backwoodsnanny
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2003
- Messages
- 2,372
- Reaction score
- 0
Prayers that there is a good update tomorrow and Tinkerbell and baby will be on the road to recovery.
Yes, hyperlipidemia or hyperlipemia is her primary diagnosis. They are also referring to it as pregnancy toxemia. The seizures and the continued eating of hay just doesn't match the lab results.Have they tested her for hyperlipemia (fatty liver disease)? My thoughts will be with you and your mare.
They talk about the mares metabolic system in terms of energy. The baby pulls nutrition (energy) from the mare. Her liver is trying to support her body and her foal through mobilizing fat reserves into her blood stream (Hence the 3000 level of lipids/fat in her blood) because she reduced the intake of energy resources when she stopped eating grain. This excess fat in her bloodstream begins to be toxic to her system. In order to turn this switch off they are intravenously feeding her glucose and nutrition. With this new energy source the hope is that her body will no longer release fat and with added insulin the fat that is currently in her blood will go back into storage in the liver. Some physicians give heparin (blood thinner) to dissolve the excess fat. Our vet has not tried that yet. I suspect she does not want to thin the blood with the foal being involved. The baby being born would help with the energy drain if we subsequently bottle fed it however, the repro physician does not think it is mature enough.Praying for your mare and baby and that she can continue hanging in at least until baby arrives safe and sound So sorry that decisions for the mare may cause problems for your baby such a hard decision. Continued prayers for both.
Tinker was not overly big with her pregnancy. She is one of those mares you could easily show after she foals. Do you know who worked with your friend's mare at OSU (the Dr's name)? We are trying to give the vets at UF some people who are experienced with this with minis someone to consult with. Is it Ohio State or Oklahoma State? Sorry for the ignorance.There is a link between the two. Frans mare had many seizures when she was going through this. Her epsiodes were so bad she would be blind and walk into walls afterwords, then after awhile she would come out of it and be better. Your mare sounds so much like hers. Im just worried that mare wont recover till she foals. Can I ask if you mare was overweight?? That is also a contributor and my friends mare was overweight. OSU felt that definitely led to it along with the foal nursing. OSU did say her symptoms were not the normal ones you see with hyperlipidemia but they do happen to some mares (with the seizures)
Sending more prayers
On the other hand the vet has no idea why she is seizuring and does not think that there is a connection between the hyperlipidemia and the seizures.
I for sure don't want to panic you....just sharing what happened to us a few years back. We also had a very pregnant little mare. She was prone to "funny tummies" (mild colics) and had one while pregnant. She got better and then started acting "funny" again....went off her feed, depressed, and eventually siezured. By the time she was properly diagnosed, it was too late.
Our good friends, Larry and Joanne Ross (Scott Creek) told us after the fact that if our vet had treated her with an IV drip containing sucrose and saline, she may have survived.......(Fatty Liver Disease is often treated similarly to diabetes.)
I don't know if any of this will be of any help, but I thought I'd pass it along. You mentioning siezures sent up a red flag for me.
Enter your email address to join: