Mysterious death

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nippytoady

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Hiya, i was just wondering if anybody has any ideas on this? The vets don't know what caused it.
A couple of days ago a friends horse was found ill in the field. She has 2 paddocks and 2 horses. One of which is on loan to her off me. Her own horse was having difficulty breathing and she phoned for the vet to come. On arrival the vet said it was serious and nothing they could do. So they went to put him down but as they were about to the horse collapsed and died instantly. The vets asked to take his body away so they could try and find out what it was. They said his liver was completly damaged and it was definatly liver failure why he died. Also they said whatever it was that killed him must have been in the last 24 hours! Her horses have always been in the same fields, have the same routine, and they have been in these fields for years! There is nothing in the fields which could have done this, no poisonous plants/ trees! The fields have been checked.
They have also taken blood samples from my horse which have come back fine. We are really quite puzzled, as are the vets. Does anybody have ideas what could cause such quick liver failure?
Our only idea is that the horse was poisoned by somebody but where the horses are kept is down a private lane in a really quiet area and they dont have any disputes with anyone. So this seems like quite a far flung idea! We really doubt that someone would do this.
We are stumped on this one, any ideas?
Obviously im worried as my horse is now living by himself, his best mate has gone and is there a chance of it happening to him?
 
nippytoady said:
Hiya, i was just wondering if anybody has any ideas on this? The vets don't know what caused it.
A couple of days ago a friends horse was found ill in the field. She has 2 paddocks and 2 horses. One of which is on loan to her off me. Her own horse was having difficulty breathing and she phoned for the vet to come. On arrival the vet said it was serious and nothing they could do. So they went to put him down but as they were about to the horse collapsed and died instantly. The vets asked to take his body away so they could try and find out what it was. They said his liver was completly damaged and it was definatly liver failure why he died. Also they said whatever it was that killed him must have been in the last 24 hours! Her horses have always been in the same fields, have the same routine, and they have been in these fields for years! There is nothing in the fields which could have done this, no poisonous plants/ trees! The fields have been checked.
They have also taken blood samples from my horse which have come back fine. We are really quite puzzled, as are the vets. Does anybody have ideas what could cause such quick liver failure?
Our only idea is that the horse was poisoned by somebody but where the horses are kept is down a private lane in a really quiet area and they dont have any disputes with anyone. So this seems like quite a far flung idea! We really doubt that someone would do this.
We are stumped on this one, any ideas?
Obviously im worried as my horse is now living by himself, his best mate has gone and is there a chance of it happening to him?
Click to expand...

There has been something very similar going on in Australia- there have been posts on here about it plus on the Aus forum Cyberhorse. The consenus seems to be either rain leeching up chemicals from something buried underground or eating a fungus/mushroom..
Very sad situation- i hope your horse remains unaffected
 
There was a case in the bhs magazine re a horse owner in durham her horse died suddenly ,no prior signs and within a few hours of virus entering body he was dead.I dont have magazine but someone else might ?Sorry about your loss x
 
Hazarding a guess, could it be Atypical Myopathy?? This is something that is spreading across Europe and is baffling the experts. Here is a brief summary:

Released on 25/11/2009

"High autumn prevalence of atypical myopathy across europe"

We would like to alert practitioners that there has been extremely high prevalence of equine atypical myopathy this autumn. During October an unusually high number of cases has been observed in southern England and throughout northern Europe. This condition affects individual and groups of horses at pasture and has a high mortality rate. Young horses in poor to normal bodily condition are particularly prone to the condition and risk factors include cold, damp, frost-free weather and pastures with poor natural drainage and vegetation of low nutritional value. Affected horses have discoloured brown urine and are stiff and weak progressing to recumbency. In its early stages, the condition can be confused with colic or laminitis. Serum activities of creatine kinase and aspartate transaminase and urine myoglobin concentrations are extremely increased. Intensive supportive care is indicated."

I know of 2 horses who died - it happened so quickly it was unbelievable as they were otherwise healthy horses, grazing happily with no problems. Post mortems were carried out which confirmed it was Atypical Myopathy.
 
Just curious as to why they think it was quick poisoning, i've seen liver damage that was from years ago but had the same sudden death with no clinical signs before hand. Lead poisoning is another one that you might have to rule out, what are your trough's and the pipes leading to them made from?
 
We had a mid to late 20s shetland die in the summer where I keep mine. He was fine in the morning, but then found in distress later in the day. It was a hot day. The vet came and said it was massive liver failure. She dosed him up to give the owner time to make the necessary arrangements etc. but he took a bad turn for the worse the following morning. He was totally jaundiced, headpressing, sweating and showing mild seizure activity and self harming. Horrible to see and thankfully he was put down immediately. But there had been nothing wrong with him just 24 hours before. Very strange.
 
fatpiggy said:
We had a mid to late 20s shetland die in the summer where I keep mine. He was fine in the morning, but then found in distress later in the day. It was a hot day. The vet came and said it was massive liver failure. She dosed him up to give the owner time to make the necessary arrangements etc. but he took a bad turn for the worse the following morning. He was totally jaundiced, headpressing, sweating and showing mild seizure activity and self harming. Horrible to see and thankfully he was put down immediately. But there had been nothing wrong with him just 24 hours before. Very strange.
Click to expand...

We had a pony with these exact same symptoms, but we never had any outcome on what caused it. Even the vet at the time didn't have any ideas :(
 
nippytoady said:
Hiya, i was just wondering if anybody has any ideas on this? The vets don't know what caused it.
A couple of days ago a friends horse was found ill in the field. She has 2 paddocks and 2 horses. One of which is on loan to her off me. Her own horse was having difficulty breathing and she phoned for the vet to come. On arrival the vet said it was serious and nothing they could do. So they went to put him down but as they were about to the horse collapsed and died instantly. The vets asked to take his body away so they could try and find out what it was. They said his liver was completly damaged and it was definatly liver failure why he died. Also they said whatever it was that killed him must have been in the last 24 hours! Her horses have always been in the same fields, have the same routine, and they have been in these fields for years! There is nothing in the fields which could have done this, no poisonous plants/ trees! The fields have been checked.
They have also taken blood samples from my horse which have come back fine. We are really quite puzzled, as are the vets. Does anybody have ideas what could cause such quick liver failure?
Our only idea is that the horse was poisoned by somebody but where the horses are kept is down a private lane in a really quiet area and they dont have any disputes with anyone. So this seems like quite a far flung idea! We really doubt that someone would do this.
We are stumped on this one, any ideas?
Obviously im worried as my horse is now living by himself, his best mate has gone and is there a chance of it happening to him?
Click to expand...

Sorry to ask the question but when they did the PM did they examine the stomach contents for posions or see if the mouth or stomach lining was burned by possibly coming into contact with something posionous?

This is an interesting link: http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/horse-health/1999/august/21/liver-damage-in-horses.aspx
 
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We had a pony that did just this, was being ridden fine the day before....next evening was breathing hard and didn't want to more, got him in the stable, was sudated while vet tried to find out what it was and then he had a massive heart attack and died......owner didn't want a PM done as she said it doesn't bring the horse back. He was 20 so not old really.

All other horses in the field ok and still are.
 
Hi everyone,

I too have lost my youngster due to Atypical myopathy last week. I have a BSc in Equine Science and am using it to help collect research and have the help and backing of many veterinary surgeons also.

You can help as i am collecting information on all horses that have suffered from this tragic condition in order to correlate as much information so that we can develop a better understanding of the situation and try to begin to understand/find out what is causing it.

Could anyone with information please email me ruth.cassettari@virgin.net if you are happy to forward information it will be put to good use, blood test results would also be fantastic to get the best insight possible. Horse and hound are running an article on this condition this week. Keep smiling people - I know how devastating it is
 
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