Pony with raised liver enzymes

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mummblesmum

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Hi,
Daughter’s pony has been a little off colour, mainly lethargic and not as keen as usual. Called vet to give her an MOT. Bloods came back with raised liver enzymes (GGT 158) and another level raised slightly (not sure which one). Vet said liver function test result was normal. Also slightly abnormal white blood cells (immature cells?).
Vet recommended leave for a month and take another blood test to see if anything has changed. If worse or no better then to biopsy.
I have been googling etc and put pony on milk thistle supplement and Yea Sacc and put her on low protein diet.
Have owned said pony for 4 years and never had exposure to ragwort in paddock. She lives out all year and is only fed hay in winter. When she first became lethargic she was not on any hay so am assuming not caused by dried ragwort. Pony is only 9.
Vet said it could be from something viral or bacterial or something toxic.
The only change to her diet was when she first showed signs of lethargy I put her on a scoop of competition mix and gave her NAF EnerG supplement. Also her field this year was full of Burclover - could any of these things contribute to liver problems?
Also two weeks before bloods she was wormed with Equest Pramox and had her vaccinations done about 1 month prior to bloods.
Has anyone had any experience of this?
Vet didn’t want to give antibiotics or any other medication until a biopsy was done – is this usual – even if there is a chance of bacterial infection?
Any personal experience with liver issues anyone?
Thanks for reading.
 
Thanks. I did read about Fluke but don't think field has ever been grazed by sheep or cows. Not sure if it would still be contaminated though. Will mention to vet when she comes back next week.
 
Our pony had this as did another on the yard. We did exactly as you did, milk thistle low protein etc. When retested a month later enzymes were considerably lower, nearly normal. We think it was a reaction to something eaten in the field.
 
Are her gums yellow and the whites of her eyes, is she very lethargic and not eating, could be hepatitis but i am sure vet looked for this when checking the results, ask him just in case. Hepatitis can also be viral or from something toxic in even they hay.
 
Don't think she has jaundice. Eating fine with a good appetite. You wouldn't know she was not herself. Only ridden is she more lethargic and she is not whizzy to start with!
 
My mare had high liver enzymes. Pretty sure they were due to a batch of hay that was high in iron, manganese and selenium.
 
Several years ago we had a very similar situation with our 12 year old pony. This was picked up incidentaly with blood testing as he was drinking a lot.
He had a normal liver ultrasound and biopsy and the specialist vet suggested we test the other four horses on the yard even though they had no symptoms (our pony was just a little off colour).
All of them also had seriously raised results. The poor YO got environmentalists in, had the hay analysed etc to no avail.
The vets presumed it had been viral and said they had a similar picture at another yard.
All had normal levels 9 months later after careful low protein diets/liver remedies and I felt sorry I had put our pony through the biopsy.
 
One of my ponies had raised liver enzymes back in may. He's out on loan so not exactly sure what made loaner get the vet think it was him being colicky and lethargic (more so than normal anyway), also had low white blood cell count.

He was on antibiotics for a week or two and kept calm, comfortable etc and started to pick up after a few days I think can't really remember and liver enzymes were nearly normal after a week of antibiotics but white blood cell still down. They said it was because of a nasty viral infection.

Hope your pony gets back to normal soon.
 
I had the exact same thing with my gelding last month. He was a bit lethargic for a few weeks, so I bought some high protein, badminton top up which stated 'stamina without fizz' which was exactly what I thought he needed to get him fitter....

Then he had his vaccination, and was *really* lethargic, and was doing something very strange when grazing (almost like a stiff neck). There was no sign of swelling where the vacine went in though.

I called the vet 2 days after the vaccinations as he wasn't getting better. Vet took bloods which showed raised liver enzymes.

They then had to come and take more blood to run a liver function test and more liver specific tests (or something!).....from what I understand it, his function was fine and the enzymes were only just out of the normal range, so he is now on a low protein diet (obviously, no badminton top-up!!), and milk thistle, and then is having more bloods taken after a month....which will be next week.

Its very odd....perhaps I should get our hay checked.....Could it be that the bad summer has made everyones hay unsuitable?
 
Maisy that sounds very similar to our situation but pony didn't appear to have a stiff neck. I did forget to say in my post that she had some sort of virus/cold a couple of days before I called the vet out. She had a clear dripping nose and was obviously under the weather but no cough. She appeared to be better by the time the vet came out though. I hope she is okay as we are really worried about her :( - let me know Maisy how your next lot of blood results go.
 
I have the same problem with 3 horses at my yard. I am looking at the possibility that mycotoxins are causing the problem, We have had a very wet summer, ideal conditions for moulds to produce mycotoxins. I would be very careful indeed when feeding haylage made by a farmer from this year's grass.
 
My mare was ripping herself to shreds as result of poor liver function. Been on milk thistle 6 months now on vets advice and looking great.
 
Yep, same here. Pony just not quite right, worse when ridden.

Had the vet out for a general MOT and liver enzymes moderate.

Vet says he cant eat anything but grass. Is to rest for 3 weeks and has prescribed aloe vera juice to aid recovery. He's going to do another blood test in a month to see if he's improved.

Vet seems to think it has something to do with the grass being so sugary due to the wet, warm summer. I did have problems with hooves this year for the same reason so makes sense.

He never has additional food during the summer and we make our own hay so really dont think its food realated. The vet tested the bloods for bacterial and viral infections and there was nothing.
 
I have never heard of this before much until this last year or so! I find it odd?

I know of 2 horses that have it - one i'm not sure whats happening with atm as i've not seen the person for a bit but last i heard it was still resting.
The other has had this over a year now and the vets have basically given up with it (lots of antibiotics/steriods etc) and the insurance has now ended (and maxed out). I think they basically expect it not to improve and continue to go downhill. So its a wait and see scenario. But fluke was ruled out, there is no ragwort (but obviously cant rule out poison) and her other horse seems fine.
 
There are loads of posts on liver damage in the Vet section, well worth a wee read. My own ponies had hepatitis from an unknown source, not poisoned and I have lost one and the other had a GGT of 1600+ when last measured in February. A high fibre, low protein diet was prescribed for mine, he won't eat the milk thistle or Yea Sacc any more, and in my exerience they didn't help anyway. Good luck.
 
My horse is on field rest after blood test revealed a high enzyme level with would be attributed to either liver dysfunction or digestive dysfunction. She is now on 2 weeks field rest with just grass, hay And oil
 
Could fat in the liver cause raised enzymes? (No idea what the technical terms are)
I know alot of ponies especially mini shetlands & donkeys are prone to that(hyperlipaemia). It seems to be a problem for shetland breeders from what I have read and nobody seems to know the reason for it. I havnt done much research into the subject but from everything I have read non of the cases where in where they both originated from, I think the diet change could be the reason or a contribution at least as both adapted to living on virtually thin air and alot are kept on grass year round or if not given feeds with high protein contents like you mention.


For humans goldenseal is recommend but lowers the blood sugar so you would want to research and check with your vet first before using it. Its also best to use it on its own rather than bought in a mix.

Goosegrass is a great liver cleanse and detoxifier, it increases bile production. Although would think it would be difficult to get hold of this time of year. I've never tried buying it though as its grown rampant everywhere I've been.

Nettles are also great and have been shown to change the enzyme levels, you would have to buy a supplement though because the majority of nettles around at the moment are not good quality and its the young spring nettles that are the best. Link here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/369693-nettle-extract-benefits/

I wrote an article on my old blog on nettles a while back but wont link it as im sure your not suppose to link any of your own pages. I could PM it though, its just listing the general uses of nettles for equines.
 
Monkers said:
I have the same problem with 3 horses at my yard. I am looking at the possibility that mycotoxins are causing the problem, We have had a very wet summer, ideal conditions for moulds to produce mycotoxins. I would be very careful indeed when feeding haylage made by a farmer from this year's grass.
Click to expand...

Personally would not feed ponies on haylage because it is higher in protein. Soaked meadow hay. Also if alot of clover has been grown in the meadow hay that will make the protein content go up.

Ideally I would want it mainly made up of timothy hay, but ideally ideally... I have never bought hay in bale form before and everyone I have known or worked for seems to have problems getting good hay. Even if they have gotten the right content it ends up being half mouldy.
 
I had this problem this year. Barn dropped off weight over the winter and when other things didn't work, vet took bloods. it came back with raised liver enzymes so he had a month on a supplement and his feed changed. He looked great again but the second bloods came back worse so he had a biopsy, which came back fine and was put on steroids for a month. The vets don't really know what caused it and the steroids cleared it up. There does seem to be a lot of it around but in our case, other than money, it didn't turn out to be serious.

I hope you're pony picks up soon.
 
OP, there are a few horses/ponies in my area showing the same symptoms and similar blood results. Different vets at different yards have come to the same conclusion of a viral infection, suggested rest, liver support and re-testing in a couple of weeks.
 
Wow there seems to be a lot of this going round. Not sure if the change of diet contributed or not as she was already lethargic and that is why we added hard feed to her diet. Previously she was just on grass. I suppose it is a waiting game now to see if she is any worse/better from next blood tests.
 
Well latest bloods came back today slightly worse than last time :(

Booked in for biopsy and scan next week.

She seems better in herself - was hoping she was on the mend....oh we'll.
 
mummblesmum said:
Well latest bloods came back today slightly worse than last time :(

Booked in for biopsy and scan next week.

She seems better in herself - was hoping she was on the mend....oh we'll.
Click to expand...

Just going through this with my 20 year old arab. He dropped of loads of weight over 2 months despite good grass and feed. Called the vet, blood tests showed his GGT(gamma-glutamyl transferase) levels were massively raised, they should be around 35 to 40, his were 650 which means there is liver damage. I'm 99 per cent certain it's not ragwort related, I've owned the horse for 14 years and know exactly where he's been and what he's eaten...but...there's always the 1 per cent of uncertainty. He went for a scan, which showed no abnormalities, and a biopsy which did. He's now on steroids for a month in an attempt to slow down and /or stop the damage.

Apart from the weight loss, oh dear he looks SO thin, thank god for rugs or I'm sure some random member of the public would report me...apart from that...he seems so well in himself, shiny coat, bright eyed and not lethargic. Vet says it might be a virus or liver fluke, I'm waiting on the results of that but have had the rest of the herd given a liver fluke drench just in case.

Good luck with your pony....
 
Just been through this as well, out on grass over the summer no extra feed, started to get really greasy scabs on her legs then her muzzle. She ended up with no hair on her nose upto about noseband level, very red and sore.
Vet came out took bloods, diagnosed high liver enzymes she went in for a biopsy, they diagnosed a form of hepatitis but didn't know much more than that.
She is now on milk thistle, took more bloods 2 weeks ago, two of her liver enzymes are back to normal, one is still high so will be taking bloods again in January as this particular enzyme has a longer half life that the others.

She also has what looks like an over reach on her heel but it is on a hind leg and she lives alone, very clever if she can do it herself :eek: Speaking to others in the area with horses they also have similar cuts on heels and scabs on white areas exactly the same as us.
 
Kayfamily, a friend has just had exactly the same with her horse, the scabs on heels and muzzle, luckily he's recovering now since being on copious amounts of steroids and his levels are almost back to normal.

It does make you wonder what on earth is going on, there seems to be loads of cases of liver problems with horses this year. Maybe it's the weather?
 
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