HHO Vibes and advice please

Clannad48

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Famous HHO vibes needed please, and some advice.

Our lovely DWB has been diagnosed with possible acute laminitis in all four feet, most seriously in the near fore. She was a little stiff coming out of the stable yesterday morning but that in itself is not unusual. She was jumped on Wednesday on a very good surface and no issues at all. TBH I was shocked when yesterday afternoon it was if she was crippled, with pulses in all four feet, so we called the vet immediately, took out the hayledge and replaced with soaked hay, provided deeper bedding and waited for the vet to come. She is barefoot, a healthy weight and competes at Endurance, the last event being a fortnight ago. When the vet checked her feet and scraped away at the surface of her hoof on the near fore, there was a bloodline next to the laminae. The other hooves did not show this line. He has prescribed bute, well soaked hay, thick bedding and box rest, he will call us on Sunday afternoon to see what the progress is and if not sufficient will arrange for x-rays to take place on Monday.

So, it is a good 9-10 years since I have dealt with a laminitic pony, and know that treatment has moved on since then, so what should I expect, in the way of treatment and prognosis. I have searched the internet but have found many conflicting sites with different info.

Any information or advice, gratefully received
 

sarahandwilby

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It sounds like you're doing everything right with the bute, box rest etc. The only other thing you could do in the immediate short term would be icing or cold hosing her feet and legs (if icing try and get the ice right up to her knees and hocks), to try and help take down the inflammation.

What feed is she on - no chance she could have got anything extra? And did she do any work on thursday?

Hope she improves soon :)
 

Clannad48

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She was taken out for a long hack on Thursday morning and a short hack yesterday morning with no issues at all. The feed is Alfa-A Lite (which is Laminitis Trust approved), a little well watered Speedibeet, Tumeric and Gastric Aid supplement, twice a day. I will talk to the vet about icing and cold hosing, he has asked that she is not taken out of the stable for 48 hours.
 

Meowy Catkin

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I'd stop feeding the alfa a lite as it still has molasses on it. Having done quite a lot of searching for suitable feeds for my BF horses, I don't trust that laminitis trust logo one bit. If your horse is fine with alfalfa (one of mine isn't), then get the hi fi molasses free instead.

I wish your horse a speedy recovery. Laminitis is an awful, awful thing.

*vibes*
 

ILuvCowparsely

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Famous HHO vibes needed please, and some advice.

Our lovely DWB has been diagnosed with possible acute laminitis in all four feet, most seriously in the near fore. She was a little stiff coming out of the stable yesterday morning but that in itself is not unusual. She was jumped on Wednesday on a very good surface and no issues at all. TBH I was shocked when yesterday afternoon it was if she was crippled, with pulses in all four feet, so we called the vet immediately, took out the hayledge and replaced with soaked hay, provided deeper bedding and waited for the vet to come. She is barefoot, a healthy weight and competes at Endurance, the last event being a fortnight ago. When the vet checked her feet and scraped away at the surface of her hoof on the near fore, there was a bloodline next to the laminae. The other hooves did not show this line. He has prescribed bute, well soaked hay, thick bedding and box rest, he will call us on Sunday afternoon to see what the progress is and if not sufficient will arrange for x-rays to take place on Monday.

So, it is a good 9-10 years since I have dealt with a laminitic pony, and know that treatment has moved on since then, so what should I expect, in the way of treatment and prognosis. I have searched the internet but have found many conflicting sites with different info.

Any information or advice, gratefully received
Will pm you
 

Clannad48

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Thanks for the comments, I gave the wrong feed info though - she is not on Alfa-A Lite, just molasses free Alfa-A. As instructed by the vet got her out of the stable this morning beofre her breakfast bute to walk her a very short distance to see how lame she was - not as bad as we had thought she would be, a little tentative but nowhere near as bad as she was on Friday. So fingers. toes and everything else crossed for a positive recovery. Not out of the woods yet though. Any thoughts on what to put in the feed to make the bute more palatable - we have tried mint and cider vinegar but she turns her nose up at it and has to be really encouraged to eat it.
 

Scatterbrain

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Sending healing vibes for your mare. Such a horrible illness. Can you ask your vet for Danilon rather than bute as it's much more palatable.
 

Britestar

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Dont walk her at all, regardless of what the vet says. If the laminae have come apart at the coronary band you'll do loads of damage.

Ask about acp injections. My guy had this as its shown to improve long term recovery. Its only for 10 days or so to knock them off their feet, and get them to get the weight off the feet.

Also get her on aspirin (vet will give you dose). Mine stayed on aspirin for 6 months. He had toxic laminitis in all four feet, with sinking in both hinds, and rotation in both fores. After 10 months box rest - literally never left the stable for 8 months, he's now being turned out gradually.

Get xrays asap to judge the degree of rotation.

Yes, it costs alot, I darn't even think how much I spent in the last 10 months (xrays every 8 weeks), but I have a horse who is alive, and well on the way to recovery. He was within 20 mins of being pts at the begining.

He still get soaked hay (min 12 hrs), honeychop straw, a few high fibre cubes and a small amount of molasses free SB. He has feedmark slim-aid to ensure he gets his vits and mins, and magnesium. This is all he'll ever get from now on.

Also, get her insulin levels tested. If necessary you get metformin to help reduce that. My boy went from a insulin level over over 300, to most recently 4.2.
 
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Wagtail

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You are doing all the right things. ACP tablets or sedalin given at 1 ml 3x a day. This opens up the capillaries and therefore increases the blood supply to the feet. Has she been tested for cushings? YOu could get some syrofoam pads and duct tape them to her feet which will support her frogs (www.equinepodiatrysupplies.co.uk). Good luck. Laminitis is such a horrible and worrying condition.
 

ester

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Lots of good advice and I would def consider testing for metabolic issues. Am sure you know anyway but the blood line in that foot will be historic if it is now at sole level. Do you have boots? If not I would consider getting some that can take decent pads.
 

Clannad48

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Thanks again for the comments, which I will try to reply to as best I can:
Britestar - the walk requested by the vet was for less than a couple of yards, on Friday she could barely move, this morning although tentative she was loads better, (the heavy rain and wind this morning may not have helped). The vets I use are experts at dealing with lameness issues and involved in laminitis and lameness research.
Wagtail - the initial medication is Bute, the vet will be out to xray on Monday and will look into other possible issues. I doubt if Cushings is possible but will remain open minded and ask for a full workup.
Ester - we have considered using boots for Endurance, however she has such strong and dare I say big feet that I will have to order them to be made for her as the standard sizes do not fit. The farrier saw her last Friday for a checkup and said nothing about the bloodline (unfortunately it was the first time he had seen her as we were having trouble getting in touch with the previous farrier)

Since Friday the heat in the hooves has reduced a lot and the pulses are also nowhere near as bad. We are considering whether the stony ground at our most recent competition (41kms Endurance) a fortnight ago has had an impact on the issue. However the farrier at the competition commented on how good her feet were.

Luckily box rest is never an issue with her, in the last 9 years she has required a couple bouts of it, from initially suspected navicular syndrome to a multiple fractured splint bone.
 

doodle

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Mine also had acp, cant remember how much tho, and asprin, he had 10 tablets twice a day. Vet also gave me those long exam gloves that I filled with ice and wrapped round his feet.
 

mynutmeg

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cold hosing wise, obv not possible when you don't want her to leave the box or walk at all but when Roo was in Dick vets there was a mare with reatined placenta oppposite that they were concerned abotu laminitis and she had bags of ice cubes duct taped to her feet to act as cooling
 

Wagtail

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Whilst cold hosing can help with the pain in the short term, it has been shown that it can actually delay healing because it effectively closes the capillaries which is the opposite of what you need to do. The laminae need increased blood supply to heal, not reduced.
 

mynutmeg

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Whilst cold hosing can help with the pain in the short term, it has been shown that it can actually delay healing because it effectively closes the capillaries which is the opposite of what you need to do. The laminae need increased blood supply to heal, not reduced.

be similar t soft tissue injuries then - ice for the first 24 hours then you want good circulation so often use heat therapy instead
 

Clannad48

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So a quick update -after boxrest, investigations, medication and all the other recommendations from the vet, the barely unable to walk crippled dwb of six days ago is now apparently completely sound. Perhaps it was the fact that I cancelled the lorry hire and competition entry, or the fact that I had just enough in the bank to spoil myself over the Easter holidays that is now having to be used towards the vet bill, or the fact that my daughter worried herself silly thinking it was something she had done. But the horse is now sound - no apparent reason for it, nothing turned up in the investigations. To quote someone at the yard - it's just one of those random things that happens. OK fine but why does she do it to us :) :)
 
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