Liver Damage

[riding_high]

when my lad had a liver biopsy he didn't have any bumps on the shaved area afterwards so i dont' know what it could be.
has your horse been clipped before? if not then maybe it's like a 'reaction' to being clipped??
could it be ingrowing hairs after being clipped???

 

[Donald_03]

the rash has gone down and no one knew what i could have been ... so still unsure on that front.... his blood results have gone down slightly but still way higher than they should be ... he is looking slightly better but still not my horse ...... does anyone have an idea what to do next with him or anything else that may help him ??
thankyou in advance

 

[Foxy girl]

Hi Donald_03 sorry to hear about your horse - my mare had ragwort poisoning 4 years ago and acute liver damage. She ended up in Leahurst under Prof Knottenbelt and they told me to prepare for the worst as they couldn't find her liver when they tried to biopsy it - it was THAT small and damaged. Amazingly she fought back and came home and has been ok - hacking out etc since then. We've got problems at the mo and she may have to be pts very soon but this is down to the fact that we now can't medicate her as her liver just wouldn't cope.

I put her on a low protein diet as the other posts have suggested and have my hay tested. She's happiest just on grass without hard feed and doesn't seem to have a problem with sunburn so there is hope for recovery from this type of thing...

Thinking of you.

 

[Borderreiver]

Hi, I've just seen this and so sorry you are having problems.
My mare is in recovery from cholangia hepatitis. She started with mild colic 1st Dec, heart rate and temp high. She had been quiet and not herself for a couple of weeks so I had thought something was up. She has never had a sick day until this.

Anyway the vet treated for possible peritonitis at this time and Lady appeared to recover, though not fully. She went right off her food, one slice of hay overnight, very few small droppings.

Towards the end of the year I thought she seemed worse (so hard to exactly tell at that time with the terrible snow and ice about). New years eve I went to her in the morning to find she was down, breathing hard. Vet came straight away and Lady went to hospital for a fortnight. I thought we would lose her. She was on masses of antibiotics, a drip and other stuff too. She ate practically nothing for a while. She was treated for fluke as a precaution but vet does not think it was this.

Biopsy showed very high white cells but no fibrosis so that was good.

She came home (stable outside my front door) to be nursed, along with a small pharmacy for me to give each day, metrodonidazole, lactulose, norodine.

As soon as the M was finished she started to pick up and eat more. Then as the others finished her appetite seemed normal and she was lively again.

I've just started her in hand again, long reining etc but she has lost loads of muscle and has no stamina. At least she seems her old self, banging the stable door in the morning. Time will tell what the future is.
Biopsy site, after about 6 weeks:

Back to work:

 

[Martymoo]

the rash has gone down and no one knew what i could have been ... so still unsure on that front.... his blood results have gone down slightly but still way higher than they should be ... he is looking slightly better but still not my horse ...... does anyone have an idea what to do next with him or anything else that may help him ??
thankyou in advance

Hi there,
I am going through exactly the same with my horse and it has been going on since September 2010. He is now on a course of steriods but the vet does not know what is causing it as he seems perfectly fine in him self now. when I first noticed it back in september he did look poorly and lost performance but now he is full of life but on full rest the vet said not to ride him at all.
But they think it is cuased by an infection but five horses from a yard down the road from me have the same thing an dI just dont know what else to try.
How is your horse doing now??