PONY WITH SUDDEN ONSET BREATHING ISSUES RELATED TO LIVER FUNCTION

He had bloods in August and 4 lots over the last 3 weeks but yes you are right! The liver is also very strange as internal organs go according to the vet who said bloods are useful but need to be taken with a pinch of salt and looked at as a whole picture...i.e is the patient well or not. Luckily for us our patient is very well...infact I wouldnt mind if he was a little less well lol he actually thinks hes a racehorse! 23213222_868016173373202_7578291895324721177_o.jpg
 
kingslane said:
Hi, first post for a long time and a new name!
So cutting a long story as short as possible...fit and healthy 11 year old 11.2 pony never had a days illness for 8 years very dramatically develops severe breathing problems...literally fine 1 hour, fighting for life the next with bi-lateral paralyzed layrnx...vets tubed and gave oxygen and eventually breathing stabalised but only with the tube in (no oxygen) and no movement, the minute he moved started struggling again. Blood tests took nothing obvious (vets words) and prognosis was permanent nerve damage and PTS. Travelled to the vets to say our goodbyes to be greeted by a neighing pony stomping about to get out and breathing 100% normal, scoped again and layrnx was back to normal! Vets actually said it was very strange and the only thing they could pin it down to was a bee sting which I must admit did ring true as there was a mark that could have been a sting on his layrnx and we had a lot of bees about at the time. Came home fit as a fiddle bossing the herd about and no signs of illness...infact he was perkier than normal! This was beginning of August.
Fast forward to Dec the 13th...breathing issues started again and another emergency trip to the vets. This time we knew it wasnt a bee sting so we had another look at the blood results from the previous episode...it had shown a SLIGHT rise in liver enzymes but at the time no one considered it could be related...we know now different which quite frankly pisses me off but thats another story!
So my question is do these results show any hope at all...these are the 3rd lot he had in the space of 6 days and there was enough improvement in them to let him come home and apart from anything he was driving them mad neighing at everyone and was abit of a handful lol...I would love to tell you what the previous results (hes had 4 lots done) were but despite numerous phone calls and emails ive never had a copy of them...hence why we are looking at changing vets.
ALP 31, ASTad 1329, AST69, BILE 36, CK585, GGT142, GLUC6.1, LDH 520, MAG0.73, TBIL49, TP78, UREA 21., GLOB47, GLDH 14, CREA18
Sorry for the long post but felt all the info was relevant in getting the bigger picture...also worth pointing out this pony has none of the signs of liver problems apart from the sudden onset breathing issues and has been with us 8 years.
Any first hand experiences of this sort of thing would be great, TY
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My 23 year old 12.1 pony had breathing/ colic symptoms 18 months ago and was rushed to vet hospital as they thought she had something stuck in her throat. 1k later of scopes etc and nothing was found and she was back to normal. 9 months later, she had another couple of mild episodes and then had blisters on her muzzle. Vet diagnosed liver failure and her bile acids were 94 and advised to PTS. Again she was fine the next day and blood results a week later were much better. She had a happy summer and autumn but presented with breathing difficulties again two weeks ago and I made the decision to have her PTS so she didn’t suffer anymore ?
 
Frank's had several tests over the last 3 years, did drop a bit but has never been totally within range. Seemed likely age as much as anything else in the end. -I think I have probably had similar conversations with my vet.
Been on bute the last 18 months because QOL was more important to me than length (he's 26 with a few other issues) and I partly expected the liver would flag up again but nothing.

Fab pic!
 
Our pony is 11 and vet has said he can function quite happily with his liver function as it currently stands and we are testing for allergens so things are looking alot more positive today, never any guarantees but lets face it with horses when is there ever! Im just happy he is well in himself and the liver results arent showing terminal decline. The photo is him 'racing' my sons 2 ex racehorses who now event...sums him up tbh!
 
Looks like he is certainly feeling better!! Glad it’s nothing too serious, my ponies dad had COPD and it was relatively easy to manage hopefully yours will be too!
 
kingslane said:
He had bloods in August and 4 lots over the last 3 weeks but yes you are right! The liver is also very strange as internal organs go according to the vet who said bloods are useful but need to be taken with a pinch of salt and looked at as a whole picture...i.e is the patient well or not. Luckily for us our patient is very well...infact I wouldnt mind if he was a little less well lol he actually thinks hes a racehorse! View attachment 39924
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You know what they say, " If you can't catch it, there isn't much wrong with it"!
 
Yes very true! Hopefully this post will give people who might be going through a similar thing a bit of hope...and to remember horses havent read the text books or google when it comes to there many and varied ailments! This pony was being PTS and if we hadnt asked for an hour or 2 to compose ourselves and say goodbye he wouldnt be here today...thankfully that 2 hours was all he needed to make a miraculous recovery...maybe he heard the vet on the phone to us and thought...oh gode ive hammed it up enough now...time to stop acting like im on deaths door!
 
kingslane said:
Yes very true! Hopefully this post will give people who might be going through a similar thing a bit of hope...and to remember horses havent read the text books or google when it comes to there many and varied ailments! This pony was being PTS and if we hadnt asked for an hour or 2 to compose ourselves and say goodbye he wouldnt be here today...thankfully that 2 hours was all he needed to make a miraculous recovery...maybe he heard the vet on the phone to us and thought...oh gode ive hammed it up enough now...time to stop acting like im on deaths door!
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I know somebody who booked the JCB to dig a grave for their elderly pony, only for him to get a new head of steam, and live several years longer.
 
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