Suspected IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) but no usual symptoms?

[DEB2701]

I have a 6yo warmblood mare that broke out in allergic hives 1 month ago. She has been treated with anti inflammatories and steroids with no change, if anything, they are getting worse. She has been staying at an equine hospital having tests done and the vet said she suspected IBD. My mare is in excellent condition, if anything she could lose a bit of weight, she does not have diarrhoea, she is not girthy or appears sore, she does not show symptoms of colic. The only symptom she has is the hives. She has had her abdomen scanned and it has revealed thickening of the colon wall which would indicate inflammation. She is getting scoped tomorrow. Im at my wits end on what could be going on with her and would love to hear stories of people that have horses with IBD.

 

[racebuddy]

I have a 6yo warmblood mare that broke out in allergic hives 1 month ago. She has been treated with anti inflammatories and steroids with no change, if anything, they are getting worse. She has been staying at an equine hospital having tests done and the vet said she suspected IBD. My mare is in excellent condition, if anything she could lose a bit of weight, she does not have diarrhoea, she is not girthy or appears sore, she does not show symptoms of colic. The only symptom she has is the hives. She has had her abdomen scanned and it has revealed thickening of the colon wall which would indicate inflammation. She is getting scoped tomorrow. Im at my wits end on what could be going on with her and would love to hear stories of people that have horses with IBD.

My 6 year old has hives twice and he was allergy tested so we have started him on allergy vaccines now

 

[ThreeFurs]

I did a lot of reading when my warmblood gelding was diagnosed with it in October 2021. [probably too much reading, but I had access to the vet journals through my uni library, even though its not my discipline at all]. Frightened the **** out of myself but learned a lot.

IBD is a spectrum of autoimmune responses in different tissues in the horse's body. Too many white blood cells, eosinophils, and lymphoplasmacytes, get sent to an area causing inflammation, pain and damage. We know most about it in the stomach and hind gut; but there's a version of it that affect the skin as well. Causes are varied; helminths [parasites] esp small strongyles, appear to play a role especially when encysted ones erupt; ofttimes its 'idiopathic'.

In the 19th century it was known as the 'Wasting Disease' as horses ate normally but mysteriously lost weight, while also scouring. But some horses don't present like this. Mine did, but a friend has just had her very chubby carriage pony diagnosed with it. No weight loss, no diarrhea, just repeated colics. Clinical researchers need to find better drugs/treatments as though rare, case numbers appear to be rising; and atm there are too many articles in referred journals where the semantics of the different forms of it are argued.

Fingers crossed for the scoping. I was greatly buoyed up by someone on this forum who had a horse with it who returned to work and stayed in remission. However my boy was pts last June. I am thinking of you xxx here's a bit more information. Keep us posted. https://www.succeed-vet.com/equine-gi-disease-library/ibd/

 

[w1bbler]

Have a look at equibiome, lots of helpful advise & could be worth getting a test done

 

[Jim bob]

My boy has IBD feel free to pm me

 

[MouseInLux]

My boy has IBD feel free to pm me

My mare just got diagnosed with this after losing 60kg while on the field. Could you tell me more about your experience with it??

 

[Jim bob]

My mare just got diagnosed with this after losing 60kg while on the field. Could you tell me more about your experience with it??

Would you like me to pm you?

 

[MouseInLux]

Yes please

 

[cold_feet]

My boy was diagnosed with IBD in 2019 after severe wasting despite huge appetite for several months. He was treated with steroids and anti inflammatories and appeared to have fully recovered. Despite warnings that reoccurrence is likely so far nothing () and he has returned to good health and fitness. He was competing at Endurance up to 64km prior to this. He is 23 now and still in work, although not at the same intensity, but of course how much is due to ageing nobody knows.

 

[TPO]

My experience with IBD

Any experience of low albumin in blood / conditioning feed recommendations / WWYD (no doubt will end up being long!)

Basically I don't know what's going on and please talk me off the ledge Further to this thread https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/masseter-myositis-autoimmune-disease.829556/#post-15235386 I'm no further forward. This will be long, I have no idea how to be concise and condense it so...

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