Polyneuritis equi

pastel

pastel

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 October 2008
Messages
101
Visit site
Hi, I posted this Veterinary but no replies so trying here
Has anyone any experience of this syndrome? I run a retirement home for horses, we have a 34 yr old mare who has quite a few symptoms pointing at this Polyneuritis Equi syndrome. We are watching her behaviour closely but she is very wobbly behind , bladder not working well and few other similar symptoms,
 
pastel said:
Hi, I posted this Veterinary but no replies so trying here
Has anyone any experience of this syndrome? I run a retirement home for horses, we have a 34 yr old mare who has quite a few symptoms pointing at this Polyneuritis Equi syndrome. We are watching her behaviour closely but she is very wobbly behind , bladder not working well and few other similar symptoms,
Click to expand...

So sorry to hear about your mare's illness. I hope my story might help you a little.

Alas I lost my beloved horse earlier this year to the horrible illness Polyneuritis Equi. It's a very rare disorder, so there's so little known about the illness, but it's thought to be an auto-immune related disorder where the horse's anti-bodies attack the nerves myelin sheath, resulting in neurological problems, mostly to the 'rear end'.

I can only tell you of my horse's problems and hope they may shed some light on your mare's illness. My horse's problems started over 4 years ago when he was 12 years old. He seemed quiet, but looked okay and his eyes were bright and his coat shiny. He'd been rubbing his tail, but I just assumed it was Spring midges making him a little itchy. I washed his tail and noticed that his dock felt a little stiff, but just thought it might be due to him making himself a little sore from the tail rubbing. A week or so later my boy went down with colic after his breakfast and I had the vet out. I mentioned the tail rubbing and also that he'd not been moving his tail much and that information rang a few bells with the vet. She gave him a rectal examination and found he was impacted with no anal tone (no muscle tone in his bum). The vet wasn't sure, but seemed to recall something called Cauda Equina Syndrome (the old fashioned name for Polyneuritis Equi) from her text book days at vet school... then she cleared off and left me with no advice and no way forward.

From that initial, tentative diagnosis, there followed two more vets and a grave prognosis by one of them, silence from the other. My boy was given a few weeks at the very best to live.

My boy got worse before he got better. He lost bladder control completely and couldn't pass droppings and his tail was paralysed... and his 'bits' were dangly and he got regular bouts of cystitis, which gave him a fever. He was lethargic and wouldn't go to the paddock. He stood in the stable resting for most of the time, apart from when I could gently persuade his to go for a short, in hand amble in the village. Sometimes he couldn't muster enough energy to walk 200m. He was a very poorly horse and I wondered whether I was being cruel by not calling time on him. But something made me persevere.

I scoured the internet for info on the illness, but didn't find much and what I did find was depressing. The biggest problem was the bouts of colic caused by my horse's inability to pass droppings. I figured that if I could sort that major issue out, mother nature might help out with the rest. Against my vet's advice, I bought stacks of disposable gloves and lubricating gel and 'raked out' my horse once every 3 hours... for 6 months ( I could leave him for 6 hours at night as this is when the digestive system tends to slow down a little). It was scary at first, and you have to be very careful not to injure the soft bowel tissue.... and of course you have to trust your horse not to kick!!! After a couple days he seemed more comfortable and by a couple of weeks he improved generally, having enough energy to go to the paddock. He continued to gradually improve as the months went on. His energy levels increased and he started to regain bladder control. His tail moved a little but not much.

After 6 months, my horse was well and he regained anal tone and feeling, but was left with some residual nerve damage elsewhere. His bladder was a little weak (he'd dribble a bit when he needed to pee) and he didn't regain movement in his tail, apart from a slight movement when he passed droppings. He suffered the odd bout of cystitis (once or twice a year) caused by his bladder not emptying fully - a week's course of anti-biotics would clear the infection. He started to get short bouts of what we think was sciatica - these happened about once every 6 months and lasted on and off for a few minutes over a few days, then he'd be as right as rain again. I gave him Danilon when he had the sciatica. He wasn't ridden as the sciatica would appear from nowhere and make his legs buckle.

Sadly, the illness came back fully with a vengeance this year and it affected my horse's back legs this time, as well as the other rear end issues mentioned previously. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't save him this time.

I'm not sure what worked for those treasured 4 years, but I fed him on a diet of high fibre cubes soaked in warm water to make a mash. He had a generous amount of oil in his diet too (increased gradually over several weeks until he was on about 200ml of sunflower oil a day split over 3 or 4 small mash feeds), a chaff with 10% oil already added to the mash, virtually adlib grazing and or high fibre haylage/with some hay. Vit. E is good for neurological disorders, so he had 1000 - 2000 iu daily (I bought mine from Holland and Barrett - it needs to be the natural tocopherols, not the synthetic). Keeping my boy's digestive system active with lots of moist, high fibre food helped to ensure he didn't get constipated due to any possible residual rear end weakness. I also gave him a general vitamin and mineral supplement for a month, twice yearly and he had free access to a salt block and clean water at all times.

Cleanliness is a big issue to prevent urine scald. I used warm salt water to wash my horse's sheath, legs and bum, patted dry with a clean towel (terry nappies are great for this as they can go on a boil wash), followed by petroleum jelly on the bits of my horses legs that got splashed with urine. Flamozine cream was also used sparingly (it's expensive) on sore spots that needed a little more care than just a blob of vaseline. Nappy rash cream can be used but my boy was allergic to the brands I tried.

So although it wasn't all sunshine and roses, my horse recovered sufficiently to lead a happy, active, retired life for 4 years and there are a few success stories out there of horses that recover fully.

I do hope this info hasn't come too late and that it helps. Best wishes
 
Thanks for your reply, it is nearly a year since I posted this, Polly wasn,t my own horse she was a mare we cared for here at Happy Horse Retirement Home, she was 34 and fit and well . as you can imagine on our yard we have all sorts of ailments some vets have never seen before but we are used to that but Polly just baffled me and the vets, she suddenly went downhill over a period of 2 weeks, her eyesight in the left eye went, she had cycstitis , and was very uncoordinated , we gave her antibiotics for the cystitis but she lost her appetite and went downhill rapidly we decided the kindest thing to do was to PTS , my vet had never seen it before in a horse but came to the conclusion with all her symptoms that is was poly neuritis equi syndrome , Thankyou for your reply anyway, it always helps to have information form other people as we learn something every day
Nicky
 
That was very interesting Cobbytype and you certainly worked hard on your horse's care. I'll admit this is something I've never come across but it's always good to learn something new.
 
Thank you both for posting this.

Very sorry to hear that you have had/are having to deal with what sounds to be an awful disease.

It's only by getting stuff like this out in the open that we can all learn and move forwards. Tbh I'm now dreading that it will happen to my oldies, but if it does at least I will be a little better prepared for what is to come and will be more likely to identify it for what it is which should the worst happen can only be a good thing, even with the rotten prognosis.
 
Hi Nicky,

Sorry to hear that Polly lost the battle against PE - it's an awful disease. I was very lucky initially in that the problems weren't too bad with Jasper's hind legs and there was very little wobbliness, but it sounds as though Polly's PE took a much greater hold from the outset.

FairyLights - yes, I'd liken Polyneuritis Equi to MS - they can both lay dormant for a while, but it's always there waiting to flare up and they are both auto-immune related disorders.

The vets know so little about PE, but I've a feeling that it's more common than they think. The initial onset can be so slight that symptoms can go unnoticed and it's only when something like an impaction colic occurs that the jigsaw puzzle starts to click into place. My thoughts are that some horses are lost through impaction colic before the other symptoms come to light.

My vet's 'bible' had one paragraph on PE and that was research conducted in the 1970's. Things have moved on since then and there is a glimmer of hope for a lucky few - even if it's only for a few years, as was the case with my horse.

I had the choice of sending Jasper to a veterinary hospital - but he was so very poorly and weak at the diagnosis stage that I didn't see the point of putting him through the trauma of travelling when there's no cure or treatment for PE.

A very wise horsey friend of mine gave me some very valuable advice - "keep him interested in his food". I switched from hay to haylage and would add tasty bits of biscuit to his somewhat boring high fibre cube mashes. I dug up a few dandelions here and there (they are a diuretic) and picked armfuls of stinging nettles (they are full of nutrients) and let them wilt a while before feeding them. Anything I could think of to keep him interested in life/eating. My role was putting food in one end, then taking it out the other - the bit in the middle was Mother Nature's department. The oil added to his diet helped in two ways - to keep his digestive tract lubricated and to get some calories into him. I think Jasper's age (12) had a lot to do with his initial recovery - the onset came at a time when he was in his prime and an otherwise very fit and well horse.

And of course the 'raking out'. The vets books say twice daily which is a joke. We all know how much dung a horse produces and a twice daily rake out isn't enough. Horses don't pooh twice daily - a 'rake out' every 3 hours reduces the risk of impaction and if Jasper looked a bit 'gripey', I'd do him every one and a half hours to make sure a blockage didn't occur. Once Jasper's digestive system speeded up (it took weeks), his health improved dramatically. The first time I took him to the paddock and he decided to be an absolute thug (he reared up and walk on his hind legs, span around and jogged) I knew I'd done the right thing by not giving in and having him PTS.

The extra 4 years were brilliant. My horse was a big strapping 'drum horse' type, quite capable of throwing his weight around... and I'm petite. I had to stand behind him with my gloves and gel and go where the sun doesn't shine, several times a day. I had to crawl under his belly to clean his 'bits' and thighs. And once you've done that, there's no fear... ever... of your horse, because the trust in each other is there and the bond formed is just amazing.

Best wishes.
 
I lost a mare to this condition about three years ago. In her case, it was a very fast thing, from diagnosis, to loss. In all, I think it was about four weeks. As far as we know, she was fit and healthy in all ways, then one day I noticed she was weeing blood, at that point she was turned away, so we'd not noticed any issue with walking. Apparently the blood part was down to her being unable to fully empty her bladder, which had caused internal soreness, and then the blood as a result. She was washed out, and a full neuro exam done, when it became clear that her hindlegs were implicated too. Over the following four weeks, she deteriorated, and became close to dangerous - on her final day, walking in from the field, she slipped and nearly took my OH out. She still couldn't fully empty her bladder. We lost her that day following review. I was lucky that my vets spotted it very quickly, but unlucky to have had it at all - they said at the time it was incredibly rare.
 
varkie said:
I lost a mare to this condition about three years ago. In her case, it was a very fast thing, from diagnosis, to loss. In all, I think it was about four weeks. As far as we know, she was fit and healthy in all ways, then one day I noticed she was weeing blood, at that point she was turned away, so we'd not noticed any issue with walking. Apparently the blood part was down to her being unable to fully empty her bladder, which had caused internal soreness, and then the blood as a result. She was washed out, and a full neuro exam done, when it became clear that her hindlegs were implicated too. Over the following four weeks, she deteriorated, and became close to dangerous - on her final day, walking in from the field, she slipped and nearly took my OH out. She still couldn't fully empty her bladder. We lost her that day following review. I was lucky that my vets spotted it very quickly, but unlucky to have had it at all - they said at the time it was incredibly rare.
Click to expand...

I'm so sorry about your mare Varkie. Jasper did show traces of blood in his urine from time to time, but it only showed on the urine test sticks and didn't discolour his urine. It coincided with a bladder infection.

My boy's legs went 'this time around' and yes, it becomes dangerous and distressing. All the other symptoms can be managed to a certain extent, one way or another, but they're such big animals when their legs go, which makes us helpless in helping them. I had to walk Jasper 400m through the village from paddock to stable and had two helpers to support him and keep the traffic at bay whilst we hobbled home for the last time on the Monday. I lost my boy the day after my Mum's funeral and like to think he held on to see me through. He'd not had a lie down for 2 days - I think he knew that when he did, he wouldn't be able to get up again.

I hope life has been kinder to you since your loss. Best wishes.
 
This brings back awful memories to me from 4 years ago. My mare started holding her tail strangely and then suffered colic. She was positively diagnosed with Polyneuritis equi and sadly despite treatment from expert vets - nothing could be done to save her and she was PTS within a week. She had foaled a year earlier and I still have her son who is now 5, but I worry terribly that some aspect of the disease might be hereditary and watch my boy like a hawk for any signs.
 
Toraylac said:
This brings back awful memories to me from 4 years ago. My mare started holding her tail strangely and then suffered colic. She was positively diagnosed with Polyneuritis equi and sadly despite treatment from expert vets - nothing could be done to save her and she was PTS within a week. She had foaled a year earlier and I still have her son who is now 5, but I worry terribly that some aspect of the disease might be hereditary and watch my boy like a hawk for any signs.
Click to expand...

How sad for you Toraylac - I'm sorry this thread brought it all back.

Try and take the positive in that your mare left you a wonderful legacy - her son for you to treasure and adore.

I spent my life worrying about the obvious/common complaints that horses get: laminitis, lameness, gas colic etc., only to be met with something completely off the radar, so try not to let the PE cloud your time with your 5 year old.

I cannot say whether PE has any genetic predisposition or not and I suppose with it being so rare, the veterinary profession won't have any answers either. My own vet lost his Mum to Motor Neuron Disease and his view was that PE was much like MND in that it's just one of those unfortunate things, without any obvious cause.

In hindsight, I think my horse had very mild issues for quite some time, years in fact, but they were so very slight that they were put down to quirks and foibles. Jasper was always had a very slight twist in his left hind leg and it was his left hand side that was mostly affected by the PE - whether the PE just showed up more on his weaker side, or whether the PE was always there... I'll never know. He was always a little awkward with the farrier with his hind legs too. It's all still very raw for me at the moment, so I'm tending to go over and over things in my mind, trying to find out a reason, why why why?

Enjoy your mare's son and try not to fret too much about his health. Best wishes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top