Charrose77
Well-Known Member
Hello, will try and keep it brief. My lovely 5 year old Rosa has a problem with her liver and I am just looking for any advice…….
Friday 29th March
Moved yards……
Tuesday 30th April
new horse arrived……..came from another fairly local yard, owner now reports he had been quiet/flat for some time and since Rosa got ill he has now also been blood tested. His GGT is high, not as bad as hers but his Bile acids are much worse. Has since also had a biopsy which is also encouraging results.
Friday 3rd May
Rosa Colic (and first bloods taken)
Blood test results GGT 441 bile acids 10
Tuesday 14th May
Taken off hay and put onto bagged haylage
Thursday 16th May
Liver biopsy performed - encouraging results (all scored 0 on that Durham test)
Tuesday 21st May
2nd set of bloods taken
Blood test results GGT 641 bile acids 19
Thursday 23rd May
Medication started
Trental 400mg 20 tablet per day (ends 5th June ) pentoxifylline
Equipred 50mg 10 tablets per day, 5 tablets per day from 4th June
Forage Guard one scoop per day
Hepalyte
She is not on regumate as has not shown any signs of being seasonal since this all began, until then she was very seasonal. I have it ready to go but didn’t want to add to what’s going on.
Had physio out on Friday for a gentle physio session (no laser etc). She found her head and neck low, very stiff and lacking activity, poor ground coverage behind and weight to forehand. No back lift, poor lumbosacral/SI function. Very tense right SI/gluteal region.
She is still very quiet, no energy, am not really riding her, just walking round farm daily for about 25 mins to keep her moving. Yesterday she started coughing, dry cough very slight clear nasal discharge, not a lot, but enough for me to get vet back out……she performed an SAA test which came back as 0, she is going to put up some echinacea for me.
There are 8 horses on yard in total, 4 including Rosa have been tested and all have raised liver enzymes of varying degrees, one only very slightly, the other two not dissimilar to Rosa. All 4 are now on forage guard and hepalyte, Rosa and the new horse on steroids. The other 4 have not been tested but are all perky and performing normally. The grass was tested yesterday, they changed the hay supplier right at the start of all this but as I say she has been on bagged haylage to be sure.
It’s a new livery hard, only open since start of year. The fields they are on used to be hay fields and I think it was rye, certainly is on other parts of our farm that are still growing hay. Perhaps this just doesn’t agree with her? She is only just 5, and this time last year was just coming over from Ireland…..I had sort of ruled out liver fluke because of the other horses also affected, but it’s still in back of my mind.
Any advice or thoughts gratefully received. I am thinking I may need to move her, such a shame, and a bit scared to do so incase it turns out to be a virus and we take it with us, although perhaps the SAA test coming back as 0 means she is not currently affected by any virus? And if it was a virus it has passed? Need to check that with vet…..
Any advice?
Friday 29th March
Moved yards……
Tuesday 30th April
new horse arrived……..came from another fairly local yard, owner now reports he had been quiet/flat for some time and since Rosa got ill he has now also been blood tested. His GGT is high, not as bad as hers but his Bile acids are much worse. Has since also had a biopsy which is also encouraging results.
Friday 3rd May
Rosa Colic (and first bloods taken)
Blood test results GGT 441 bile acids 10
Tuesday 14th May
Taken off hay and put onto bagged haylage
Thursday 16th May
Liver biopsy performed - encouraging results (all scored 0 on that Durham test)
Tuesday 21st May
2nd set of bloods taken
Blood test results GGT 641 bile acids 19
Thursday 23rd May
Medication started
Trental 400mg 20 tablet per day (ends 5th June ) pentoxifylline
Equipred 50mg 10 tablets per day, 5 tablets per day from 4th June
Forage Guard one scoop per day
Hepalyte
She is not on regumate as has not shown any signs of being seasonal since this all began, until then she was very seasonal. I have it ready to go but didn’t want to add to what’s going on.
Had physio out on Friday for a gentle physio session (no laser etc). She found her head and neck low, very stiff and lacking activity, poor ground coverage behind and weight to forehand. No back lift, poor lumbosacral/SI function. Very tense right SI/gluteal region.
She is still very quiet, no energy, am not really riding her, just walking round farm daily for about 25 mins to keep her moving. Yesterday she started coughing, dry cough very slight clear nasal discharge, not a lot, but enough for me to get vet back out……she performed an SAA test which came back as 0, she is going to put up some echinacea for me.
There are 8 horses on yard in total, 4 including Rosa have been tested and all have raised liver enzymes of varying degrees, one only very slightly, the other two not dissimilar to Rosa. All 4 are now on forage guard and hepalyte, Rosa and the new horse on steroids. The other 4 have not been tested but are all perky and performing normally. The grass was tested yesterday, they changed the hay supplier right at the start of all this but as I say she has been on bagged haylage to be sure.
It’s a new livery hard, only open since start of year. The fields they are on used to be hay fields and I think it was rye, certainly is on other parts of our farm that are still growing hay. Perhaps this just doesn’t agree with her? She is only just 5, and this time last year was just coming over from Ireland…..I had sort of ruled out liver fluke because of the other horses also affected, but it’s still in back of my mind.
Any advice or thoughts gratefully received. I am thinking I may need to move her, such a shame, and a bit scared to do so incase it turns out to be a virus and we take it with us, although perhaps the SAA test coming back as 0 means she is not currently affected by any virus? And if it was a virus it has passed? Need to check that with vet…..
Any advice?
hopefully the grass test would show this.