Laminitis - help!

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millieloulou

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My mare was diagnosed with chronic laminitis 3 weeks ago and x rays have shown that the pedal bone has rotated. She is on bute and acp twice a day, she has had the Imprint shoes put on and has been on permanent box rest with a thick woodchip bed.
Should she have started to make ANY improvements yet? I know that its a long recovery process but I thought I would have seen some improvement. I don't like seeing her in pain....is there anything else I can do?? I'm so worried that I will have to have her PTS....
Also, I am struggling getting her to take the bute. I'm putting it in a couple of handfuls of happy hoof but shes now turning her nose up. Any other ideas as to how I can get it into her?
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Agree with TGM - ask for danilon. It's the same stuff as bute, but more palatable and less damaging long term (according to some research)

Have you asked your vet if you should be seeing any improvement? What do they say? Are they hopeful? Have they given you any timescales?
 
It may take a long time and she may go backwards before she improves
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It sounds like you are doing everything you can and your TLC will be what she needs as well
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How old is she and do you know what triggered if off?

PM me if necessary ....
 
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It may take a long time and she may go backwards before she improves
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It sounds like you are doing everything you can and your TLC will be what she needs as well
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Ditto this - my friends horse was on box rest for almost 1 1/2 years as both pedal bones had rotated. It was a long, painful process for both of them but he is now back to good health and they are able to do pretty much everything they did before he had lami.
 
Yes get some Danilon and if that works get a familly pack of it. Make sure she gets a slice of one hour soaked hay every 4 hours to keep her going and don't give her any other feed apart from what you use for bute. If danilon fails then get the bute in syringe paste form.

Has the vet determined the reason for the laminitis?

Laminitis can be caused by many different things from stress, emerging small red worms, an infection, Cushings Disease etc. It is useful to know the cause so as to be able to give preventative treatment in the future.
 
Thanks for all your replies. She is 9 and a traditional cob...typical good doer, just has to look at grass and she puts weight on!
The vet reckoned it was the grass that has bought it on as she has only recently moved to this new yard and the farmer fertilized the field a few months back so there is SO much grass that even strip grazing wasn't enough to stop it.
I called my vet last week to ask if there should be any signs of improvement but he just said it would take time (?). To be honest I'm not feeling particually confident with him...2 weeks ago I asked about the possibility of giving her some sort of supplement (farriers formula or the like) to stimulate horn growth and he said he doesn't know off the top of his head and would have to do some research which worried me to start with but whenever I call to chase up I never get a response. I know they're busy but I just worry that my mare will get worse because shes not getting everything she needs.....
 
I agree with Owlie185 make sure she has a constant source of fibre other wise you can cause more problems like colic. Make sure you soak it for 40 minutes to an hour that helps to reduce the starch level. If you find she is eating too much put it in small holed hay nets to keep her occupied.
I would also give her a vitamin and mineral supplement to make sure she has a balanced diet, as she won't be getting it from hard feed.
I know how you feel I have been there.
 
right, been there with this sadly, firstly do you know what caused the lammy attack? it's scary to research happy hoof because a lot of lammy's react to that, so first port of call is I'd cut that out and feed dengi hifi lite, it hasn't got the additives in that some react too, am not saying all do, and yours could be one that doesn't, but I'd err on caution side until this clears up!

you can feed a very small amount of speedibeet safely I believe, I did because it was that or she wasn't getting the bute, I put a few flakes into a small bit of water, it hides the bute (mine is a pain for eating it too, and herbs but that's another story! lol), a small handful of chaff, the speedibeet with bute mixed in, it's nice and wet, binds and may eat it, a couple of drops of peppermint oil can hide it too but don't overpower or they'll turn their nose up at that, they're about 80p in the cooking section
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Supplement you can use that's been ok'd for lammy's is top spec comprehensive supplement, ok it costs a bit more than the others but it's safe to use, which am sure you need to know, I know I was like a headless chicken with mine so can fully understand how you'll be feeling at the mo!

time scale, it took around 5-6 months for Pands to start coming around properly, she then had a relapse (thanks to happy hoof, but she's one that's totally intolerant to it), was minor but did shifty her recovery back a month or so, she had to have corrective trimming, which has ended with her needing shoes to support her a while because....well she needs them, I call her my loreal pony 'because she's worth it'! LOL

constant fibre is the must like been said above, don't believe the 'starve a lammy' it's the worst thing you can do I believe, don't worry about giving soaked hay ad-lib, I soaked mine for a minimum of 2 hours to be totally sure it was pretty worthless nutrient wise - she got her nutrients from the top spec safely, her day one's I soaked overnight, not that I go overboard tho
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Pandy's now on max ox, chromium yeast and top spec supplement now (not the pellets, the comp one is a powder), it's a combo that's worked to keep her grand and was recommended by jackie taylor, now, over a year later she's on a 7 acre field and galloping around bucking and leaping like a total idiot again, lovely to see, tho am ever watchful just in case....but that's me, I need a worry! LOL

worse before they get better, yep Pands did, I went through a month where I wondered if she was going to come through it and if it'd be kinder to have her pts than to try to struggle on, for me to consider pts it has to be pretty dire but really did feel like no light was visible anymore, yours might not have that point but if happens I'd say hang in there because it does seem correct the worse before better happens with them when they've had a bad do (Pandora's was in all 4 feet)
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How do you find out what caused the laminitis? I just assumed (and the vet did as well maybe) that it was the grass she was grazing....
Wow, thats interesting about the happy hoof. I won't be feeding her that for the time being. Thanks for the advice!
 
Ring the Laminitis Clinic, they are great, just have all your questions written down as it is a premium rate number, but well worth it as they are the experts, they will be able to tell you exactly what & how much to feed if you tell them the size & weight of your horse. Good luck, have been where you are & there is light at the end of the tunnel with good management, by the way, has your vet put her on ACP?? This dilates the capilaries so improves the blood flow, don't know if 3 weeks is past that stage though.
 
not necessarily, the hard thing with it is there can be so many causes, Pandora's is EMD, which basically is metabolic laminitis, she can't tolerate the sugars in grass, or couldn't, I have to watch her like a hawk, once there always there to me and it's a balancing game, my friend's horse suffers stress lammy and he's not what you'd call the typical lammy type (aka he's not a fat pony which loads seem to think only they get lammy!)

blood tests can determine EMD by the levels in their blood, your vet can do this, it doesn't cost a mega fortune and can tell you either way, i was lucky, my vet was very on with the newest things to try and so it was stamped on pretty quickly as the cause. The farrier was next port of call and it did shock me how much he took her feet back, but it was necessary, he did say to not worry and most he'd done like that had the owners reacting the same way! she wasn't shod, he didn't recommend that at her worst stage believing the blood flow needed to be sorted around her hoof, but differant farriers/vets have differant idea's, it's finding the ideal solution for your individual neddy, I took bits of this and that to work for Pandora, it took a while but it was worth all the tears in the end (and there was plenty of tears!)

I wouldn't have believed it on happy hoof until did some searching on it, and it shocked me to realise how many react with lammy to it, but people were feeding it thinking it can't be that as is lammy approved (I did hear their approval wasn't right but unsure on that one though sorry) :S

good luck, and keep us updated, it's an awful condition, oh quick pop up thought for you too, the latest research is showing links to white clover as a toxidity that causes laminitis in a multitude of animals, including horses! is your field covered? and also hawthorn is apparentely a very good natural tonic for laminitis, something many can't get too as hedges disappear from horse grazing which is a crying shame as I do feel in some ways that the loss of natural selection of herbs can have a knock on effect with these ailments we now see
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but that's only imo
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