Laminitis.....what do I need to know?

You have a big horse that's been diagnosed with laminitis, is on two danilon a day & doesn't want to come out of the box yet the vet says straw bedding is fine, they'll be out on Friday & x-rays aren't needed. Do yourself and your horse a favour & when you change the bedding change the vet too.
 
I would also not be happy with the vet, if it wasn't for your Horse refusing to move then I would say Friday is ok as long as Horse is comfy in the meantime. But with your Horse refusing to move, that is a very big indication that the Horse is in a great deal of pain and time is of the essence. Laminitis is such a dreadful thing to deal with. I don't mean to scare you or sound harsh but a Horse I was once stabled with came in one day, just a bit footsore and didn't look too bad, a couple of days later Horse was in immense pain and was PTS with acute Lami. It really can happen so fast.
 
LaurenBay said:
I would also not be happy with the vet, if it wasn't for your Horse refusing to move then I would say Friday is ok as long as Horse is comfy in the meantime. But with your Horse refusing to move, that is a very big indication that the Horse is in a great deal of pain and time is of the essence. Laminitis is such a dreadful thing to deal with. I don't mean to scare you or sound harsh but a Horse I was once stabled with came in one day, just a bit footsore and didn't look too bad, a couple of days later Horse was in immense pain and was PTS with acute Lami. It really can happen so fast.
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I agree. Please dont underestimate how serious this can be.
 
ycbm said:
She also said that the horse refused to move.

And you didn't qualify your advice when you said (all) laminitis sufferers needed to move.
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Now that I can post again, I will reply :)

Yes, and then she said she was moving around the box ok.

Perhaps I should have rephrased and added in, once the acute phase is over, laminitics should move and not box rested forever like some people like to advocate. Circulation is so important. I can understand what I said may have been taken to mean laminitics need to move even in pain so thanks for pointing it out. I definitely don't think movement in the acute stage is beneficial.
 
It appears i can now post again so...
Perhaps my choice of words in my original post were misleading. Instead of saying refusung to move, reluctant to move would have been a better choice.

Vet was back out yesterday and assessed her. She is still sore/uncomfortable on her feet so the Danilon has been increased for the time being. As the vet pointed out she is a big girl and those feet have to support a lot of weight. Yes, she is overweight, though not excessively. She needs to lose around 50kgs. She is now on a deep shavings bed with weighed, soaked hay so hopefully we will see some weight loss.

With regards to changing vets, i trust my vet implicitly. X-rays will be taken but not until she is off the Danilon or it has been reduced back down. The other major vets in my area follow the same course of action for laminitis ( there is another mare on the yard with laminitis so i know they do things exactly the same). She will be re-assessed next week to see where we are. She is certainly a lot brighter and moving around the box a lot easier today.
 
Interesting that there is another horse on the yard affected - is your grazing full of ryegrass? It has many many times the amount of sugar as meadow grass (which is great for dairy or fat cattle but not so good for equines)
 
I was called by the daughter to see a 13.2 pony which had gone laminitic while the owner was away. The vet told me to give her two bute immediately. Two twice a day for two days, one twice a day for four days, then drop to one a day.

I was shocked by the quantity for such a small horse, but was told it was to knock the inflammation on the head hard before it could cause any more damage.

The fact that your horse has had to have her dose increased and they didn't worry about a long straw bed does suggest that they aren't great at managing laminitis, sorry.

I hope the progress continues. Most horses recover fine if caught early enough.
 
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JillA said:
Interesting that there is another horse on the yard affected - is your grazing full of ryegrass? It has many many times the amount of sugar as meadow grass (which is great for dairy or fat cattle but not so good for equines)
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No we are on meadow grass. Other horse was diagnosed with laminitis following steroid injections.
 
ycbm said:
The fact that your horse has had to have her dose increased and they didn't worry about a long straw bed does suggest that they aren't great at managing laminitis, sorry.

I hope the progress continues. Most horses recover fine if caught early enough.
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I dont think i mentioned anywhere that she was on a long straw bed? She was on very short chopped barley straw which is why the vet said it was fine, but also why she was eating a lot of it....she literally had a chaff bed!
 
Gloi said:
How's she doing now?
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Sorry only just seen this! She is looking a lot more comfortable on her feet. Still on one danilon twice a day. Farrier was out just under two weeks ago and trimmed her back feet but agreed with vet to leave fronts well alone at present. Vet out tomorrow to xray feet and see where we go from here. She is still on her strict diet and I think its starting to work....I thought I actually felt some ribs tonight and she's gone from 645kg to 596kg on the weigh tape.
 
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