Horse with Kidney Failure

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6103claire

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My horse who is out on loan has been diagnosed with kidney failure. He is 17 and has been having the odd colic attack and been a bit off colour occassionally for a while. He is a horse whos life revolved round food but in the last few weeks he has gone to hardly eating anything, doing about 2-3 poos a day and has lost loads of weight. The vets initially thought it was grass sickness but blood tests have revealed kidney failure. His loss of appetite is caused by the build up of urea in his blood. The lady who loans him has had to take a urine sample for analysis to determine how well the kidneys are functioning. If not too bad they can treat with steroids. Just waiting for results.

Has anyone known if any that have had this problem and if so what was the outcome?

Thanks
 
Obviously I am not saying that this is going to happen with your horse, but one of mine died of kidney failure a while back. The big difference is that in my case the vets thought it was colic and treated her accordingly (as it turned out the treatment they gave her was the worst thing they could have given her). By the time they realised it was too late. We never found out what caused it, but she had been on a load of medication for a completely different problem and the general view was that it became too much for her system. I do hope your horse makes a good recovery - fingers very much crossed for you!
 
Steroids are the best treatment in these cases. Ask your vet about diet - it can be helpful to restrict protein and certain minerals. In most of these cases the dramatic weight loss is often the limiting factor, and managing this is key to keeping these horses going.

Good luck with your boy.
 
Hiya

A friend of mines mare was thought to have kidney "problems" and she gave her fresh and dried cranberries and cranberry juice!!! Dont ask me how she found out to do that coz Ive no idea and she cant remember either but it worked and her mare is fine now.
 
My 19 year old mare succumbed to kidney failure last christmas. She had been suffering from Cushings disease for 4 years and had been in reasonably good health until then. It was the day after boxing day and we noticed she was a little offish when we fed her at tea time. By 8'o clock when we finished the horses off she was displaying many symptoms synonymous with GS (trembling, sweating, staggering etc etc) and had a ridiculously high temperature. We got our vet out who took some bloods and gave her some pain relief and told us to keep checking on her throughout the night.

We monitored her every 10 mins throughout the night and changed her rugs 10's of times, she seemed a little more comfortable by morning. Our usual vet came over the following morning and took her temperature and examined her and was fairly convinced that it was acute kidney failure as apposed to GS. He tested her gums and they had gone such a horrendous colour it was decided that it would be kinder to put her to sleep.

Im so sorry your boy has kidney failure and i hope the steroid treatment works for your boy. Unfortunately that would never have been an option for our little Misty as she had already suffered from Cushingoid laminitis. Either way it was extremely upsetting and distressing to see her like this. I hope this hasn't upset you Claire and as i said earlier, good luck wth your boy!!
 
thanks, i will suggest the cranberries - its worth a try if he'll eat them! The vet has been up today to give him a steoid injection to try and make him more comfy until the results of the urine test come back tomo. She said that if it was treatable it would involve regular steroid injections. She also said although nothing could be confirmed without the resuls she thought that it was a poor prognosis. Will just have to see tomorrow and decide what is the kindest thing to do.
Thanks!
 
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