My pony has laminitis help!!

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Phea09

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My miniature Shetland has laminitis!!..he's had it once before but when I didn't own him!!..the thing is he is losing weight as its winter so I made the mistake of giving him huge feeds twice a day (alfa-a and basic mix) and made sure he always had a full haynet!!..so he got laminitis from all of the starch I'm guessing!!..so I'm now stuck as he's always hungry and I'm scared to give him feed and he's loosing a lot of weight!!
What do I do??????..I want to be able to keep the weight on him and get rid of the laminitis!!..also he's doing no work he's just a companion!!
Would be so grateful for any advise!!
 
just give him forage - hay, soaked at that. Do you have a picture? What does your vet say, its pretty unusual for them to be skinny!
 
Your vet should be doing metabolic tests? For PPID, EMS, Insulin Resistance etc - laminitis in winter usually is metabolic in cause.

They'll also advise you on appropriate diet, low sugar/starch and high fibre.

Follow vets advice to letter, deep bed and assuming it is too frozen where you are to soak hay I'd use an appropriate forage replacer instead.
 
Laminitis is usually caused by too much sugar normally from growing grass. We had warm weather 2 weeks ago & the grass was growing well. My boy went down with it too. If this is your first experience of laminitis I suggest you think about asking your vet to visit the pony. They cab check you are doing everything right & give you advice on feeding to keep his weight stable. In the mean time get him into a stable or at least off the grass.
good luck
 
Cut out the mix and stop feeling sorry for him, being laminitic is far worse than being a bit hungry.

Soak all his hay for at least 12 hours, then rinse before feeding it to him, if you do this you may get away with giving him almost as much as he wants, my laminitic pony can have a large soaked haynet which keeps his weight up with no risk.
Fast Fibre is safe or the Lamintic feed both by Allen and Page could be fed in reasonable quantity so he gets something for any meds and will help stop him losing more weight than he needs to.

Testing him for metabolic issues may give you some help but it sounds as if this is due to a sugar and starch overload and should be easy to avoid in the future.
 
Sorry * didn't seem so ill!!..I just feel bad feeding all the horses and him being the odd one out!!..and he loves his food!!..the vet said give him hifi lite and add cod liver oil if I want him more weighty!!..is there anything I can do to help him recover??..his got rubber floor in his stable and a nice big bed so he's comfy!!
 
Ditto Be Positive.

Feeding huge feeds of mix to a laminitic shetland is imo criminally stupid. I'm sorry, that must sound very harsh, but imo you need to face up to the fact that a skinny pony is infinitely better than one with laminitis. If he is looking really poor, then feed ad lib well soaked hay, and as Be Positive said, fast fibre is safe. Some speedibeet will be more conditioning, and low in sugar and starch. Feed it in small quantities, however.

Have the vet run full bloods, and also ask the vet to condition score him.
 
You absolutely need to stop 'feeling sorry for him' - feel sorry for him that he has incredibly painful laminitis and harden your heart - you HAVE to be tough for his own benefit. You wouldnt just give a child more and more sweets and chips until they are twice the weight they should be - you pony relies on you the same way to do the right thing not the easy thing.

12 hour soaked hay (poss some oat straw or a molasses free chaff too) and a vit/min supplement is all this pony needs to eat. No mix, no nuts.
 
Work out and feed him 1.5% of his bodyweight, this way you are giving him enough without starving him. Always weigh & soak his hay but make sure you rinse it thoroughly afterwards, I'm aware this may be hard to do at the moment with the weather but as soon as possible soak his hay.
 
Follow your vet's advice and he'll get there. The oil will help him maintain condition but in a way, having dropped some weight before becoming unwell means he has less weight bearing down on his little hooves which will help him be more comfortable.
Rubber matting and a deep bed is perfect. Lots of fresh water and see if you can split his nets into smaller quantities and ask if they could be put in for him at certain times when you can't be there to ration his day's quota more evenly over 24 hrs.
Hope he feels better soon.
 
Maybe he actually needs to lose the weight? I would give him Soaked hay and if you want to feed him, a token amount of Hi Fi Lite (a small handful) Denying a horse who likes his food is far better than having a horse crippled with pain, would far rather a slightly lean, sound and pain free horse any day.
 
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