Jaundiced, Exhausted, Poisoning? Liver? Biopsy? Cost? Everything else…

Albus15

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Hello,

I love reading posts from this forum, so while I’m going through this situation, I thought I would join to just get my thoughts out in writing. I am in consultation with my vet, however waiting for blood results until the morning seems a bit daunting.

My 9yo Warmblood was put onto a scarce paddock with a few other horses to keep his weight in control. This was roughly 1 month ago. During examination, the vet didn’t comment on the length of grass and said his weight is currently just right. He is out 24/7 so doesn’t eat any hay.
He was then put out onto a larger paddock with his usual herd (Which he was with previously for 7 months on good grass) and in the morning, came in slightly sweaty, acting as if he had been sedated. My usually playful (not hot or sharp), excited about life boy now looked exhausted, couldn’t hold his head up. He was slightly dehydrated. He was monitored throughout the day, but stayed the same. Had a wee and some poos but wasn’t too interested in any hay when usually he would be.
He was then turned out, lied down flat out like a pancake, but then stumbled his way up. I panicked about colic, brought him in to find him very dehydrated and rang my vet. In the meantime, we started syringing water into him. He was monitored for a further 7 hours, however didn’t display any other behaviours that would indicate colic.
He ate a bit of hay, was pooing okay, nothing to indicate any stomach area problems, however still looked like he only had enough energy to stay stood up. He spent the majority of the time in the corner, staring at the wall. Overnight he had a few poos and wees, and a lie down as his back and tail were caked in straw.
He had slightly perked up by the morning, but was still no where near his usual self.

Then, In the afternoon, the vet came out for examination. His examination said that his heart rate, breathing and temperature were all fine, and it wasn’t colic, however the horse looked jaundiced. His eyes were slightly yellow toned and his gums pale, as well as being incredibly dull and out of character. He took a full blood profile. Hopefully results will come tomorrow morning, and we will go from there.

In the meantime, I’ve read almost every article anout jaundiced horses, liver failures, biopsies etc.

Has anyone experienced anything similar with their horses?
What were the causes, symptoms and outcomes?
Or based on the above, what would be your thought process?

Am I potentially looking at poisoning or liver problems, or is there anything else that could cause him to be jaundiced?
Does anyone know any of the costs associated with treatments, liver biopsies, anything else I haven’t considered?

Also, does anyone have any ideas in terms of recovery?

I appreciate that without the blood test results all anyone can do is speculate, and of course it goes without saying that the horse will get any care that it needs as per the vets recommendations.
 

TPO

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Could there be anything poisonous that he could have eaten?

I just read something about a horse with acorn poisoning that sounds similar.

Was he out onto long grass? Ergot is a hot topic right now
 

Albus15

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Could there be anything poisonous that he could have eaten?

I just read something about a horse with acorn poisoning that sounds similar.

Was he out onto long grass? Ergot is a hot topic right now

Nothing poisonous in either fields that could be found. what do you mean in terms of ergot?
 

nutjob

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My horse's liver issues came on much more slowly. He deteriorated over a few months. He was lethargic and losing weight, just seemed old and tired really, not jaundiced or dehydrated. He was already retired due to arthritis but did make a full recovery and lived to late 20's. No cause was ever identified. Blood tests were back to normal within a few weeks despite his enzymes being shocking initially. It took a while to get the weight back but his appetite was never that good. Yours seems much more acute and I would be very wary about turning him out in the same field in case it is something he has eaten there.
 

Albus15

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I'd actually be quite concerned given the severity of symptoms and probably testing the rest of the field occupants. Has the field been walked?

Yes, field has been walked and no signs of anything that could cause upset or poison.
All other horses in either of the fields are not showing any of the above mentioned symptoms in any way, shape or form at the moment.
This began on Sunday, so by tomorrow morning we will have some idea and can go from there in regards to the other horses.
 

Albus15

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My horse's liver issues came on much more slowly. He deteriorated over a few months. He was lethargic and losing weight, just seemed old and tired really, not jaundiced or dehydrated. He was already retired due to arthritis but did make a full recovery and lived to late 20's. No cause was ever identified. Blood tests were back to normal within a few weeks despite his enzymes being shocking initially. It took a while to get the weight back but his appetite was never that good. Yours seems much more acute and I would be very wary about turning him out in the same field in case it is something he has eaten there.

Ive read that most of these issues happen over time, rather than overnight. I’m glad yours made a full recovery.
 

meleeka

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i think it sounds more acute too, so he’s eaten something he shouldn’t have. I an older horse with liver issues and that was diagnosed after colic issues. I certainly wouldn’t put yours out again until you have a reasonable explanation. There’s a thread on here about Ergot which could be easily missed. Mycotoxins are something to google as they can cause issues in some horses but not others and be very serious very quickly.
 

Albus15

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Hello everyone,

Said horse slightly perked up on Tuesday morning, to about 50% of usual self. Blood results came in the afternoon - elevated liver enzymes and a high white blood cell count. The verdict from the vet was that he was fighting an infection that was affecting his liver.
The vet gave me three options - wait it out as he will most probably improve by himself. Put on a liver supplement. Do a 10 day course of antibiotics and put on a liver supplement. He said if he were to pick one of the options, it would be antibiotics, which is what we have gone for, alongside a liver supplement.
Said horse is now looking much better, and is at about 70-80% of his usual self.

We are on the mend, and hopefully it won’t be much longer before we can resume our adventures. Thank you all for your replies!
 

windand rain

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Hope you have got it in time my youngster ate conifers, Went very sick recovered for a couple of months then went rapidly downhill and was pts
 

PurBee

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Glad to hear your horse is improving, such a relief when they turn the corner!

The lush paddock was walked and nothing found, but just have an inspection of the other paddock he was in too, and the horses grazing there, as poisoning can sometimes take 2-3 days to really get into the body and show symptoms.

Aside from the usual toxic stuff…this time of year there could be acorns, bracken/ferns, and mushrooms growing in deep grass…especially around trees. My horses ignore the flushes of mushrooms now, but when young my gelding was curious and would ‘mouthe’ and play with/ investigate the ground mushrooms around the trees - mainly the amanita family of mushrooms are poisonous and would cause acute liver issues - now is the time for these to be popping up from the ground, in long grass near/beneath trees. Any mushrooms with white spots on the cap are amanita family. Remove them Is best policy especially if young horses graze there.

My gelding had some unthrifty episodes when young - he’d eat anything, so curious about everything. So his younger years taught me alot about common paddock/field poisons.
Once he found a bunch of fly agaric poisonous mushrooms beneath silver birch - they had all been broken up by him. No idea if he ate any He had me field walking almost every day during mushroom season!

Mushrooms could be in a paddock with long grass and wont be easily seen. Their life span are but a few days too, so a paddock walk 3 days after could yield no sighting.

A paddock with trees at the edges/ borders could have mushrooms sprouting near the borders into the paddock, as many mushrooms grow from the zone of tree roots that stretch out into a paddock.

Destroying Angel, Death Cap and the amanita family are the ones that are poisonous to watch for and would be flushing at this time of year. Their caps range from 7-15cm wide, with a stem of 10cm height - so easily hidden in long grass.

Truly most horses dont usually bother with mushrooms - i collect wild edible ones and experiment with my horses to see if there’s interest and now theyre older, they sniff and walk off. So not to be overly-concerned about, but good to know about in case you have a curious eat-anything-ask-questions-later type of horse!
 

AnShanDan

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Hopefully your horse is on the mend but the story reminded me of when one of my horses had a similar illness. She was suddenly quite poorly, high temp, very lethargic, almost colicy but not really, absolutely no appetite. my vet sent her to vet school. She was diagnosed with cholangiohepatitis, no cause found, she responded very quickly to antibiotics and was back to normal in a few weeks.
 

Albus15

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Hi Everyone, Upon review, it is likely this was caused by either acorns or acorn tree (oak tree?).

Said horse received a course of antibiotics as precautionary and on a long term liver supplement to support his liver.

Other than that, horse is back to his old happy self and you'd never know this happened! I think we caught it just in time, which leads me on to say listen to your horses! If something is off or unusual, second guess it! You know your horses, they'll let you know how they're feeling :) thank you all for your lovely comments and support!
 

PurBee

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Glad to hear your horse recovered well Albus ? great news!
Some horses apparently get a taste for acorns and will gorge on them! They’re meant to be very bitter tasting, but some develop a liking. Mine eat a few oak leaves here and there but not many as theyre bitter too- ive cut the lower limbs off the massive oak that had low limbs.
Sycamore trees are another to know as a horse owner - the seeds contain a toxin that really is not good for horses, and can make them very ill. Ive got a baby sycamore i planted before getting horses thats going to be chopped as it’ll only be massive one day and blow seeds all over the fields.
Yew is deadly…just one mouthful and they can keel over.

There’s not many trees that are ultra toxic…just a handful really.

It’s great you were quick to act and help the liver process the toxin. He’s a lucky horse to have you keeping an eye on him ?
 
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