Liver fluke in horses?

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poiuytrewq

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Can anyone tell me about this? There is very little info to be found in relation to horses.
What would be the symptoms and how would it be treated?
Could it be blamed for high liver enzymes in a number of horses?
 
afaik (because I did look into it as we have had sheep grazing and F has had liver issues/went photosensitive within a month of moving there) it happens but no one is really sure of the prevalence and is usually only found by treating and seeing if that resolves the liver enzymes. Whether a vet trials treating I suspect depends on how much they have seen it.

for ours we decided the dates didn't work out, the sheep had been off the grazing long enough for it not to be likely but vet was happy to consider it was a possiblity before that.
 
We had a variety of symptoms ranging from bloated, puffy above the eyes, lethergy and about 10 more. No two horses had the exactly the same symptoms. The vet was positive that horses did not get liver fluke but agreed to supply a flukicide as he was drawing a blank on the cause. Everything treated recovered and went back to normal, unfortunately we had lost two before treating for fluke.

As horses are not the natural end host for liver fluke they do not always get egg producing adults so FEC do not show the true picture.

Mud snails the intermediate host are about a lot and our fluke problem arose after the beck flooded the fields one winter.
 
I've heard of a few cases where treating for fluke made a horse with vague, not holding weight type symptoms better. All in Cumbria during/after wet spells. Its definitely a thing. But not a very common thing. I'd want to make sure any sheep grazing with my horses were treated for it though, especially if the fields tended to be wet.
 
I tested both horses last year when one had liver problems. I thought I'd test both because they'd both been on the same grazing so it would give me a better chance of detecting them

It's 3 samples per horse you take from memory.

My two were negative. Still not got to the bottom of the liver issues. I'd like to test for Lyme but vet said unlikely.
 
One of my ponies had it a few years ago. I had rented some grazing for the summer and believe that's where he picked it up.
Symptom wise he had chronic diarrhoea and weight loss, oedema in his chest and sheath. He was also off his feed and had increased thirst. He was diagnosed through a faecal sample that was tested at Liphook.
There is no actual equine treatment but vets can prescribe something that is usually used for cattle but does work for horses. I also give pony milk thistle to help compensate the long term affects on his liver.
My boy had it 6 years ago and he is now 10 and fit, well and competing regularly.
 
Our little 12.1 mare who is 23 was very unwell last August and got rushed into vet hospital with suspected obstruction in throat. Her symptoms were laboured breathing , colic symptoms, disorientation. They scoped her etc but 1k later found nothing and she was fine the following day. She was fine all Winter and on same paddock. She has had a couple of episodes which looked like mild colic and laboured breathing after escaping onto fresh grass this Spring but after being kept in over night has been fine. However Thursday she escaped again and then had severe breathing issues along with blisters on muzzle so called vet straight away. Vet instantly said liver failure. She gave her pain relief and muscle relaxant and again fine next morning. Vet checked her in am but had raised heart beat. Bloods show liver issues/ failure. However she has no weight loss, is perky and it’s so hard to believe. I had decided to have her PTS on Fri but I’m struggling as she now is back to normal cheeky self! I’m going to have our other pony blood tested too as I’m paranoid that there is something in our field. I’m now starting to think that Liver fluke is a possibility. Our paddock backs onto a stream and there are sheep in the field the other side of the stream. Our ponies moved onto paddock in Jan 2018 and it was previously grazed by sheep and cattle.
 
Spiritedly said:
One of my ponies had it a few years ago. I had rented some grazing for the summer and believe that's where he picked it up.
Symptom wise he had chronic diarrhoea and weight loss, oedema in his chest and sheath. He was also off his feed and had increased thirst. He was diagnosed through a faecal sample that was tested at Liphook.
There is no actual equine treatment but vets can prescribe something that is usually used for cattle but does work for horses. I also give pony milk thistle to help compensate the long term affects on his liver.
My boy had it 6 years ago and he is now 10 and fit, well and competing regularly.
Click to expand...
 
As above from Spiritedly said. Years and years ago we had rented grazing and Ihad a young horse that had only ever been on horse or cattle pasture and the field had sheep on it for years. Vague symptoms from horse that came to light when it was being backed, so sent home for excessive drinking, nothing major but odd. Vet was a all round farm vet who scratched his head a bit and suggested dosing with fluke (this isn't licenced for horses .........................) and that seemed to cured the problem, anyway he didn't have any further problems.
I suppose it was a very "flukey" sort of farm, bit of a mess really. So always something to bear in mind.
 
https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/infection-and-global-health/research/liver-fluke/


Take a look at some of the links on here. Liverpool have developed an ELISA test to detect fluke which is more sensitive than the faecal test as horses only shed the eggs in low numbers at certain times of year. It’s not super common but it’s not as rare as it was first thought to be.

I have a friend whose horse had liver issues years ago & treating for fluke was the only thing that sorted him (they never did a faecal test just trialled treatment)

I had the ELISA test done on mine with raised liver enzymes last year as he fell into a few risk factors but it came back negative. He’s quite a sensitive horse & was on the verge of laminitis so didn’t want to give him treatment he may react badly to if he didn’t need it. If you email Liverpool for info they’ll send you a copy of the study they did.
 
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