winter laminitis What information can you share?

[barnbum]

Just talked to the vet. Mazie has EMS. Her insulin level tested 84.96--it shouldn't be above 40. Her leptin level tested 15.79--it shouldn't be above 4. Her thyroid tested low normal.

The vet is spending time this afternoon getting more info from the hay analysis, but I've been reading and the hay needs to be tested for NSC levels--and I didn't get that. It's different than just starch and sugars. I will contact the place it was tested and see if they can add that one.

First step is to pick apart her diet. Vet wants her to stay on Remission. She wants to give her a low dosage med for thyroid to boost it up.

She is not at all a textbook case because she is in good physical condition, in that she's not overweight. She has no abnormal fat deposits. I would call her an easy keeper, but not like Chloe is. When Mazie's normal food intake is decreased--like when she first started with this--she lost weight right away. Cornell suggested doing the ATCH test for pre-Cushings, even though she's too young for that.

Oh boy--here we go. Good to have answers, but it raises more questions. At least we have a direction.

 

[lucky seven]

Best of luck, it sounds like you have everything under control now. Praying Mazie will be okay. This winter has been hard on us all, we need warm weather and the sun to shine to lift our spirits.

 

[chandab]

Karla, what you want is ESC and Starch combined below 10%. NSC (non-structural carbs) also contains WSC which aren't as big of a factor for metabolic horses. I'm sure you got the right test. The lower the starch level the better, as starches convert 100% to glucose. I never would have thought it so, but you can have skinny metabolic horses too.

You just might have to break down, and go the beet pulp route to give her a complete diet (just make sure its rinsed, soaked and rinsed again to get rid of any surface dirt and residual sugars).

 

[barnbum]

In case anyone is wondering, we have a plan. Triple Crown Lite will be Mazie's feed to mix with her supplements. I'll add Remission--and if she won't eat it after another few days, I'll get Quiessence. I'll add powdered probios for awhile... to everyone just because of the major temp changes we're having (6* today and supposed to be 50 tomorrow). She also has a low dose thyroid med I picked up at the vet's today--for a boost. We will check her levels in June or July and see how the plan is working. Through all of this she has remained full of pip and sass...so I'm hoping the worst is behind us and sunny days are ahead.

 

[barnbum]

Update on Mazie. Last blood test--end of May--showed insulin at 59, which is wonderfully down from 85, but still not close enough to 40. Leptins were 9.2, which are down from 15; they should be 4. Mazie was put on Meformin--and is doing well. I'm exercising her again--slowly. The first time at exercising made her lame again. She's at 20 min a day with a little trot in there at the 6th day. We stay on grass for soft footing and make no tight turns. Hooves have been cold for about 3 weeks. Farrier comes often. When he watches her he says she's better, but not at 100% comfort. The vet and I can't really see what he sees--but I'll always take his word for it. He's been in horses way longer than the vet or me. I asked if it was a fluidity he was looking for--and he confirmed. He sees her hesitating to step down--a slight jerkiness in movement. But honestly, I watch her all the time and she walks, to me, exactly like the others. I think when he comes Monday he'll see she's very fluid in motion.

X-rays were done and showed very slight rotation in each front hoof, but the big concern was the separation between lamina and hoof wall--am I describing that correctly? The x-rays were sent to the farrier who came right out and did a very short, blunt trim to match what he saw. That was a while ago--he's been out again since the first big trim.

Meformin is to last 16.5 days--then we'll see if the exercise is doing the trick.

Just updating in case anyone else is experiencing the same.

 

[lucky seven]

Glad things are looking up, hopefully all will be well before our winter sets in again. Seven still has his bad days but his diet keeps his weight under control.

 

[barnbum]

lucky--the vet and I talked while she was here yesterday stitching Rosie's eyelid (Never a dull moment!) and we discussed the plan. I'll finish the 100 tablets of meds, then keep a bottle here for just in case. Once winter hits and it's dark by the time I get home, and snowing, it'll be hard to exercise her. I'll check hooves daily for heat and we'll start Metformin if needed.