Rapid Onset of Demential like symptoms

PucciNPoni

PucciNPoni

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I'm probably not wording this well, but it's not my horse so haven't spoken directly to the vet...

my friend's horse was PTS yesterday. At 6am he was fine. By 8am it was evident he'd been thrashing about, had cuts and grazes all over and was staggering around - my friend thought he'd had a stroke! He's a 16yo gelding with no previous illness (other than carefully managed laminitis). Vet came out and said it'd looked like ragwort poisoning, but the horse has been with them since he was 9months, ragwort always very carefully managed, so pretty unlikely. But the vet thinks it's something in which mimics the symptoms - but the horse basically had very rapid onset dementia. He became increasingly distressed and was staggering and lunging toward my friend as if he was blind/needing comfort. The vet was of the opinion that he was becoming too dangerous to handle and would probably be dead by the afternoon. So they had him euthanised peacefully.

Does anyone know what this is? I'm only curious cos I've never heard of it, and would like to do some research/reading up on it.
 
hi, first off condolences to all what a dreadful shock. could the horse of had Rhododendron Toxicity? similar symptoms or you mentioned he was a managed lamanitic my friends horse died in similar way he had cushings but the tumor was malignant and grew unknown to everyone until she found him blind and thrashing about etc. just a thought hope you find the cause let us know if you do.
 
Thanks for the links! My friend's first reaction was that she'd thought he had a stroke. He was so disoriented, thrashing and completely sweated up from head to toe (as if he'd been just hosed).

I don't know how likely ragwort poisoning is if it's meticulously managed...but I'm never one to dismiss things entirely. I suppose it IS possible :(

HOw quickly do the symptoms start to show up for something like ragwort poisoning/liver failure?

I suppose we'll know soon enough whether it was or not ragwort -they've done bloods and taken liver samples during the PM.
 
PucciNPoni said:
I'm probably not wording this well, but it's not my horse so haven't spoken directly to the vet...

my friend's horse was PTS yesterday. At 6am he was fine. By 8am it was evident he'd been thrashing about, had cuts and grazes all over and was staggering around - my friend thought he'd had a stroke! He's a 16yo gelding with no previous illness (other than carefully managed laminitis). Vet came out and said it'd looked like ragwort poisoning, but the horse has been with them since he was 9months, ragwort always very carefully managed, so pretty unlikely. But the vet thinks it's something in which mimics the symptoms - but the horse basically had very rapid onset dementia. He became increasingly distressed and was staggering and lunging toward my friend as if he was blind/needing comfort. The vet was of the opinion that he was becoming too dangerous to handle and would probably be dead by the afternoon. So they had him euthanised peacefully.

Does anyone know what this is? I'm only curious cos I've never heard of it, and would like to do some research/reading up on it.
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It also sounds like bracken posioning symptoms, especially the blindness. The website I am quoting from does not mention blindness but I am 100% sure from having read about bracken posioning from an old veterinary manual that it causes this.

Quote from the website I found - The toxin in brackenfern is thiaminase, an enzyme that destroys thiamine (vitamin B1). The horse then essentially suffers from a vitamin deficiency of thiamine, which causes myelin degeneration of peripheral nerves ( a loss of the fatty insulation layer to nerves that primarily control muscles). Poisoning can occur at any time of year, but is more likely in the late summer between August and October when other forages are scarce and the level of thiaminase is at its peak. Horses need to consume bracken for one to two months prior to manifesting clinical signs. After this time horses may then be fed bracken-free forage and yet still develop clinical signs within 2 to 3 weeks. The first signs in horses is weight loss after a few days on bracken. Later, weakness and gait abnormalities are present, which progress to staggering, hence "bracken staggers". Affected horses may stand with their legs widely placed and their back arched. Muscle tremors and weakness is apparent when the horses are forced to move. Early in the course of the syndrome, a slow heart rate and abnormalities of the heart rhythm may be noted. Near the end of the clinical course, the heart rate and temperature rise, and the animals cannot get up and may have spasms and an upward arching of the head and neck. The syndrome runs its course, with death occurring within 2 to 10 days of the onset of signs.
 
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Depending whereabouts he was when he had been thrashing about but I lost a three year old with very similar symptoms. She had come through an electric fence because a pony gelding had run the fence line and crashed into it but I only saw her as she was struggling to get up after somersaulting. It was as if she was totally drunk, had no coordination at all; was up, down, up, down again and all over the place (16.2 ID so not funny when she nearly fell on top of me) we thought she had broken her back and she had to be put down, she was so dangerous. At pm it was found that she had severed her spinal cord even though there wasn't an outside mark on her.
Very sad for your friend but I'm sure the best for the horse. Will be interesting to know the results.
 
How distressing for your friend, I'm so sorry, it's an awful way to say goodbye.

Two illnessess I know of have these symptoms. One is lead poisoning, depending on where you are in the country. Where I am is traditionally lead mining country, and you have to be careful about the grazing, no lumpy land where the mines were etc, as it can increase the lead content in the grazing. Many years ago I lost a 3yo with this. It does however tend to affect youngsters more than older horses.

A couple of years ago my vet lost one of her really good mares, and this was due to arsenic (I think) from an abundance of red clover. The symptoms there were going blind.
 
Something I just read and didn't realise is that ragwort poisoning can occur even if the ragwort is several fields away as the spores can drift!

However, having read up on it, I'm still not sure about that as an answer as he was healthy for all of his 16 years (no depression, coat shiny and otherwise fit). My friend had a word with the council (there's lots of ragwort on the verges- and they claim they haven't the resources to clear it...but they spray it in the spring) and with the neighbors who've managed to overnight clear a 17 acre field of their ragwort!

It's an awful way to lose a horse, but I suppose better than watching a long term illness progress. Poor boy.
 
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