Laminitis....please help!

just on the feed/chaff side. I would slowly take her off the happy hoof (the lami trust stamp is worse than useless as there is added sugar in it and many of the products endorsed by the lami trust!!!). I would either have her on a no added sugar chaff (topspec topchop lite or badminton feeds alfa lite) with a balancer (like pink powder?) or on allen and page fast fiber (no added sugar and included vits and minerals). Would also double soak the hay as with just the one soaking there can still be a suprising amount of sugar left.
With the iceing feet thing, can you just hose down her feet? Might be easier and cheaper than having to faf about with bags of ice!
Good luck with the next steps, sounds like something really needs to change so hopefully the results from the blood tests will suggest a new way forward as the current regiem doesn't seem to be getting things sorted. Lots of luck for you both.
 
Just out of interest, how do you know that Happy Hoof contains molasses? The Spillers website says MJ/kg 8.8 and starch 4% but no mention of molasses?

(I don't feed it btw, just interested in lami nutrition)
 
hi bmb,
the website tend to be useless! The white slip of paper that is stitched on to the top of the bag lists all ingredients and this is where you can find it out. I think it is claimed that it is some sort of low sugar molasses to make the chaff more tasty, but it is just added sugar! Annoyingly, often the white slips have been knocked off before the feed gets to the shelves, so it can be a bit of a job to work out what you are feeding your horse! I just tend to use things that clearly state no added sugar, at least I know where I am then without having to be a detective!
 
my pony suffered from laminitis several times in his life (r.i.p bracken) after rotation in both front feet it took 6months, stick on shoes (about £100 a foot) and alot of patience to get him back into work for a year before another bout, we then retired him at the age of 18 he was pts in jan age 19 from a 5th bout :(

careful management is needed, and yes i would seek a second opinion, try to get hold of more old hay to be soaked, maybe feed chaff (check whats in it too) with no hard feed (concentrates) as part of a hay replacement. it is possible to reverse some of the rotation but the damage will always be there making them more prone in the future, hopefully your pony will recover from this, good luck with it and keep us posted with updates :)
keep in mind the pony probably will not be able to have grazing in the futre just a bare patch, and do you know the cause for the illness? :)
 
Update!!

I rang the Laminitis Trust Clinic..

She agreed - Not to travel her to the vets, instead ring vet or find another who have the digital x-ray which can be seen 5seconds later.

The blood tests I have to ask for are Endogenous ACTH test and a Routine blood test. To book the vet between 8 - 9.00am and starve her from 10.00pm the night before.

She was quite happy with the amount of hay I am giving her but did say to try and find some older hay. However, she did want to give her more of a bucket feed and she suggested slowly working up to this diet, feeding twice a day:-
500grams Happy Hoof
500grams Hi Fi Lite
2 pints Speedi-beet
formular 4 feet

She said when I finally feed the above to reduce her hay by 1lb a net. She also asked me to give her a call to let her know what the blood test results were.

I would like to thank you all for the information and support you have given me. When I first posted this thread I was near to giving up as she didn't seem to be recovering.

I am going to ring the vets now to ask if he can get hold of a digital x-ray machine and tell him what blood test I want.

Thank you again. Promise to keep you updated x x
 
The foot icing, I think, is only applicable when a bout of laminitis is suspected to be about to happen - ie if there has been known exposure to a trigger ('grain overload') and needs to be done long before footiness is shown. Ponies have been stood (variously) in iced water and observations recorded, the specifics of which evade me, but generally, it was concluded that prolonged cooling (which was ewell tolerated by the individuals) seemed to have some success in staving off an attack. Or something like that. We are talking of hours of 'tubbing' not a few minutes wearing an ice pack round the coronet!

I will be very disappointed if we have been misled by feed companies who are displaying Laminitis Trust Approved badges on their feed!

It would take me all afternoon to trawl through the latest info and findings - anyone (TGM) fancy compiling a sticky for up top ^^^? We could surely do with one . I would advise the use of maybe different coloured text for Cushing's and EMS specific stuff as opposed to general laminitis advice. Or are they all blending into one now that is seems as though long-term obesity does in fact cause insulin resistance and all fatties are ticking time bombs?
 
I couldn't get hold of the vet yesterday but he rang me this morning.

He wasn't very happy that I had rung the Laminitis Helpline. I also said that they had told me not to travel her, he said that they have not seen her and every case is different.

The Blood Tests are booked for for Thursday and he wants more x-rays.

I'm just trying to do the best for my mare and I feel as if I'm banging my head against a brick wall. Is it so hard for everyone to work together?!
 
brighteyes said:
The foot icing, I think, is only applicable when a bout of laminitis is suspected to be about to happen - ie if there has been known exposure to a trigger ('grain overload') and needs to be done long before footiness is shown. Ponies have been stood (variously) in iced water and observations recorded, the specifics of which evade me, but generally, it was concluded that prolonged cooling (which was ewell tolerated by the individuals) seemed to have some success in staving off an attack. Or something like that. We are talking of hours of 'tubbing' not a few minutes wearing an ice pack round the coronet!
Click to expand...



Ditto.

If my [****] memory is correct, it was an Australian study to laminitis and factors contributing to stopping an attack where 'X' amount of horses were purposefully 'given' enough to trigger an onset of an laminitis attack. Just before the attack was going to start, they were kept stood in ice-cold streams and not one of them got a full blown lami attack, no laminai were damaged,no rotation, etc. Apparantly, they didn't get it after at any point also when it was repeated.

I can't remember the exact findings and information on this, as obviously they wouldn't allow this over here. I *think* it was Andrew Poynter who was telling me about it last year, either him or our vet who was involved with Tommy anyway. He's the guy who made the Imprints to start with.

Andrew Poynter is a god-send for horses with lami as far as I'm concerned. I'd strongly recommend him, no matter where you are in the country, he's always thinking of new theories and ideas to help combat laminitis and will be a great help, even if it's just a phone call for a chat. He travels a lot too, so I would really really really recommend him if you're/your vet/farrier etc are getting to the end of ideas of what to try or do.
Can't promise miracles obviously, but he's a very 'out of the box' type person and is utterly dedicated to his work.
 
Thanks for that - nice to be right occasionally, but at the same time somewhat upset by the thought of laminitis being deliberately precipitated. I know it does go on in the name of research, but it doesn't sit comfortably with me.
 
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No problem :)

No, it doesn't with me either...if it hadn't of worked here would have been a lot of neddies in pain! :( Though hopefully it could now link to a future treatment which could work more definitively possibly?
 
martha said:
Just out of interest, how do you know that Happy Hoof contains molasses? The Spillers website says MJ/kg 8.8 and starch 4% but no mention of molasses?

(I don't feed it btw, just interested in lami nutrition)
Click to expand...

Happy Hoof does contain a small amount of molasses (or molasses extract, can't remember which one) - ingredients are listed on the bag but not on the website. Happy Hoof contains 5% sugar and 4% starch, so the total quantity of soluble carbohydrates is still lower than 10% which is often quoted as the 'safe' threshold for laminitics. This amount is also lower than a lot of hays.

However, there are products available (such as Fast Fibre) which have a lower soluble carb level than Happy Hoof.
 
If you'd like me to start a new thread, then please let me know :)

The Vet has just rung me and the blood test's are all normal.

Now what do I do? I cant deal with this, its tearing me apart....I just want my mare to start getting better.

She is due x-rays on Monday and the farrier is out the same day to fit her 4th set of Imprints.

x x
 
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