Laminitis, recovery and fairy Godmothers. :(

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Janette

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Star is recovering from laminitis, caused by steroids.

She was making good progress, and went from being extremely lame in walk, with 2 warm front feet and palpable pulses, to 2 cold feet and nodding slightly in walk/ definitely lame in trot over two weeks.

The problem is that she has stopped making progress. One forefoot is varying between clap cold, and very slightly warm, no pulses. The lameness has not improved in the last week.

When the vet last saw her, she was beginning to wonder about either bruising, an abscess or some rotation of the pedal bone. If there was no improvement, she will x- ray the feet.

I am nearly beside myself with worry. Seriously! Star has had a rough 3 years, removal of her eye, a damaged suspensory in a front leg and now this. This is our third spring in a row that she has been out of action.

Are there any fairy Godmothers out there with a magic wand?
 
I would get the xrays done, if there is rotation it will help the farrier to get the angles correct and the pony comfortable more quickly, you will also know what is happening inside the foot, if there is rotation it is not the end of the world, I feel it is better to be able to make informed decisions about further treatment.

Sorry no magic wand but there is life after laminitis especially when you know why it happened.
 
Might be worth testing for Cushings - there are free vouchers for the test at the moment. I read an interesting paper about steroids and laminitis recently because the vet was recommending steroids for one of mine. The paper said that it is unlikely that steriods will cause laminitis unless there is some sort of predisposition towards it anyway.
 
The vet took the bloods for the Cushings test on her initial exam, also metabolics syndrome and insulin resistance.....all negative. Thank goodness.
 
The recovery is rarely linear, initial and rapid improvement is always encouraging, The last bit of soundness can take a while to achieve. There numerable approaches to this recovery period and lots have merit and suit some horses and not others. My only advice would be to change anything very slowly. Frog supports help some horses with the footy stage.
 
I agree that once the cause is eliminated it can take months rather than weeks to recover. Give it time and careful management and resist the temptation to walk out or trot up too often to give the laminae a chance to heal and hopefully she'll come right.
 
My big lad who is Insulin resistant went on for a good 4-6 weeks of being in limbo of lame/not lame after the first initial improvement and i thought he would never come fully sound again but he did it just took a long while....He did also have some rotation on both front feet though..I would Xray so you know exactly what you are really dealing with..Don't give up hope it will take time for the feet to stabilise and the new Laminae to start growing..
 
My lad was up and down a fair bit too, not helped by me looking for the slightest bit of un-soundness too! He had 12 degrees rotation in one front.
We had the vets remedial farrier put heart bar shoes on and he walked away pretty much sound from that and did not look back. However, after a couple of weeks he would have a slight set back and be not quite right again for a few days and then fine again. This went on for probably two months or so and most of that time he was turned out on a bare area during the day rather than stabled - on vet instructions because he was making himself worse through stress being stabled 24/7.
They are all different and it is always best to get xrays and then you know what you are dealing with and the farrier can be better informed. These things take time unfortunately - keep talking to your vet - this really helped me, even if just to calm my nerves and make me think more rationally about the situation!
 
Oh thank goodness you said that,in exactly the same process now,very bad,then almost ok,then back again !So depressing,all down to toxins in si/hayledge.
 
Janette said:
Star is recovering from laminitis, caused by steroids.

She was making good progress, and went from being extremely lame in walk, with 2 warm front feet and palpable pulses, to 2 cold feet and nodding slightly in walk/ definitely lame in trot over two weeks.

The problem is that she has stopped making progress. One forefoot is varying between clap cold, and very slightly warm, no pulses. The lameness has not improved in the last week.

When the vet last saw her, she was beginning to wonder about either bruising, an abscess or some rotation of the pedal bone. If there was no improvement, she will x- ray the feet.

I am nearly beside myself with worry. Seriously! Star has had a rough 3 years, removal of her eye, a damaged suspensory in a front leg and now this. This is our third spring in a row that she has been out of action.

Are there any fairy Godmothers out there with a magic wand?
Click to expand...

sorry my magic wand bust need replacing, it did not help my girl with lami :(
 
Janette said:
Star is recovering from laminitis, caused by steroids.

She was making good progress, and went from being extremely lame in walk, with 2 warm front feet and palpable pulses, to 2 cold feet and nodding slightly in walk/ definitely lame in trot over two weeks.

The problem is that she has stopped making progress. One forefoot is varying between clap cold, and very slightly warm, no pulses. The lameness has not improved in the last week.

When the vet last saw her, she was beginning to wonder about either bruising, an abscess or some rotation of the pedal bone. If there was no improvement, she will x- ray the feet.

I am nearly beside myself with worry. Seriously! Star has had a rough 3 years, removal of her eye, a damaged suspensory in a front leg and now this. This is our third spring in a row that she has been out of action.

Are there any fairy Godmothers out there with a magic wand?
Click to expand...

hi i have a pony that has had laminitis on and off for 3 years I have had bloods done and he has cushings and is now on prescend, since then I have spoken to a guy who specialises in horse metabolism and gave me some feed to try I was not convinced but was willing to give it a go. You feed 2kg a day and I thought he would never eat that much then I introduced a gut balancer called protexin which you can buy on amazon. The feed is called premero and has its own web site and a list of suppliers. You feed all year round and my pony has never had laminitis since appart from a bruise on his heel from galloping around his field which I never thought i would see him do again. Maybe it could work for you worth a try I have all my horses on this now
 
my pony has suffered with laminitis for 3 years on and off I spoke to a friend who specializers in horse motabilism and he gave me some feed called premero you feed 2kg a day and a gut balancer called protexin and he adores the food and can feed it all year round and does not put weight on them its amazing stuff as he said you are what you eat he has not had laminitis since only a bruised toe from hoofing it round his paddock which i thought i would never see him do again. Hope this helps I feed all mine on this now xxx:)
 
Sorry to hear about your horses laminitis, its such a nightmare!

First of all, I think xrays are a wise choice. Atleast you know where you stand and it can diagnose any rotation/sinking in the feet. If she is visable pain then have you thought about lilypads/boots to make her more comfortable?

I will also add that my old lad had lami a few years ago, he was in alot pain and we thought we were going to loose him. We xrayed and he had no rotation/sinking and he still took about 5 months to become totally sound off bute. He came back to being totally fit in ridden work again, he had EMS so we were always careful about his management.
 
Update.
X-rays were done, showing no rotation, abscesses or bruising, just inflamed tissues at the tip of the pedal bone on the left fore. But, the superficial digital flexor on the right leg is now hot and swollen...... Possibly from standing on it more than the left.

The Plan.
Feet trimmed tomorrow morning and 'gunk' poured in to support the pedal bone.
Then nerve blocks/ ultrasound to check exactly where the pain is.

I actually feel better knowing this, because I feel as though there is light at the end of tunnel. The farrier was quite impressed with the structure of her feet, and tendons heal.

So much stuff has happened to this mare through her life, medically. If she were a car, she would have been scrapped a long time ago. But she isn't a car, luckily for her. :D
 
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