Possible laminitis

danda

danda

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I have a 25 year old TB (retired now). His main problem is COPD (I think this now has a new name)', he also has developed Cushings. He lives out with a good shelter and rugs but looses weight easily and has fairly rich food from Dodson & Horrell to keep on weight. He saw the vet yesterday who gave him the necessary for his breathing. He eats well and it is one of the few pleasures left I feel. The vet said to keep an eye on him as his front feet were warm and he could feel a pulse. I have never had a horse with laminitis but seem to remember that it is made worse by rich (sugar?) food, spring grass etc. I know he is on his way out as his immune system is not much good but try to keep him as comfortable as possible while he is still enjoying himself. Any info/advice re laminitis that could be applied to an old and rather bad tempered boy would be much appreciated.
 
I think you probably have to risk him losing weight in order to prevent him getting laminitis, he is showing signs that it is imminent so you need to act quickly to reduce the sugar/ starch in his diet, the rich feed whatever it is probably needs to be replaced by something very low in starch/ sugar, less than 10% total, ideally any hay should be soaked, which it probably anyway is as he has breathing issues.
Often something like COPD can cause them to get stressed which adds to the risk of laminitis, the grass will be coming through now so another risk factor to take into account when looking at his diet.
 
The advice for laminitis is to keep off sugary feeds and restrict grass intake, particularly when it is "rich" or frozen. Some have to be stabled and fed soaked hay, which is also the diet for cushings. If a horse has laminitis and recovers, then they should be doing as much exercise as possible to keep their weight off.

Seems your horse has conflicting needs, as he needs to be kept out for the COPD. Cushings can be controlled with drugs, but it does not get better and they are more susceptible to laminitis with it and also become prone to other health problems (as described by my vet last year when my pony developed laminitis connected with cushings).

I don't mean to be brutal, but at 25, in your position I think I would be considering his future. If eating is his last pleasure, having to restrict feed will make him miserable.
 
Has he had his bloods tested since he had the laminitis to check his dose of Prascend is still correct? As you probably know laminitis is associated with Cushings so it important it is controlled correctly.
 
Last edited:
Gloi said:
Has he had his bloods tested since he had the laminitis to check his dose of Prascend is still correct? As you probably know laminitis is associated with Cushings so it important it is controlled correctly.
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He was only diagnosed with Cushings 2 months ago so I know nothing about the interactions of theses diseases. I see more and more clearly that he cannot go on for long as one cannot deal with theses conflicting diseases properly. The vet , I think, is preparing me for letting him go, he says it is no point to give him medication for the Cushings. I will check out the exact contents of his current hard food and see if feasible to change. He was such a beautiful boy but like all of us, I guess with age and illness we change, it is so hard and difficult to make the right decisions.
 
What did his count come back as when he was tested? We have two 26 year olds with Cushings who have been on Prascend for the past year and they are doing well on it. One of them has COPD and has had laminitis in the past but not recently. They are out all year round, strip grazed in summer and in winter get some haylage and get quite a lot of low sugar soaked feeds as their teeth aren't as good as they were. They are both looking well so don't feel there's nothing you can do, though it's your choice. Being on Prascend has really helped them both.
 
He does have conflicting problems but it is manageable. My lad has COPD and is susceptible to laminitis and I suspect he is borderline cushings too but cannot blood test him for other reasons and has arthritis. I stable my lad at night throughout the entire year to break up the grass he has and lower the risk of him going over the edge and getting laminitis. He is on ad lib soaked hay which I weigh religiously and is on carefully managed grazing throughout the year. I give him a Feedmark supplement for his COPD and started him on one for cushings some months ago and touch wood, he has not had the laminitis problems this winter that he had last winter. It really is managing things but the laminitis is more of a worry than the COPD in my opinion and I would prioritise that first and think about reducing the hard feed and upping the good quality hay at all times.
 
Definately reduce hard feed and as others have said, lots of soaked hay would be your best bet. I understand you wanting him to enjoy nice tasting food though! The odd carrot and apple shouldn't do any harm but they are also said to be quite high in natural sugar. Just try to keep a good balance of what he gets. I'm pretty sure you can get horse licks for laminitis prone horses which could be an idea. Good luck!
 
If he were mine, I would ask the vet to prescribe the prascend. It is not much of a life for a horse to be restricted due to laminitis and it might be that the prascend will settle his feet down without you having to restrict him too much (though you still will need to cut down his sugars). I fought cushings related laminitis for over two years with my mare. By the end she had to be really skinny to keep the laminitis at bay. Whilst I don't regret trying to get her well, I do look back and regret that the last two years of her life were spent on a strict diet and wearing a grazing muzzle despite being ribby. I sadly had to let her go when she was only 19 when she did a tendon and was faced with box rest on meagre rations. I couldn't do it to her. She was unlucky though and the prascend did not help with the laminitis, but in most cases it does, so that is what I would do in your shoes; try the prascend. If that doesn't work and you end up having to really restrict his diet, then I would PTS. He has lived a good long life.
 
You don't say which Dodson & Horrell feed you are using - if it is a traditionally high starch feed such as Build Up then I would switch to a lower starch/sugar feed. It is possible to have feeds which are high in calories (so help to put weight on) and low in starch/sugar. If you want to stay with Dodson & Horrell then you could look at their new feed CushCare which is designed for Cushings horses that need to put weight on:

http://www.dodsonandhorrell.com/our-feeds/veteran/weight-losssigns-of-ageing/cushcare-condition.html

I've not used it myself but it looks a useful feed as less than 10% combined sugar/starch but similar calorie content to conditioning feeds such as Build Up.
 
PLease check out thelaminitissite, lots of good info on there for you to peruse plus advice on feed, prascend, weight, laminitis management.....and a link to facebook page where andrea can advise you if you are stuck....
 
Many thanks to all of you for your suggestions and help. I am looking into "safe and sound" and "crush care" from Dodson, the nutrition expert based here for D&H is supposed to be getting back to me with more info, also have info from Saunders advisor. Will get a choice made and slowly swop him over, if he will eat it (some foods he does not like and will not eat). So keep everything crossed for a good outcome for him so he can maintain a decent quality of life. Thanks again
 
Why has the vet said its not worth treating? Surely thats your decision to make you should be given the option, some horses with borderline cushings can control it themselves there is a test now, my mare has had one cushings test come back just above a normal reading and she is controling it herself and I have to re test at the end of the year to check its not changed.
 
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