Laminitis - soaking hay, plastic shoes and other advice please...

Orchardbeck

Orchardbeck

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Had laminitis diagnosed this weekend in my poor 5yo ConnemaraXTB; have her in a small barn with my other mare (a 21 yo Arab X) her best friend, for company as she is also a bit 'footy'. They are both on a really deep bed with just two nets of soaked hay a day and water, and now are getting two mugs of Top Spec AntiLam with a bit of Hi Fi Lite to mix her Danilon and Sedalin in with.

Although I am soaking their hay, how long should it actually be soaked for? I remember reading somewhere that if it is soaked for too long the composition of the water becomes similar to raw sewage, but don't know how right that is.

They've been in since Friday night, and I am expecting to keep them in for around a month, does that sound right? They both have frog supports courtesy of the vets (the expensive foam ones - boy are they expensive...) and we plan to X-ray by the end of the week, then consult with farrier to trim accordingly. Has anyone else used the plastic glue on shoes - how much use are these?

Should I be doing anything else - how beneficial is magnesium for laminitics and can it be bought as a powder supplement? Also, I have a 20x15m shed with sand in which I use as a tiny indoor school - is this suitable to turn them out in at a later stage? I have read other advice to limit movement as much as possible to prevent any further damage so am unsure. Any advice is really welcome.
 
my section a has just came in with laminitis, shes on bute till monday in a tiny handful of chaff when she will be x rayed to see how much damage has been done, shes in for a minimum 8 weeks with hay(3kg max dry weight) soaked for 12 hours then rinsed off. my girl is only allowed out while being mucked out or if hay is arriving as she has COPD, but shes held in hand and not allowed grass at all.
 
Re. Magnesium, it used to be recommended that you feed Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate), however I don't know what the current evidence is for or against this.
Hay soaked for 12 hours dramatically reduces the sugar content ;)

I would wait for xrays before any turnout in indoor school etc. although yes it may be an option, pending xray results

Hope they're better soon!! :)
 
I second soaking (min one hour up to 12 hours) and then rinsing but I'd give more hay myself unless they're overweight their guts need to keep working. Great they're together in a barn.
I might well supplement magnesiun oxide (pure or calmag) and pure salt (about a desertspoon) if you email this lady she has a diet sheet which you might find useful. http://www.metabolichorse.co.uk/ They sell mag ox too. I wouldn't feed epsom salts myself, I believe it doesn't have the correct form of magnesium and can irritate the gut.

I think the sand area is a great idea, liase with the vet about when.
 
Orchardbeck said:
Had laminitis diagnosed this weekend in my poor 5yo ConnemaraXTB; have her in a small barn with my other mare (a 21 yo Arab X) her best friend, for company as she is also a bit 'footy'. They are both on a really deep bed with just two nets of soaked hay a day and water, and now are getting two mugs of Top Spec AntiLam with a bit of Hi Fi Lite to mix her Danilon and Sedalin in with.

Although I am soaking their hay, how long should it actually be soaked for? I remember reading somewhere that if it is soaked for too long the composition of the water becomes similar to raw sewage, but don't know how right that is.

They've been in since Friday night, and I am expecting to keep them in for around a month, does that sound right? They both have frog supports courtesy of the vets (the expensive foam ones - boy are they expensive...) and we plan to X-ray by the end of the week, then consult with farrier to trim accordingly. Has anyone else used the plastic glue on shoes - how much use are these?

Should I be doing anything else - how beneficial is magnesium for laminitics and can it be bought as a powder supplement? Also, I have a 20x15m shed with sand in which I use as a tiny indoor school - is this suitable to turn them out in at a later stage? I have read other advice to limit movement as much as possible to prevent any further damage so am unsure. Any advice is really welcome.
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my advice to you would be get your farrier on the case !!i have had a very bad experience with glue on shoes laminitics need blood supply so if you can get them out in an area then do. laminaze or d tox by naf will help as laminitis is a toxin which will go up and down let them move around at their own pace to start but primarily laminitis is lack of blood supply and keeping them in IMO doesn't help . soak hay for an hour? as youstill need them to eat something magnesium helps with the sugar sorry ant be more specific but it does help but the d tox should cover all this , glue on shoes ok if put on properly but seek advice from a remedial farrier they are the experts vets in my experience and i am not saying al of them can be cosmetic when it comes to looking at x rays and trimming . make sure also that whoever is doing the feet DOES NOT RASP the wall needs to be strong to hang on to the laminie therefore the more you rasp the weaker the hoof wall , hope this make a bit of sense!!!
 
My pony has had flare ups for the past 18 months - very rarely turned out and on laminitic diet, and with a lot of input from farrier and vet. She has some rotation in both front feet. She has heart bars on. On vet's advise she has recently started to go out into sand school for a short time. I hope to get to the point where she can go out in a taped off area in a paddock- to stop her racing about like an idiot- for a short time each day. The vet and farrier work closely together.
She has been tested for Cushings and this was negative. I think she is a bit of a Danilon junkie! :rolleyes:
 
Thanks for all your help. I've taken to soaking the night nets in the morning, leaving them in for about 10-12 hours and the day nets in the evening for the same time. They have both now finished the Sedalin, still on one sachet of Danalin twice a day with their Antilam and HiFi Lite. Both seem loads better in themselves, their pulses are down, esp in the youngster. Getting them X rayed tomorrow or Wed to assess the damage.

In the meantime we had a bit of drama where they both escaped (the youngster had been rubbing on one of the barn gates and somehow flicked the safety catch on the bolt - well that's the only explanation we can think of so the gate is also tied now) and walked down the road, in their frog support foam shoes, to my neighbours, eating grass on the way.

Luckily my neighbour spotted them on her way to work and rounded them up, but once they were safely back inside I was panicking at the potential additional damage - indeed the youngster was leaning back again and the older mare shifting her weight from side to side, both with pulses. It seemed to cease by the next day with more Sedalin and Danilon, no pulses and they seem ok. I guess I'll never know if that escapade has caused any additional damage to the original attack.

It's really stressful as they are both at my parents about 35mins away, as I have just had a baby; they have been there since I was 9 months pregnant as they had better winter turnout. I really want them to come back home so I can monitor them more closely myself but the vet says I shouldn't move them until the X ray - at the moment I can only make a daily visit to check them over and my poor Mum is on mucking out and feeding duties.

Long term we are currently draining one of the paddocks at home to put a stone base in so we can make an all-weather woodchip turnout paddock (read 'menage'...) so I don't have to restrict their turnout (the sand school is at Mum and Dads) - the only problem will be keeping the super intelligent youngster from escaping again - she's far too clever for her own good...
 
Also, after your comments and doing a bit of research about magnesium being good for laminitics, why does Top Spec Anti Lam not contain magnesium...????
 
Had Xrays done on both mares yesterday afternoon and although the vets haven't done an in depth review of them just yet, they had a quick look at they younger mare's and she has 'slight rotation in front', and has 'sunk slightly at the back' - does this mean she has foundered at the back? Still waiting for the older mare's.

The good news is that the vet thinks remedial trimming alone by the farrier in line with their advice from the Xrays should help, rather than putting on heartbar shoes which I'm really pleased about as both are barefoot and I would have been disappointed to change this - obviously I'd have done what was neccessary though.

It is amazing to see how much sugar comes out after soaking hay for 12 hours...
 
You poor thing. Much like me you are probably finding yourself spending pretty much every waking moment worrying about them!!!!
Everytime I go to the yard I hope for some miracle improvement.
Really hope the full review of the x-rays is good news and remedial trims is enough. I'm hoping for the same for G. Though he did have shoes on before getting bad, that was only because he struck himself and broke a hugh piece of foot off so the farrier had to patch him back together and put shoes on to stabilise his foot. Prior to that he'd been barefoot for 2 years and competing and hacking happily.
Good luck.

p.s I soak my haylage (he can't eat hay cos of COPD) for 12 hours then rinse it and dry/drain it for 12 hours cos he won't eat it when its wet.
 
That has got to be a pain, buying haylage, then having to soak it too...the things we do for our beloved beasties! I read one of your posts and saw you were going through it too Seiorse, but the COPD will make things 10 time sworse!

You're right, I lay awake most nights worrying about them (and waiting for the baby to wake up for her night feed...!!) and it is really stressful.

I just want them back home so I can fuss over them myself rather than relying on someone else. As soon as the farrier has been they are more or less free to leave!
 
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