odema????

[pixiebee]

my pony has just been diagnosed with a 'pissing odema' ??? anyone know what this is??? the vet said possible causes are worms(he is wormed but may be the worms are resistant to the wormer given) vigerous excercise one day then being stabled for ther week after?? or something internal? he has taken bloods and given an anti inflammetry and ive been told to walk him as much as possible to get the swelling down. i cant find much on the net about it or what long term prognosis is?????
ps if it could be worm caused, does this mean petplan wont cover the vet fees, as i know they dont cover anything which could have been prevented ie vaccinations etc even though i have been worming my pony??????????

 

[Dougie]

do u mean pitting odema

 

[pixiebee]

hehe i dont know!! quite possibly yes!!!!!

 

[Nailed]

an odema is a cavity of the body filled with a fluid.. for example an odema of the tendon is when the tendon is damaged and the sheaths fill with fluid.
Lou x

 

[Fairynuff]

Thanks for making me laugh, 'bloody pissing oedemas', there all over the place

. Seriously though, where are they? mairi.

 

[ann-jen]

Oedema is just fluidy swelling under the skin and pitting means that when you press the swelling it stays indented and doesn't immediately spring back out.
Just because you have regularly wormed your horse wouldn't rule out worm damage as a possible cause. Basically if a previous owner never wormed him and he had a hefty worm burden at some point in his life it could have caused damage to the lining of his gut. This will cause problems with protein absorption across the gut wall. If protein levels in the blood become too low then oedematous swellings can follow as fluid leaks out of the blood via osmosis.
There are other possible causes but wait until you get the blood test results as they will probably rule out a lot of them.

 

[pixiebee]

thanks for the advice! i thaught it sounded funny when i thaught the vet said 'pissing'!!! must have been his welsh accent!! hehe!
ps..thje swelling is just under his belly, behind his girth along to his belly button.!

 

[ann-jen]

No problem. Let us know when you get the blood test results when you get them. Hope everything is ok.

 

[pixiebee]

got the results-its a protein losing enteropathy???????? im still waiting on the tests to tell the exact cause of it? vet has taken 2 blood tests and poo sample. poo sample came out clear but proteins/enzymes in blood werent good. vet thinks it could either be worms(even though egg count in poo was clear??) , colitis??? or possible tumour but doesnt think so becasuse of my ponies age (13) he is eating fine and seems alert, pooing normally too...so i dont know whats going on, can anybody please enlighten me, im going mad thinking what it could be. what is long term prognosis, does it ever go away or is special treatment/surgery needed? will he ever be ridable back to full health???????????????????????????????????????????

 

[1black1brown]

"Protein-losing enteropathy" is a catchall name for a group of problems that can affect a horse's intestinal tract, ultimately resulting in nutrient malabsorption and loss of the body's protein. A horse can develop a protein-losing enteropathy following any colitis (such as with salmonella), ulcer disease, or severe parasitism. Here, the main concern is to treat the underlying disease. However, when the protein-losing enteropathy appears to show up without some underlying disease, it might be due to widespread intestinal tumors such as lymphosarcoma or a condition known as granulomatous enteritis.

Granulomatous enteritis can affect all ages of horses. In this condition, different types of white blood cells will infiltrate the intestinal wall, possibly stimulated by an infection or immune/ allergic-type response. This cellular infiltration, along with certain other changes in the cells of the intestinal lining, reduces the ability of the gut to absorb nutrients such as carbohydrates and allows proteins to leak out from the intestinal wall, where they are subsequently lost in the feces.

The signs are weight loss, lethargy, sometimes diarrhea, and ventral edema. Laboratory tests might show that the horse is low in protein, and he might fail a glucose absorption test. Sometimes examination of a rectal biopsy sample or, better, small intestine biopsy samples taken during surgical exploration, will show the cellular infiltration. Unfortunately, the various treatments that have been employed (steroids, antimicrobials, resection of affected intestine) are often not successful and might only control the progression of the disease for a short time.

Hope this helps