorie) diet, no grass, and soaked hay.

Hope you get it sorted :)
 
Don't feel too bad. I was speaking to the vet yesterday, and he said that every second call they are receiving at the moment is for laminitis. So I guess it is catching out a lot of people at the moment.
x
 
I'm sure your farrier is very experienced and may well be correct but he is not able to diagnose a medical condition. :(
Feed soaked hay please, there is no need to restrict if her weight is good, in fact restricting unsoaked hay can cause more problems (gut) which if it is laminitis may don't want to add stress to her system.There is an emergency diet link at the bottom of this page you might find helpful. Getting diet and hoof support (deep conforming footing) in place is urgent if you suspect laminitis.

Hope she picks up soon.

Here's the link sorry. http://www.ecirhorse.com/index.php/laminitis
 
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Don't feel too guilty because as people on here have said there is TONS of it about at the moment. My farrier said the same, every other client has got a bit of lami :( Just be pleased you caught it quick. My farrier diagnosed my horse with a very mild case like yours, caught just in time. My horse had 3 weeks box rest - deep bed, soaked hay. Don't restrict the amount of hay though. I also had to feed very sloppy Fast fibre as he wouldn't drink any water at all!!! Silly boy. They need to be able to flush out the toxins which cause the inflammation, so anything that will help that. Rosehips are meant to be good, and dried nettles.
After 3 weeks he was allowed out on restricted grazing and 3 weeks later is a lot better, my farrier is dealing with him and says not quite ready for shoes yet. We may or may not use imprint shoes. When my vet came out he did a condition score on my horse for me and gave me advice on what he should be eating. He also blood tested for cushings and EMS - these came back negative though the cushings reading was the high end of normal so he recommended an annual cushings test. The vet was very keen on the horse being turned out as quick as was possible and feet would allow, and he recommended a greenguard to be worn 24 hours a day.

Best wishes to you and your horse!
 
So so common this year and unfortunately it seems to be the 'well maintained' horses that are just as, if not more prone to it than the fatties - well it is on my yard anyway!

My advice would be:

In 24/7 on deep shavings bed.

Pain relief for as long as required.

Feed 1.5% of bodyweight in dry hay per 24hour period. Soaked for 12 hours then wrinsed and drained before hanging to feed in small holed nets.. (I put two up in different places in the stable for interest).

Cut all hard feed down to a handful of un-mollassed chaff with a broad spec vit and min supplementr and magnesium supplement and brewers yeast added. Pick hedgerow plants including cleavers, hawthorn and nettle for their healing and detox qualities - also add a bit of interest to diet.

use a snack ball filled with high fibre cubes to help break the boredom (don't over do it - half a scoop twice a day is sufficient)

Cut out all apples and carrots - they are full of sugar.

Do NOT turn out until all footiness has dissapeared after a few days without pain relief and only then into a bare paddock. You can then gauge how much grass is enough / too much.

Turnout overnight is generally better than during the day as grass sugars are lower, however this would need to be built up slowly.
 
So, now I really dont know what I am doing! Spoke to the vet on Wednesday, he said put him on a hi fibre diet, pain killers for a couple of days, and he should be back to normal by monday. farrier has said 10 days or so pain killeres, box rest for 3 weeks, absolutely no chance of going to Ardingly show a week today as he wont be out of his box.
HELP!!!
 
benson21 said:
I have been so aware of laminitis, so have been careful with his weight, feeding etc, but guess what! Dopnovan has got laminitus!
He has been a little bit footy over the last couple of days, farrier was due today, so I thought I would have a chat. Donovan is trimmed every 6 weeks, so he still has 6 weeks before his next trim.
Farrier came round to his stable, I led him out and he said straight away, thats laminitus.
I feel so guilty.
So he is on box rest, danilon, 2 half haynets a day, got to change to a shavings bed. Anything else I should be doing?
I thought he was doing really well, he looks good, won at Heathfield show on saturday, looked happy.
But obviously I am doing something wrong.:(
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Oh pooh! I posted only yesterday about one of the horses here that had a mystery illness and it turned out to be laminitis! It really didn't present in the typical way and so even though I initially suspected it, I discounted it. The vet told me he had never seen so many cases as he has this year and especially in horses that had never had it before.

You asked for advice. I would say that two half nets is not enough, I would be feeding double that. Too many laminitics are startved but it ends up creating more problems such as stomach ulcers and the stress of being hungry can even spark more laminitis! :( Unless he is overweight, feed him 1.75 - 2% of his weight measured in dry hay then soak for 12 hours and divide into as many feeds as possible for you to manage.
 
benson21 said:
So, now I really dont know what I am doing! Spoke to the vet on Wednesday, he said put him on a hi fibre diet, pain killers for a couple of days, and he should be back to normal by monday. farrier has said 10 days or so pain killeres, box rest for 3 weeks, absolutely no chance of going to Ardingly show a week today as he wont be out of his box.
HELP!!!
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My boy received this diagnosis earlier this week (Tuesday) for the first time in his life . . . so don't feel bad - the rain/sunshine we had earlier in the month caught alot of people out.

My vet told me the following:

1) Soak hay for 12-16 hours, rinse after soaking and then dry as much as possible (it's a faff but I'm getting used to it now - the key is lots and lots of haynets so you always have a couple soaking, a couple drying and a couple ready to hang up).

2) As little sugar as possible in the feed . . . and something to keep the gut moving . . . so Kal is getting a handful of sugar beet soaked until it literally forms a soup with a handful of his (unmolassed) chaff and chopped nettles, goose grass and hawthorn leaves twice a day . . . he's also getting high fibre treats in a snack ball just to give him an idea of foraging . . . but no carrots, apples or anything else sugary

3) I could keep him on his straw bed as long as it was kept clean and very deep (which it is anyway) and that I found a way to support his frogs (a clean stable bandage or piece of gamgee or something similar cut to size and folded up and secured around the hoof with duct tape will do the trick - just change often enough to keep it dry to limit the risk of thrush . . . he does eat a little of his straw bed but vet said as long as there's no risk of impaction colic (he's never had it before) that it would be fine . . . and he has a steady enough supply of haynets to keep him busy (and the sloppy speedibeet and wet hay helps keep his gut lubricated/moving)

4) Not out of his stable . . . not even to muck out for at least a week . . . vet coming back to x-ray him to rule lami in/out on Wednesday (it could also be navicular - can present in a similar way)

He gets a good groom once a day which relaxes him, and I dig out the poo and wet completely twice a day to minimize thrush and skip him out once. He's on one sachet of bute and two clicks of sedalin twice a day . . . obviously the bute is for pain relief and anti-inflammatory . . . the sedalin keeps him calm and also promotes blood flow to his feet (Kal has it in both front feet).

Best of luck with your lovely horse . . . now that we're on Day 3 of full box rest, we are finding a routine and settling into it (but it's hard bloomin' work).

P
 
No, the vet has not seen him. I have just told him what the farrier said. The vet really didnt seem that concerned, which has now worried me!
 
benson21 said:
So, now I really dont know what I am doing! Spoke to the vet on Wednesday, he said put him on a hi fibre diet, pain killers for a couple of days, and he should be back to normal by monday. farrier has said 10 days or so pain killeres, box rest for 3 weeks, absolutely no chance of going to Ardingly show a week today as he wont be out of his box.
HELP!!!
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We've been caught out as well so don't feel bad. Our old girl was diagnosed by the vet three weeks ago. Sounds very similar to yours with it being low grade. She wasn't particularly overweight but is 28yrs old and has Cushings so not unexpected. We penned her in to the field shelter with deep shavings bed for two weeks with soaked hay and a general balancer. One bute twice a day. The vet came out after two weeks and was pleased with progress. She is still on the same level of bute but as of today (three weeks) has a play pen area about 40x20 including her field shelter with very limited grass. We've taken a bit of a different approach because of her age, therefore whilst it's vital she is comfy and pain free we are not being aggressive with treatment.

I'd want to box rest for two weeks just to get on top of it and then have the vet re-assess before turning out.

Good luck and I hope the next few weeks fly past and he's back to his normal self quickly.
 
No advice but just wanted to say I am very sorry Benson, we all dread lami and you have clearly made every effort to avoid it, and caught it nice and quickly. I really hope you can keep it at this level with good management and I am sure your vet can help you with this. Really, really feel for you, don't be hard on yourself, sometimes you just cannot prevent these things. Good luck in managing it and hope Donovan is comfy again very very quickly x
 
PolarSkye said:
something to keep the gut moving . . . so Kal is getting a handful of sugar beet soaked until it literally forms a soup with a handful of his (unmolassed) chaff and chopped nettles, goose grass and hawthorn leaves twice a day
Click to expand...

Have to say that this is courtesy of Slinks and others on here, not my vet . . . credit where credit is due :).

P
 
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