Uodate on colt with liver problems...

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MrsMagoo

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Hi all, for those who read my last post....Ron went in for his scan and biopsy last week (thankfully missing the snow) and got the results back last night;

Well bad news - its a form of liver disease, vet is thinking more viral rather bacterial or toxins
Good news - vet says its showing signs of regeneration so could be getting better.

So next steps are just to wait and see really, vet is going to continue repeat blood tests over the next few weeks to monitor any change and also put him on a liver support supplement. I asked how this would affect him in future life as we did want to keep him attire to compete and hopefully breed from later on.

So has anyone had any experience with horses with liver disease and got better? Anything i can do?

Thanks
B
 
My Yan had decreased liver function when she was 30 - probably due to age. Only realised when she started getting skin infections :(

She had antibiotics to clear up the infection, and I started her on pure Milk Thistle supplement - and touchwood, she's now fine - and almost 32 :)

Good luck with your horse, liver problems sound horribly scary but they can often be sorted out :)
 
I bought a TB that turned out to have liver damage due to a tape worm, (found out by a blood test to confirm my suspicions) Double dosed him, and when retested approx one month later, liver function back to normal. The liver will regenerate, but I would have thought some sort of tonic or supplement as yours is a youngster would be a good idea.
 
Glad it's sort of good news in that at least you know what the prob is so the vet can go about treating him. The liver has an amazing ability to regenerate itself. With him being so young and the vets having information about what they are treating then I would be inclinded to think that things look good for him.
Also echo the milk thistle recommendation.
 
Allover said:
Glad you have found out what the problem is, do the vets know why it happened?
Click to expand...

Still not entirely sure to be honest....as they were some issues with his white bloods cells doing something funny he's putting it more down to viral. He did have a funny turn as a baby like 3-4months old, when he had shivers etc and vet gave him a shot of anti's thinking he just had a cold. This could have been something then, which we just didnt pick up on...
 
Its a bummer when you dont know what causes these things as you cant then prevent it in the future, mind you hopefully it wont happen again.

I know that towcester vets have a vet who has specialised in liver issues in horses, normally really nice and helpfull so could be worth giving them a ring to see what they suggest

:)
 
livers can and do regenerate. there are many liver tonics available. milk thistle is good. there is also one called re sorb or it might be re leve which works well. the main thing is you have a diagnosis. and can now treat as appropriate. and monitor liver function through regular blood tests. a few weeks on redcell or proplus will get his RBC back up to spec. but i am sure your vet who is on the case is your best advisory. hope for a speedy recovery.
 
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