Protein Losing Enteroptathy

Love

Love

Well-Known Member
Joined
9 August 2010
Messages
2,607
Location
Worcestershire
Visit site
Just to point out I am away at university and Kenny is on full livery at home - have not seen him for a few weeks so all below is what i have been told by YO and my vet. Just trying to find as much as i can as there is not a huge amount of info online.

My 6yo connie went down with spasmodic colic yesterday afternoon. Vet came down, gave buscopan and he settled. got to 5pm and he went down again. More buscopan and tubed him - not much gas. did a rectal examination - everything fine that end. bloods taken.

Still colicky this morning - vet back out. She sees him regularly to treat his blocked tear duct and mentioned she thinks he has lost a lot of condition quite quickly - loss of muscle around shoulders, withers and hindquarters with a large distended belly. bloods came back as low protein count - not hugely low but low all the same. She is worried it might be protein losing enteropathy which may be causing an inflamed bowel. (he had the same type of colic in may and ended up in the equine hospital then but nothing was found once the colic had eased).

He also was found to have a raging heart murmur yesterday and today which has never been present before. Vet did say this can be brought on through stress and he was definitely stressing last night bless him.

He has been admitted to the equine hospital near malton for some tests. He'll have an ultrasound scan done and possibly a biopsy. I think there may have been more tests suggested however it is a bit of a blur in my head at the moment. If it is PLE then a course of steroid treatment was mentioned.

There is, of course, the possibility of it being lymphoma however with him being so young vet said it hopefully won't be this.

He has always been on the lazy side of things and has always loved his food (very careful about his weight). whilst I've been away the people riding him have mentioned that they have never ridden anything so lazy. However when i am home he would be fine for me. Just took it as him taking the Michael with the others who don't normally ride him (it is definitely in his nature to do so!) however now think it could be the signs that this has been grumbling for a little while now. He just seems to have lost his "spark" recently.

If anyone has any information at all i would be so grateful - please don't cushion things (too much) as i would like to know it straight. I have uncovered a thread on here about this from 2011 and PMed the OP as there wast an update on their story.

My original thread in tack box is here incase i missed anything on this one
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?644429-Could-he-please-have-some-vibes-(
 
Last edited:
My horse Catembi had this & I'm afraid he didn't make it. There is v little info about it, as I found out when I was researching it at the time.

If you're looking for old threads, Cat started to get ill in Aug/Sept 2006 & died in Feb 2007, so that's the period you're looking at.

I am very, very sorry if your boy has this :-(((

You are very welcome to PM me, but I am so sorry that it is unlikely to be what you want to hear.

T x
 
This sounds similar to my old boy.
Winter 2010 he started to drop weight and condition, he was cribbing almost constantly (usually only did it after feeding) and he seemed in a little bubble, there was no sparkle to him at all and to ride it felt like he was dragging himself through glue. Final straw was 3 mild colic bouts. Did the usual worming, upping the feed etc but when he colicked it was vet straight away as he hadn't ever colicked in the 5 years or so I'd had him previously.
Vet did full ulcer scope (you can get two lengths of scope, vet went with the longer one which is quite uncommon) no ulcers found. Rectal biopsy and fluid tap from the stomach and various ultrasounds were done. They then took a further fluid tap and sent it off for further testing as it was borderline cancerous but came back clear after re-test. Vet concluded PLE but very very mild, managed with low dose steroids until the end of his days. We also moved him from grass livery to DIY so he could be stabled at night which made a huge difference too.
I am so so glad it didn't turn out like Catembi.
Fingers crossed for you.
 
Was yours a pony, chaps89? The two I tracked down that made it were both 14.2-ish. One recovered completely & one was maintained on a low dose of steroids.

Cat is the horse in my avatar.

T x
 
He was a 15hh welsh type gelding, about 14 years old at the time. Certainly PLE is what sticks in the mind as what the vet said, but I knew it was rare and the vet didn't seem overly concerned so I was surprised/maybe I've mis-understood what the vet said? However the OPs horses symptoms sound identical to my horses, nothing really that wrong (lots of people thought I was fussing about nothing) aside from strange colic bouts but well worth having the vet to investigate a little further.
 
Thank you both for your replies and amandap for the link - just got back from my lecture so will have a read of it now.

Catembi I am really sorry to hear about your loss but thank you very much for replying. Not knowing anything about it was worrying me more. He is 14.2

Chaps89 that's really reassuring to hear thank you! Does make me wonder as you're saying the symptoms are so similar as well!

There is nothing really screaming out at the vets as to what is causing all this. Hopefully they'll work it out but im glad I know more about this now even if it's not PLE

Is there a risk of lami? If it was PLE and he were to be on steroids daily? Just thinking aloud here
 
There IS a risk of lami, so you have to carefully monitor digital pulse & hoof temp. Mine didn't get it from being on a ton of steroids.

I suspect Cat got it from contaminated grazing. Next door let us graze their unused field which the people before us had done with no probs. But apparently they let the excess water from their septic tank run onto the field. They said it was fine cos it was just water. Anyway, Cat started off being v slightly off colour, but then he got the worst diarrhoea you could possibly imagine, went right off his food & went from 690 kg to 500 kg.

We were back & forth to Rossdales for 6 months having scans & trying different drugs, & he did improve & was discharged, then took a very sudden turn for the worse & was PTS.

If yours has the same as Cat, you won't be able to miss it cos of the projectile diarrhoea, so it sounds as if you're okay for now. Absolutely everything crossed for you! I think that other stuff can cause low protein that's nowhere near as serious, so let's hope it's something else. I think that PLE is a symptom rather than a single 'disease' IYSWIM.

The best of luck,

T x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top