My girl has laminitis again

Wagtail

Wagtail

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So gutting. I have only just got her a new saddle and all fitted nicely and got her out of her stable yesterday and she looked slightly footy, but no pulses, so thought I may have been mistaken. This morning she was slow to come out and I felt her fetlock and a big bounding pulse. :(

She is completely off the grass, and has been since October. I have had her forage analysed and it was 3.2% total combined sugars and forage plus said it was ideal for feeding to laminitics. She is on this haylage and oatstraw, with one feed a day of pure easy with pro hoof and her prascend in. The only difference is I have taken her off the metformin. So it's back on box rest and back on the metformin. I am hoping she will recover quicker than the last time as it is hardly noticable (she is just not stepping out with the gusto she normally does) and is completely comfortable without danilon in her box. Please send her some healing vibes.
 
Glad you got her back on the metformin, it seems she needs the extra help and she is quite highly insulin resistant...

Hope she gets over it quick wagtail... Bit of a setback :( hugs
 
At least you noticed it early - many others wouldn't have been so observant. Hopefully the metformin will take action and she'll be ok again.
(((Hugs)))
 
lachlanandmarcus said:
Big vibes to you - that's so unlucky given how strict and careful you are being and doing everything right. I'm sending vibes to her but more to you!!!
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HaffiesRock said:
My old mare was just like this. Sending healing vibes for a speedy recovery xx
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Bernster said:
Me too - so sorry Wagtail, must be such a worry :(
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tallyho! said:
Glad you got her back on the metformin, it seems she needs the extra help and she is quite highly insulin resistant...

Hope she gets over it quick wagtail... Bit of a setback :( hugs
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Thank you. You are all so lovely. Yes, it is a huge worry, I think she needs to be on the metformin continuously. I was really looking forward to getting her going again now I have a well fitting saddle. Her weight has stayed very good at around 530 kg so bang goes my theory that she gets lami if she gets to 550 kg. :o
 
Holly Hocks said:
At least you noticed it early - many others wouldn't have been so observant. Hopefully the metformin will take action and she'll be ok again.
(((Hugs)))
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Yes, I think I have caught it earlier than last time, although I was trying out a different new saddle last week and I thought she wasn't as forward as she normally was. I put it down to the saddle. I think I need to get even more observant! Damn.
 
If you don't mind me asking, is it just the haylage you are having tested or the haylage and straw combined? It was flagged up on the Nutrition course that straw can contain up to 30% sugar which would be very bad for an IR horse. Sorry if you've covered this and I hope she gets better soon :)
 
doriangrey said:
If you don't mind me asking, is it just the haylage you are having tested or the haylage and straw combined? It was flagged up on the Nutrition course that straw can contain up to 30% sugar which would be very bad for an IR horse. Sorry if you've covered this and I hope she gets better soon :)
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Really? No I didn't get the oatstraw tested. But to be honest, it's the only other change I have made, replacing some of her haylage with the oatstraw as she was eating it so fast, I didn't want her standing without for long periods. I will take her off it. Thank you for that.
 
Keep an eye on the temperature of her feet. As soon as you notice any raise chill her legs from below the knee downwards and keep them as cold as you can. I've had a mare stood in four feed bowls of water with ice boots on being hosed as well to keep the water in the bowls as cold as possible and averted an attack.

In the olden days the treatment was to stand horse in a stream. When I suggested this to a vet some 12 years ago it was greatly pooh poohed but last year when we thought we were getting a problem, cooling the legs and feet was suggested by the vet. How things go full circle!

btw I ended up spending 20 minutes every hour cold hosing over 72 hours after she managed to get into the chicken feed. Desperate measure for desperate times.

And of course I am aware this is only treating one of the symptoms but at least once the feet are cold the pain is lessened.
 
Thank you. I did cold hose them for ten minutes this morning. Though they didn't seem that warm, it certainly can't do any harm.
 
Wagtail said:
Really? No I didn't get the oatstraw tested. But to be honest, it's the only other change I have made, replacing some of her haylage with the oatstraw as she was eating it so fast, I didn't want her standing without for long periods. I will take her off it. Thank you for that.
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No problem :) it might be worth having the straw tested just for your piece of mind. There is a lot of discussion on the Nutrition course about laminitis and IR horses in particular.
 
I'm so sorry to read this wagtail. xxxx

I too would stop the oat straw if it's a new addition. I have known about straw and potential sugar levels for a while but so many seem to be able to feed oat straw safely. Just shows with a horse like yours you cant take any chances.
 
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doriangrey said:
No problem :) it might be worth having the straw tested just for your piece of mind. There is a lot of discussion on the Nutrition course about laminitis and IR horses in particular.
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amandap said:
I'm so sorry to read this wagtail. xxxx

I too would stop the oat straw if it's a new addition.
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Yes, I will stop the straw. I have another five bales of it (unmollassed chopped). I think I will feed it to the cob. He's on a diet but has never had lami.
 
Wagtail said:
Thank you. I did cold hose them for ten minutes this morning. Though they didn't seem that warm, it certainly can't do any harm.
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For the big mare I was told to keep her feet cold to the touch but we were trying to ward off an attack from different origins.
 
Sorry for you wagtail. Thats horrible.

Been on about haylage that people dont understand about rye grass which is what most fields are these days and its what most haylage is cut from. Well done for getting it tested and good point from the others about the oatstraw. x
 
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Kaylum said:
Sorry for you wagtail. Thats horrible.

Been on about haylage that people dont understand about rye grass which is what most fields are these days and its what most haylage is cut from.
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Thank you. Yes, you are completely right. But the haylage she is on mow is exceptionally dry, late cut timothy. I sent it away to be sure that it was okay for her and it came back as extremely low sugar, less than most hays. She has also been fed on Marksway timothy haylage and marksway hi fibre haylage. She recovered from her last attack when I changed her onto that. But I needed to source something more affordable and thankfully the stuff I have now is very good. I think the lami attack is due to two things, I took her off the metformin, and I put her onto this new oatstraw product I found. :(

I must learn to stick with what is working for her.
 
Sending vibes!!

Its amazing how sensitive some horses can be :(. How wet is the haylage? Maybe the acidity could be causing a problem, too? I'm not sure if a buffer such as bicarbonate of soda would reach the hind gut, but it may be worth a try. You could also try the Halleys forage blocks for something to keep her occupied - they've all been analysed for NSC and mineral content (though given how sensitive she is you may want to contact the company first, to make sure all the crop was harvested at the same time, so is likely to have the same NSC content).

Fingers crossed you've caught it quickly enough.

ETA: Just seen that the haylage is dry, so not likely very acidic.
 
TwoStroke said:
Sending vibes!!

Its amazing how sensitive some horses can be :(. How wet is the haylage? Maybe the acidity could be causing a problem, too? I'm not sure if a buffer such as bicarbonate of soda would reach the hind gut, but it may be worth a try. You could also try the Halleys forage blocks for something to keep her occupied - they've all been analysed for NSC and mineral content (though given how sensitive she is you may want to contact the company first, to make sure all the crop was harvested at the same time, so is likely to have the same NSC content).

Fingers crossed you've caught it quickly enough.

ETA: Just seen that the haylage is dry, so not likely very acidic.
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Thank you. The haylage I have for her is like wrapped hay. It came back only 18% moisture, which is at the high end of most hay analysis. I have never had haylage so dry. I am wondering though if maybe I have fed her too much of it as the nets were lighter than usual I put a bit more in because it is very pallatable and she was getting through it so fast. The scales are coming back out again as I think I need to reduce her rations down, poor girl. :(
 
Delicious_D said:
Horse are ******s arent they :(

*loads of vibes from B, D and me :D *
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Yes, none of us are having much luck at our yard. The foal has had to have an op for his OCD. His Mum is being treated for gastric ulcers, the big WB is having to go to Rossdales for a bonescan for various ridden problems and obscure lameness, the cob 'is not right' but can't put our fingers on it, my boy has had the op for kissing spines but it has failed, and now this. We only have the lovely grey hanovarian in full action. We are all queueing up to ride him. :D
 
I'm wondering if it being a straw chop is relevant too. If it has higher levels of sugars I wonder if chopped increases speed of digestion so causing a big sugar uptake more quickly?

Hopefully stopping the straw will settle her symptoms. Fingers firmly crossed. x
 
amandap said:
I'm wondering if it being a straw chop is relevant too. If it has higher levels of sugars I wonder if chopped increases speed of digestion so causing a big sugar uptake more quickly?
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Yes, you could well be right there. It is lovely stuff. Oh well, it's off the menu now. I was so looking forward to seeing some lovely hoof growth as she's been on the pro hoof now for around three months. Now she's going to have another damn lami ring. :(

Better go and do my second shift of mucking out now. Thanks everyone for your support, as always. It really does help when I'm down about her. :)
 
Wishing her a speedy recovery, if she's going without forage becaused of limited haylage you could consider soaking the straw to remove the sugars?

I have had soaked straw recommended to me by a vet before for a lami case.
 
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