Suspected laminitis at 18. Any opinions/advice?

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Joanne4584

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Hiya.

Last Tuesday night I went to check my horse in the field and he couldn't walk. He is an 18yo, 16h TB x Arab. I rang my vet who suspected an abscess, and with it being 8pm said he'd come out in the morning. He told me to get him in his stable and give him some bute.

After an hour and a half and breaking down fences so he didn't have to walk on hard ground we finally got my horse in it's stable. He was clearly uncomfortable on all feet, and the yard owner suspected laminitis. His back legs were swollen, and there was slight heat in his feet. I couldn't feel a digital pulse (but then again I am terrible at finding it anyway :o )

My usual vet came out the next day and said it was probably a case of mild laminitis, maybe caused by running round the field and the grass. He said he had mild pulses but just give him bute for 2 days, keep him in but walk him out twice a day to get the swelling down, then put him back out as normal. He said to carry on with his normal feed and grazing.

This didn't seem quite right to me but I did as he said. My vet came back out on Tuesday this week to take stitches out of a cut on his dock (another story ;) ) so I asked him to check the laminitis thing. He said he still had a mild digital pulse, and maybe it had been a case of severe laminitis and I will have to keep an eye on it and limit is grazing. I trotted him up and he said he was sound.

So now I've only being putting him out at night and the poor thing has been in his stable during the day. He's been getting a tiny bit of feed so he can have his Cortaflex (he has KS and Bone Spavin). He's getting his hay soaked, and hopefully by the weekend he'll be able to go out in a little paddock with limited grass.

I've spoken to a few people on my yard who think it's very strange that he is 18 and has never had laminitis (I've had him since he was 3). Even my vet said that with knowing my horse, it never crossed his mind the night I rang him. He's not over-weight and in the vet's words "doesn't scream laminitis". Has anyone ever had a similar situation? Did it happen again?

He was getting 2 small feeds a day with antibiotics as well as his grass, so maybe that was just too much for him?

I'm now feeling a bit overwhelmed... he's prone to colic, has kissing spine, bone spavin and now this!

Any replies will be much appreciated! xx
 
At his age and with this being his first ever known case of laminitis I would be considering Cushing's disease as a differential diagnosis. If he is over-weight; cresty, fat pads at the tail head etc. then Equine Metabolic Syndrome maybe another differential.
 
I would also sugguest Cushings, the research now suggests that the vast majority of unexplained cases of laminitis is caused by it. The vets are doing free tests for Cushings in my area until the end of June.
 
I'm a bit gobsmacked that a vet would suggest laminitis as a cause, yet expect you to walk/trot the horse up and turn them out again so soon.

I'd do a cushings test and keep the horse stabled on well soaked hay until the results come back and give you a better idea of what is going on.
 
Thank you for all your replies. I've just done some reading about Cushings and he doesn't have any of the other symptoms. . . but I agree it is something worth looking into.

Would laminitis clear up within a few days? It's a week later now and he is walking fine, standing fine, and trotting and cantering round the field with no pain medication. I'm so confused! :confused:
 
Joanne4584 said:
Thank you for all your replies. I've just done some reading about Cushings and he doesn't have any of the other symptoms. . . but I agree it is something worth looking into.

Would laminitis clear up within a few days? It's a week later now and he is walking fine, standing fine, and trotting and cantering round the field with no pain medication. I'm so confused! :confused:
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My mare had cushings induced laminitis. She did not have any other symptoms at the time of diagnosis.

Laminitis can clear overnight. The gelding that had it here last summer had it really severely. He could not put his feet down for long and was like a cat on a hot tin roof, poor boy. But by morning he was comfortable and completely sound again after another day. We still kept him in the sand for a further two weeks to be sure, even though he was symptom free. My mare has less acute laminitis when she gets it, and it is usually only in one front foot. But it takes longer to get better. All cases are different and don't all have the same cause.
 
You can print off a voucher from Talk about Laminitis and get a free Cushings test done before the end of June.
 
Could also be bruised feet/arthritic joints taking a bashing and complaining from where the ground is hard if you've not had any rain for a while, esp as he's an older horse.
 
That was also something the vet suggested Suechoccy - that he was sore from over-doing it in the field. The ground was very hard and if Im honest Bertie is a bit of a wimp bless him!

Ill look into that free test. My vet will probably think Im a right hypochondriac, there always seems to be something up with Bertie.

The top half of his mane has gone very thin. It did last summer too then grew back over winter.Could this be a symptom of cushings too?

x x

Ill look into
 
Oops, Im posting on my phone lol. I was going to say ill look into that free test. The more i think about it, he has lost all muscle along his top line but everyone has put it down to the lack of work over he winter cause of the kissing spine and bone spavin diagnosis.
 
One of my horses aged 21yrs developed laminitis as a result of severe stress (her companion died) - had never had it til then, and with management it hasn't re-occured for a couple of years now. (Is healthy too, no cushings or anything!). Very much that each horse is different :)
 
My boy got it, aged 20 last year. I nearly lost him. It was horrendous. He was saved by removing shoes, getting his dirt right and dealing with a horrendous abscess which threw everyone's diagnosis/thoughts out again. He was clear for ems and cushings and not overweight, but I have since discovered how awful the shape of his feet had become (shod) and can't help but think that may have been a contributing factor....
 
Laminitis is perfectly possible at any age. There could be an underlying cause - like cushings, or it could be that his metabolism has simply slowed down with age / decreased workload or it could be down to environmental factors - with this warm weather and a few drops of rain the other day our grass has gone bonkers again.. worth treating him as a laminitic from here on in.
 
My 19 year old pony had his first ever episode of laminitis last week. He has absolutely no symptoms to suggest that Cushings or EMS could be a factor. But the weather conditions have provided perfect grass growing and I carelessly let him move into a lush paddock. Classic summer laminitis case. He's on the mend with drugs and management, and yours sounds similar. The free test is a great offer though.
 
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