Liver problems.

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missmatch

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July this year, horse ( gypsy vanner gelding age 8 ) was just not right.
Ran bloods which showed his ggt at 135. Steroids, antibiotics & liver support given. Bloods showed 65 after treatment. During his he developed a massive sheath infection which required antibiotics and danilon.
Liver biopsy done mid August which showed some damage but also regeneration.
Sunday, sheath swollen hugely and very smelly. Vet out Monday who washed it and prescribed antibiotics. I asked them to run bloods again as I was concerned there may be a link.
Bloods have come back with a ggt of 197. The vets have prescribed him some different treatment which should be in today but I am hoping someone on here can help as I firmly believe there is a trigger. He is incredibly lethargic and whilst still eating he's very picky and can't be bothered. Very very unlike him. He's the type who tells everyone he's starved.
He is out all day, in at night. On chopped straw and fed topspec lite balancer, zero and a handful of spillers hi fibre nuts.
He has micronised linseed, Brewers yeast and protexin as he has sweet itch and larval cyathostomosis - both of these are very much under control.
So what am I missing? I would really appreciate any input as it's heartbreaking to see him looking so unwell.
Thank you.
 
What treatments did the vet give him?

My mare has liver problems. She was very symptomatic. We were advised to test other horses on the yard and most were also affected, but asymptomatic. My vet prescribed steroids and high dose vitamin E. We were convinced there must be an environmental cause given the number of horses affected. After lots of research it looked like mycotoxins were the most likely (you can test for this). All horses were started on Mycosorb and (touch wood) all now have normal bloods. A liver supplement is also really useful. I give Liver Aid from Feedmark.

I also treated her for liver fluke in case that was the cause.

Hope you get to the bottom of it.
 
Hi there, I had a pony a little while ago with some issues like this, not quite so severe but I wrote the below on my blog about it, just in case its of any use to you as I know how frustrated I felt seeing my horse look so down and flat ! It took about 6 months for him to start to look happier using the below.

LIVER DAMAGE IN HORSES

Having had experience of horses with liver damage, and knowing what level of research I went to and the huge number of people I asked for help, I thought I would do a quick list of the most helpful pointers I received:

1) Seek advice from your vet - they can blood test and prescribe medicine such as Legaphyton (milk thistle), liver detox powder, probiotics, blood tonics with B vitamins etc, etc. My vets have been amazing.

2) Diet is key (ask a feed nutritionist) ADLIB HAY plus – quality protein – the diet I went for was Saracen Fibre Pencils, Micronized Maize (or crushed oats), molassed sugarbeet, apple cider vinegar, regular Dengie HiFi – each in small regular amounts ! Huge thanks to the lovely lady who helped me devise this :)

3) Plus homeopathic help (for a contact see my complementary therapies web section – Joanna Haslem who is fab and turned up at my yard super pronto with her magical medicine box) – dandelion root powder, milk thistle (Legaphyton), carrot seed essential oil, garlic essential oil, liquorish root powder.

4) Signs of Liver Damage – yawning, flat, tired, listless, super thirsty – there are many more, these are the main ones I noticed.

5) Lots of rest, carrots and pats.

Hope this helps :)
 
The sheath problem must be getting him down - I swear by natural yoghurt for sheaths, get yoghurt to room temperature so it is live. Apply liberally to sheath as far inside as you can get (I dipped a tampon in the yoghurt so I could get in all the crevices) leave it - repeat for 3 days - it restores the natural bacteria. True live yoghurt is hard to find you may have to go to a farm shop or something similar.

For the liver as ponypatters says - also avoid any oil (like corn, sunflower, cod liver) as the liver has to work hard to deal with that.
 
It sounds like he might have some sort of imbalance that's possibly affecting his immune system- all those little niggling things really add up to a lot. Although some of his symptoms may be related to the larval cyathostomosis.

Ever tested for cushings? Did you ultrasound? (I ask because gallstones can cause acute hepatitis...)
 
Sorry for not replying, I didn't realise I had any answers to my post!!

Drugs are Trental 400 controlled release. Ten x 2 a day
Azathioprine 20 x 1 a day.
He's on these for 6 weeks but it took a while to find a way to get them into him. Mollichop veteran saved the day!!
He's finished his metronidazole.

He is on veterinary liver support 60mls once a day.

I would be interested in any feeds which may help him. I avoid cereals, alfalfa and sugar where possible.

He had a scan with his first biopsy and he will have another one in about ten weeks time.

We have definitely made a tentative link to his hay so he is on hifibre horsehage now.

He's never had a cushings test but will talk to vet about that when they're next out.

The drugs are definitely helping him as he's becoming cheeky again, however it does seem to be a case of good days, bad days. We shall keep going and see where we end up.

All ideas and advice are hugely helpful. I will try anything for him. Thank you
 
can it be a kind of worm ? sorry, don't know the english word for this worm that has sheep, hares and cows as hosts, predominately on wet land it can give problems in horses.
In netherlands we treat it with wormer for sheep.

This worm sits in the liver and does a lot of damage
 
leggs said:
can it be a kind of worm ? sorry, don't know the english word for this worm that has sheep, hares and cows as hosts, predominately on wet land it can give problems in horses.
In netherlands we treat it with wormer for sheep.

This worm sits in the liver and does a lot of damage
Click to expand...

Liver fluke. When he had his biopsy they checked for that and he was clear. His biopsy showed damage - an insulted liver - but also regeneration, cause unknown. Definitely not ragwort or fluke x
 
I hope your horse is feeling better soon, liver problems aren't nice to watch as they look so down and out of character. My mare was diagnosed with liver disease back in 2007 she was having weekly blood tests and then after biopsy we found that at least half her liver is permanently damaged she was on and off treatment for a few years and we where in close contact with a specialist at newmarket equine vets, the decision was made to take her off treatment when her bloods where coming back in the 100's and she's pretty much been off treatment since. she still has good and bad days but diet we where told low protein, low starch, high fibre, no cereals, no alfalfa and monitor sugar intake aswell which can make feeding quite a challenge and she drinks an awful lot as well and she can't have bute either. She also has equine metabolic syndrome which can be linked to liver problems.
hope this helps
 
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