Stress laminitis - any experiences?

[Abacus]

My horse has been on box rest for the last 3 weeks after denerving in both front feet.His shoes are still off. Last Thursday the vet recommended he was left on the small fenced yard outside his stable to mooch about as his legs were filling and puffy. He was slightly footy over the weekend but I thought it was better to leave him mooching about to keep the swelling down. Had a call from the YO on Monday morning to say he could hardly walk and she had called the vet. Apparently he had stress laminitis caused by concussion and pain. I was unaware of this condition - he is now on a deep bed and confined to the stable for at least a week plus lots of drugs (ACP and anti-inflamatories). He now seems more comfortable and happier (might be the drugs admittedly).

Does anyone have any experiences of recovery / prognosis / any more information about this?
Thanks

 

[Jennyharvey]

Perhaps try hoof boots and pads to protect the feet when hes walking about? Movement is good for a laminitic, but his feet might need protection.

Had the horse had laminitis before this?
Why was he denerved?

 

[amandap]

Imo you must address diet as well as comfort. I'd soak (min one hour in clean water each time) and rinse free choice hay as a matter of course for any horse with laminitis of whatever diagnosed cause. No treats, basic hard feed of unmollassed beet with salt, magnesium oxide and possibly micronized linseed. I'd keep off other hard feeds and join one of the metabolic horse groups for further dietry advice.

Hope he is soon comfortable.

 

[Abacus]

Thanks for the advice.

He was denerved due to DDFT damage; we tried cortisone injections but they lasted only 2 months. Apparently they can make the horse more laminitis prone though so I wonder if this is a factor. Trouble with hoof boots is that the wounds from the op still aren't fully healed and the boots would rub on them. In a couple of weeks, though, I think they will help.

I'll heed the dietary help - thanks. It's hard to get the drugs into him at the moment so I do have to use some mix to make his feed tasty; otherwise he is getting mostly old soaked hay.

 

[Archangel]

It could well be the steriod injection and all the trauma round the denerving. Def treat as you would a diet induced laminitis, the cause might be different but the effect is the same.

Have you tried fibergy to hide the medicines? I have a mare who is always on the lookout for meds in her feed and she will gobble this up.

The same mare went suddenly a bit pottery and puffy joints, but did not respond to hoof testers and it was unclear exactly what was wrong. Vet was adamant that it wasn't laminitis as was farrier and said she had just shaken her legs up. To be on the safe side I treated her exactly as I would a laminitic pony and interestingly as her hoof grew down there was a very very thin tight band of growth (as wide as a piece of cotton). She made a full recovery and no signs since.