laminitic yearling?

[Demille]

Hey guys,

I need some advice on my yearling Luka please?

So here's the back ground. Last Tuesday i went to turn Luka out in the morning and he was slightly lame on his off side fore, no obvious causes, no lumps, heat, cuts etc. All other legs were ok. There was a bit of heat in the foot and as you know he had an abscess in that foot a couple of months ago, so i left him in with his foot poulticed. After 2 days there was no change so i started soaking his foot in warm water with epsom salts twice a day and continued poulticing. by Sunday there was still no sign of anything coming out of his foot and he was going mad being in 24/7, so i turned him out for a few hours. He was the same on Sunday evening when he came in.



Yesterday (Monday) morning he looked lame on the other front leg. But still let me pick his feet and no obvious signs as to why he was unsound. So i called the vet out. I left the yard at about 1pm leaving Milly (my other horse) in the stable to keep Luka quiet, by the time i got back at 4pm for the vet, Luka could hardly walk.



When stood in the yard he was shifting his weight constantly and occasionally doing the typical laminitic stance. the vet checked his digital pulse which he said was bounding. He has booked to come out to do x-rays tomorrow and has put Luka on bute.



This morning Luka is still lame but walking better and much more comfortable. His digital pulse is normal as it was yesterday morning- could it have been strong due to his dislike of vets and stress levels shooting up? (Luka has had bad experiences with vets in the past) He also complained that Lukas feet were worn right down- which they are due to him scrapping the floor because he has been so unhappy at being in, i'm not sure how he has managed to scrape them away so much as he has rubber matting on the floor.



The vet didn't believe that Luka had deteriate so quickly. He said a lot of other stuff that p*@#ed me off, but i wont go into that! He has basically said that he has laminitis which was stress induced and secondary to the initial issue which caused the original lameness. He doesn't know what that was though.



Luka was on about 3lb of non heating stud nuts, low sugar mollichaff and a small amount of beet twice a day, he has actually lost weight since being kept in as he isn't eating much where he is getting wound up. Luka is ID x WB and approx 15- 15.2 hh and is expected to make 16.2-17hh. He is not over weight.



I don't know whether i agree with his diagnosis, as i cant see that Luka would have improved so dramatically over night if he was crippled with laminitis yesterday evening? I'm wondering if he just looked like he had laminitis as he had sore feet from scrapping?

The problems is that its a new vet to the practice and he has no back ground knowledge of me or my horses.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on all of this?

 

[Lucy_Nottingham]

Well just as a point have you altered his feed? as high sugary feed can worsen laminitis, not from weight point of view but due to the hindgut bacteria!
Maybe try reducing the sugar intake for him, and see if that helps?

Is it the same foot as the abscess? if so maybe it has come back? (happened to my horse!)
Sorry you didn't find the vet overly helpful, not nice if that happens!

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Im not an expert on lami but this is such a major diagnosis and you clearly have concerns about it: I would be calling in a completely separate vet to come and give a second opinion....

 

[Demille]

I have taken him off of hard food and he is just having soaked hay at the moment. The lameness started in the same foot as the original abcess. I just realised you guys would know about the original abscess, i'd posted about that on another forum! Sleep deprivation!

 

[Lucy_Nottingham]

Lol is ok, but if it is in the same foot maybe consider checking again for it? have you (when you pick his foot up) applied pressure with your thumbs on small areas aroudn the sole of his foot? often a common way vets try to see if a horse is tender implying possible abscess or thrush etc?
Good plan taking him off hard food and hay only!!!

 

[Demille]

I have and his foot didnt seem tender a couple of days ago, but it did when the vet checked it

 

[Lucy_Nottingham]

ahh might imply abscess return, odn't know as I don't know what the vet made of it,
being a yearling I owuldn't EXPECT pedal bone rotation or anything like that,.......
abscess returning seems to be the most likely idea from my point of view but im only a 3rd year vet student!

 

[AmyMay]

Have you had the farrier out to have a good look at the original problem foot?

 

[Demille]

Thats what i was thinking, not much came out of the abscess before so it may not have healed

 

[Lucy_Nottingham]

ah, if some has been left in and healed over, possibility of it coming back again! (same as happened with mine) just means you ahve to be SUPER diligant with it if it is and ensure FULL drainage occurs

 

[gothdolly]

An abcess will also give you bounding digital pulses....

I called an emergency vet out on a bank holiday to my mare who was clearly in the throws of a severe laminetic attack - uncomfortable to move, bounding pulses, leaning back. The vet arrived after a couple of hours, and during that time she steadily improved. by the time he arrived, she was almost fine. I felt like such an idiot, but she honestly did seem very ill!

 

[Demille]

When the vet came out today i pointed out Luka's miraculous recovery from his severe laminitis and that he was just lame in the leg that he was originally lame in, the vet said it was probably just a mild case of lami. Funny 2 days ago he said it was really bad, implied i had neglected my horses and that i'd better hope the pedal bones hadn't rotated!

He did the x-rays, which took ages, luka didnt want to stand still even doped! After the x-rays he actually checked the foot i said i thought Luka had an abscess in, he hadn't even checked it Monday as he didnt beleive me. And he said it looked like there was an abscess, so he has dug a hole and drained it as much as he can. So i am back to poulticing and soaking his foot.

He called me with the x-ray results and said the only thing he found was hte abscess and everything else was fine.

In the mean time i had called my old vet who is in New Zealand, who said that it sonded like an abscess and that x-rays would prob be a waste of time! Shame i didnt receive the email sooner.

He wont admit that he over reacted, but did tell me how he was desperate to get the practice to upgrade the x-ray machine and that needed to put a case forward, make me wonder if this is why he over reacted and demended i have x-rays done?

He wants to come next week, so i will see what he says then. But either way i will be complaining and i am looking for a new vet at the moment.

 

[Lucy_Nottingham]

Sounds like a bit of a pain in the butt to come to the conclusion that could have sorted a while ago,
but at least an abscess can be drained and sorted, rather than dealing with a rotated pedal bone!
If you vet is trying to get upgrades he might be rather stressed out with stuff, try not to get too mad at him (but i don't know the situation so can't relaly comment on him) but just be glad you now know whats up with youngster, and that its something that is dealable!

Glad he is ok though, lets jsut hope the abscess completely drains this time!

((hugs))

 

[almorton]

i think the problem may be that bad lami can progress so fast, in that you can have a perfectly fine horse, then 48 hrs need pts, that your vet probably felt the need to err on the side of caution. unusual tho i would think in a yearling! i know its expensive but id def rather be sure! and id rather have a thorough vet than one who missed something major or misdiagnosed a major lifethreatening problem.
hope your boy is better soon tho!

 

[MrsMozart]

Hope he's okay now. Our Little Lad (13.2hh, ten year old, Welsh cross) went from being perfectly sound and fine to completely lame twice - once over night, and once during the day in the field. Both times it was laminitis and we had no warning (first was grass, second was stress/carrots).