Wish I could help my boy more !!!

[figgy]

Hi,
I posted a few weeks ago about my horse not being able to stand, when front legs being lifted.
Well he had a bone scan last week and the only thing that showed was he's liver, which as you all know shouldn't as its not bone.
The vet said it glowed up like a Xmas tree & they had to re xray he's back as you couldn't see on bone scan because of liver.
We went ahead and scanned liver but my horse is thick skinned/big and said they couldn't get a picture.
Bloods show raised liver enzymes but thats all I know.
My horse is getting worse and now if you pick up front his whole body will start shaking & he will go down on knee.
( I've now given up picking out feet )
Vets is not hundred % sure the liver is the reason my horse cant hold front legs up.
So has anyone ever had a horse with liver problems that didn't want to hold legs up.
We are re doing bloods in 2 weeks.
Feeling sad seeing my boy like this.
Wish horses could talk !!!
Xx

 

[Regandal]

Sorry, I have no experience with horses that have liver problems. I believe milk thistle is good for the liver. Must be very worrying for you.

 

[figgy]

Thank you...He is on a liver tonic that he came home with from vets.
It's breaking my heart, love my boy so much.

 

[Kezzabell2]

really sorry to hear that your pony is having a hard time!

the only experience I have with liver issues is; a few years ago all of the horses on my yard had raise enzymes, my horses levels were 250 and 570 but one of the horses levels were 2500 + they all hard different symptoms! horses with white socks/markings had what looked like sun burn (which is how we realised there was an issue) one of the horses was totally wild, the owner was having trouble handling and riding him!

my mare, who is usually wild, became really laid back and lazy, I finally started to enjoy riding her, there was no tanking off or constant jogging (should have realised there was a problem straight away, but thought she was happy in her new yard)

none of them have issues that you speak on, that I recall, however it might be where he's so weak from the liver damage, he might not be able to hold himself as well as he used to!

poor baby!!

 

[figgy]

Thanks for replying...my boy is very laid back & sleeping alot.
He is having bloods nxt week to check, if they still high then it's a liver biopsy.

 

[Kezzabell2]

The only problem with livery biopsy is, in my experience, they never actually find out what causes the liver issues! so seems like a lot of money for not a lot of information!!

What has changed in his management recently? has he moved fields? has his feed changed? has he been put in any stressful situations?

I'd try and rule everything out before going for the biopsy!

Ours turned out to be poisonous grazing, horses shouldn't have ever been grazed on it, apparently the farmer new and was supposed to dig up and re-seed before letting horses on it (but we never found this out until 2 years later) a month after leaving that yard I retested and my horses enzymes levels decreased massively! from 250 down to 100 and the 570ish one was down to about 150

 

[Micropony]

My big horse had raised liver enzymes at one point when I first got him. Never really found out why. Speculated a previous owner might not have kept on top of his worming, and it was also suggested to me that he might have had mild ragwort poisoning at some point. Anyway, vet recommended milk thistle, and when we tested again several months later everything was back to normal.

He was also a shiverer in front, which apparently is quite unusual as it normally affects the hind legs. Very experienced vet said he'd only seen it a couple of times in his career before. So my horse found it very difficult to lift his front feet or hold them up. I think at some point someone had been pretty unkind to him about it, because when I first got him he was also very afraid. Got better with time, calm persistence, praise, polos (one per foot) and a lot of sweat, but never like a normal horse.

Shivers does get worse with foot pain, so when he had pus in the foot, or his navicular was playing up, I.e. the very times you most need to do things to their feet, it was especially difficult for him to co-operate with poulticing, having x-rays taken etc. Helpful!

Don't think the liver and the feet things were related, and don't know whether it's of any use or relevance to your situation though!

 

[Kezzabell2]

My big horse had raised liver enzymes at one point when I first got him. Never really found out why. Speculated a previous owner might not have kept on top of his worming, and it was also suggested to me that he might have had mild ragwort poisoning at some point. Anyway, vet recommended milk thistle, and when we tested again several months later everything was back to normal.

Vets ALWAYS suggest ragwort poisoning, I've had 3 friends this year who have been told the same thing! no one ever finds out what it is! but a horse won't eat ragwort, unless its dried in hay, or unless there really is nothing else in their field, but they'd rather eat their own muck before eating ragwort!

 

[Micropony]

Ha ha, the vet wouldn't be drawn beyond suggesting the milk thistle, it was another livery who wondered about the ragwort. I knew very little about his management before I met him, so really I will never know.

Really hope OP is able to get to the bottom of things with the vet - liver glowing bright on a bone scan, never heard of that one!

 

[figgy]

Thank you all....vet said he has only seen 3 bone scans in which the liver has shown up in all he's years.
Intresting about the shivers, he will happily left the leg, he can't hold it up.
Vets not saying it's the liver that is causing the fore legs problem but unfortunately that's all that showed up on bone scan so we are just running with it.
All such a worry !!
Xx

 

[Spotsrock]

My old mare was very bad with liver at one point
Vet had me put her on milk thistle (herb not a liquid or powder) and she recovered very quickly. It's worth looking into.

 

[figgy]

ThanK's spotsrock.
Did your mare have trouble with holding front leg up at all?

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Hi,
I posted a few weeks ago about my horse not being able to stand, when front legs being lifted.
Well he had a bone scan last week and the only thing that showed was he's liver, which as you all know shouldn't as its not bone.
The vet said it glowed up like a Xmas tree & they had to re xray he's back as you couldn't see on bone scan because of liver.
We went ahead and scanned liver but my horse is thick skinned/big and said they couldn't get a picture.
Bloods show raised liver enzymes but that's all I know.
My horse is getting worse and now if you pick up front his whole body will start shaking & he will go down on knee.
( I've now given up picking out feet )
Vets is not hundred % sure the liver is the reason my horse cant hold front legs up.
So has anyone ever had a horse with liver problems that didn't want to hold legs up.
We are re doing bloods in 2 weeks.
Feeling sad seeing my boy like this.
Wish horses could talk !!!
Xx

No sorry

My pony has had raised liver since Feb going up and up - we had biopsy which only showed liver not too compromised even though GGT really high and each blood since going higher and higher. 2 months ago vet said change to haylage the blue one - so I did bloods last Thursday and got results on Monday saying they have come down quite a bit, all due to changing to haylage. Might not help your boy but it wont hurt

I would

No 1 call D&H and speak to Teressa who works along side the leader in the world with liver problems and go through a tailored diet for him.

2nd get your hay analyzed and maybe change him to haylage till you get the results.


Make sure he is on no straw included died like fastfibre - take him off any oils

Phone your vet and ask to put him on legaphyton and get some Milk Thistle from D&H