Liver and kidney failure

Liver, due to ragwort poisoning, lethargy, then was head pressing, late that night was staggering around and next day should have been pts.
Next day horse down and unable to get up, pts.
Not mine im glad to say.
If vet has said both, then recovery usually very unlikely if it has progressed to failure.
However, many do recover if diagnosed in time.
 
Liver failure. Itchy legs for a day or two, assumed to be mites but was photosensitivity I guess. Following day, pony was staggering, then went down and was fitting on the floor in the stable, like a full gallop lying down. Very distressing for us and the pony. And very difficult to PTS as had to hold her still and couldn’t take her out of the stable to make collecting her easier afterwards. No idea what her blood work showed, as this was the first indication she had a problem.

Sorry you are having to consider these things.
 
The first thing I noticed about mine (liver failure) was headshaking. He also developed an extreme reaction to a fly spray that I had used for years on him, like the skin was burned and the hair fell out. He was treated with steroids which helped but bloods weren't run at that point. Then over winter he lost weight and became lethargic, I had bloods run and his liver enzymes were terrible. He was given some sort of medication from the vet and I changed his diet to horsehage and got him off the grass at home. The enzymes returned to normal, he put the weight back on but slowly as he didn't have a good appetite. Obviously he wasn't as bad as the other cases mentioned and he did live another 8 years, the cause was never identified.

Sorry you are facing this, it sounds very sad.
 
Mine with relatively mild liver issues lost weight & muscle and was really lethargic and lacking energy. He also had diahorrea just before other signs started. Several other horses at the same yard also developed liver disease so suspected toxin exposure. Responded well to a liver supplement but I didn’t do biopsy (horse massively vet phobic) & he was a huge laminitis risk so didn’t give steroids either (PPID but still had laminitic episodes despite normal cortisol… in hindsight I do think he might have had EMS as well despite being underweight (had been slightly overweight at times before I bought him)

I’ve seen horses with more severe liver issues become collapsed / start having seizure like episodes though.
 
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