Lymphangitis - anyone any experience?

[1CTrenowath]

My horse has just developed Lymphangitis, much to my surprise.

I have owned him for 13 years and his legs have never shown any sign of filling at all. Now suddenly he has developed this badly in all 4 legs, it is now responding to Anti-b's and Danilon and being out 24 hrs (he was always out for a good 12 hrs anyway), so things are looking up , but reading up on this, everything seems to say horses get this after a cut or graze, however he has nothing like this

. I am now starting to worry all over again about him developing it, and the fact that he got it in all 4 legs - can anyone enlighten me?

 

[Tempi]

has he been bitten by anything? you might not even be able to see the bite. My friends pony had this and he was bitten - they didnt find the bite until it had totally cleared up.

 

[airedale]

sounds odd but try Equine America Lamiguard - it helps to clear toxins out of the system and when one of mine had it badly in one leg this definitely helped - and yep - his was caused by a cut in the heel area - which was found immediately but still got infected.

all 4 legs does sound more like an allergic reaction than a cut

 

[Nailed]

My horse suffers from chronic lymphangitis. Really nothing to worry about (to a degree) and is perfectly managable. Ted lived in over the winter with stable banadages on over night and regular walking excercise. One of his legs is so damaged by the lymphangitis that it is constantly twice the size of his other legs. however he is perfectly sound..

Teds lymphangitis was a result of two things, a toxin with in the grazing with onyly effected Ted and also the high protein diet of a race horse.

Dontbe too concerned about it. Just make sure your horse is having regular excercise.. cut out alot of protein (feed chaff as apposed to alfalfa.)
If you need any more help..
Im here.
Lou x

 

[airedale]

the other thing you could try is to phone Ainsworths the homeopathic pharmacy. My old horse had a heart condition and got prescribe Crategus by them to improve the circulation. This was given as drops in his water bucket. It stopped both the filling in his back legs (similar to but not lymphangitis) and also the swelling in his sheath area.

Homeopathy is definitely worth a try and Ainsworths will send their medication by post from London.

I'd recommend.

 

[1CTrenowath]

[ QUOTE ]
My horse suffers from chronic lymphangitis. Really nothing to worry about (to a degree) and is perfectly managable. Ted lived in over the winter with stable banadages on over night and regular walking excercise. One of his legs is so damaged by the lymphangitis that it is constantly twice the size of his other legs. however he is perfectly sound..

Teds lymphangitis was a result of two things, a toxin with in the grazing with onyly effected Ted and also the high protein diet of a race horse.

Dontbe too concerned about it. Just make sure your horse is having regular excercise.. cut out alot of protein (feed chaff as apposed to alfalfa.)
If you need any more help..
Im here.
Lou x

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for your comments Lou, its good to hear you manage your boys ok - its just that its the same grazing hes been on his entire life, he gets no hard feed at all - and hes lame, so can't exercise him much. tbh I have already posted previously about the fact that he may have this summer and that would be the end for him as he has sooo many problems, its just so upsetting to see him so down and not have a reason why this should happen to him on top of everything else, but at least you have given me hope he will be ok as far as this is concerned. thanks.

 

[airedale]

if he's that bad then I'd definitely talk to Ainsworths as the vets could do nothing for my horse and his heart condition but the homeopathic stuff did work (proof of pudding - the swelling completely went away) . Its worth a try and costs not very much (less than a vets visit fee !!!!)

 

[Nailed]

I know what the lameness is like and its hard to watch. Once the anti's kick in he will rapidly improve and as soon as he does.. get him out and about as a good brisk walk pumps the limb, You should also try some massageing.. always to the heart and also some limb stretches..

The best thing i did for Ted was have him seen my a Mctimoney practitioner.. As soon as she returned his skeleton to the right order.. i physically SAW his legs drain.

For history - Ted is a 16.1hh TB ex-racer who is 15 years old and finished racing last year.. he is.. to put it nicely. KNACKERED.

lou x

 

[carthorse]

My horse suffers some times from this and I keep a really close eye on him and give him a dose of epsom salts as soon as I suspect anything

 

[Sal_E]

My old mare had a bout of it years ago - we also never found the wound. It's quite possible that it's something like a thorn prick, which you'll never find...

Keep the horse moving, exercise is the key to full recovery - heartbreaking as it is to make your sore horse move excessively.

To the best of my knowledge, my mare never had a recurrence of it.

 

[annie083]

lymphangitis is a secondary infection, hence why the comment about if your horse had a cut. it normally flares up when something else starts like mud fever. A horse at my old yard had it so know a bit about it. his legs were always bandaged at night and he was out in the day as you want the horse to move on it. hope this helps

 

[Stella]

Unfortunately, I've had to become well informed about this condition over the past few years due to my mare's problems. The first episode often does develop from a cut or mud fever etc, but it can develop from a knock from something simple e.g. getting up from lying down! I haven't heard of this type of lymphangitis occuring in all four legs though. It seems unlikely that all four could sustain trauma to produce it. Filling of the legs (cannon bone, below the hock etc) can occur for various reasons if they are standing for a long time. I have had that in a horse and the vet termed it lymphangitis. That confused me because major lymphangitis is a much bigger deal. The swelling spreads as the tissue around the lymphatic system becomes effected. My mare had her first episode with me (don't know if she had it before I bought her) nearly 3 years ago. She has had it severely and its been a recurrant chronic problem since then. It effects her off hind as has been right up her leg over her quarters , her tummy and her udders

Once they have had it, they are more vulnerable to repeat attacks and each time they have it, the tissue receives some perminant damage. My Vet told me that (based on his experiences of carrying out post mortums) the tissue in a horse that has had severe bouts of lymphangitis is like velcroe (sp). He added that if the skin was peeled off my mares leg, it would already be like that and could be pulled apart and stuck together just like that!

I have found the only way I can successfully manage it in my mare is for her to live out, being in for no more than 2 hours a day. Although she does cope with being in a barn at night in the winter (her poos tell me that she still walks around a lot).

Given that you have four limbs affected, you may have a different type of problem. I would ring the Vet for a fairly long chat about it. They usually don't mind.

 

[Stella]

[ QUOTE ]
My horse suffers from chronic lymphangitis. Really nothing to worry about (to a degree) and is perfectly managable.
Lou x

[/ QUOTE ] That isn't right in severe cases. If an episode becomes bad enough, the skin can split because it simply cannot stretch any further. Through the splits will ooze a nasty liquid. Ultimately, the hoof can come away and it can kill them

 

[dieseldog]

I had a mare that used to get it really bad - the slightest cut and her leg was the size of a tree trunk - so bute and anti biotics everytime.

She also used to get stable leg but that disappeared when I stopped feeding her (no she didn't die!!) - hard feed, well she actually did die but not from that

 

[Kezza]

change of feed? any injury which hasn't pierced the skin? Magnetic boots are fab for reducing the swelling.