Pony with liver problems

[Sarah04]

Hi , My pony had a routine blood test in February offered with a winter health check. The results showed slightly raised liver enzymes so we put him on a supplement . We retested a month later and they were a bit better. We then did a 3rd blood test and the results were higher than the original test. We took a liver biopsy this week and it shows fibrosis tissue so the vet has advised steroids and vitamin E for 2 months. Has anyone else had liver problems with their pony? My pony is 17 Years and seems fit and well (apart from a bout of lami 2 years ago, ems, arthritis in hocks and cushings!)

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Hi , My pony had a routine blood test in February offered with a winter health check. The results showed slightly raised liver enzymes so we put him on a supplement . We retested a month later and they were a bit better. We then did a 3rd blood test and the results were higher than the original test. We took a liver biopsy this week and it shows fibrosis tissue so the vet has advised steroids and vitamin E for 2 months. Has anyone else had liver problems with their pony? My pony is 17 Years and seems fit and well (apart from a bout of lami 2 years ago, ems, arthritis in hocks and cushings!)

Yes I had two with liver issues, my boy was short lived and went down, my pony started last Jan and they did not go down till October. We found out through process of ellimination it was the hay. So we changed to haylage blue and within a month they dropped by allot, we monitor her feed so she gets a little Fibergy and Legaphyton and 4 licorice twists at lunchtime. No oil of any type and blue haylage, I would try remove the hay as sometimes rubbish gets into hay if the farmers get too close to the edges.


There is lots of previous help for liver here http://horse-care-and-advice.weebly.com/l.html

 

[BBP]

My ponys levels have taken 3 years to go down to normal. (GGT has been up to 800, normal high end is 50, so quite high). To be fair I didn't do anything aggressive to deal with it as his function tests were normal (bile etc), so I gave milk thistle but that was it. He stayed in work but I monitored bloods routinely to check he wasn't getting worse. He has looked amazing and been full of energy the whole time (we have a lot of other issues so I stopped worrying about the liver and just made sure his diet was low fat, iron and protein). My friend treated hers with steroids and milk thistle but his bile had been elevated. We think it's likely to be mycotoxins in the grass and hay.

 

[Birker2020]

and 4 licorice twists at lunchtime.

Your comment about licorice twists caught my eye. I feed my horse licorice, not for any reason other than because he loves the taste of it and my partner buys it from Aldi as it is a cheap treat.

If you feed it for liver problems and in such a small amount, do you know if it can cause adverse effects in a horse that doesn't have any liver problems as such?

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Your comment about licorice twists caught my eye. I feed my horse licorice, not for any reason other than because he loves the taste of it and my partner buys it from Aldi as it is a cheap treat.

If you feed it for liver problems and in such a small amount, do you know if it can cause adverse effects in a horse that doesn't have any liver problems as such?

New to me, I used to give more to her but vet said 4 twist only, we only keep her on it to keep good things in the liver as we not sure if she is 100% normal so keep her on the liver support as per vet. My other two get it as a treat now and then as my boy had raised liver over a year ago. I got the info from a liver support/ treatment page, hence why I started using it