Liver issues/ damage?

Kokopelli

Kokopelli

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I have no experience in this area, vet has taken bloods and I'm waiting for results now. Not sure what exactly it is but time will tell.

How do you treat it/ manage it? Or is it one of those things you can't manage? What is quality of life like. Atm he isn't too poorly but can imagine he'll only get worse?
 
How worrying for you :(

Completely depends on what damage and to what extent. The good news is the liver's the only organ which can actually reverse damage to its tissue / regenerate... but it doesn't have magical powers... Not very helpful I know...
 
Thanks both, very worried about the poor little guy but he doesn't seem hugely bothered. Was meant to get results of bloods tonight but vet said may take longer so rather nervous.

Does anyone know if I need to be extra careful about what I feed him? only ask because need to keep weight on but don't want to do anymore damage.
 
A friend is currently going through this with her horse.
Liver biopsy showed poisoning but they have not been able to establish the cause. Samples were sent to Liverpool for suspected Ragwort amongst other things. He's now on pills that humans take after liver transplants but at £1000 per course it's not cheap. They won't provide the next course until her insurance confirms they're happy to pay.
The horse himself looks fab, has held condition over the winter and has a lovely sheen on his coat.
The only reason she knew something wasn't right was that he went down on his knees whilst she was out hacking.
They think they may of found the cause and have taken soil samples to be analysed.
He's 16 and her vets say there's no reason whyshe won't be able to carry on riding as normal.
Can't be any more helpful as not on the same yard :)
 
My horse had a liver biopsy just before Xmas ..turns out he has hepatitis ..he is now on a very strict sugar free diet :/ not even had a polo :/ but he seems much better since the change in diet (and expensive drugs)
 
Andy sounds similar to that, pretty good weight wise (in comparison to what he was a few months ago) and nice shiney coat. I've noticed for the last few weeks something has not been right. He's been a lot calmer than normal and work seemed to be quite tiring for him which is really odd. The main alarm bell was when he started broncing when I girthed him up.

When I first bought him I had a set of bloods taken from him, partially because he wasn't putting weight on but also because he was a bit too close to Koko's pasture for comfort. His bloods started off showing a slight liver issue and gradually got worse until I moved yards where his bloods got better and better. I wonder whether its this come back or something related to this.
 
my horse had so much damage to his liver the vet didn't think he would pick up again, luckily he picked up enough to get through other illnesses over the years.
i gave him milk thistle.
because of the damage to his liver he is more prone to illnesses and infections so we do have to be more cautious.
 
miss_c's mare had some quite serious liver issues for a while, would be worth speaking to her about managment as genie is fine now :)
 
Kokopelli said:
Thanks both, very worried about the poor little guy but he doesn't seem hugely bothered. Was meant to get results of bloods tonight but vet said may take longer so rather nervous.

Does anyone know if I need to be extra careful about what I feed him? only ask because need to keep weight on but don't want to do anymore damage.
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I think it depends on type of damage. I've always understood that liver problems need lowest possible oil content in the diet to reduce the strain on the liver processing it.

But as someone else has posted about hepatitis which seemed to need low sugar, it sounds like it might depend.
 
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