My little girl has laminitis :(

Star the Fell

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Jun 14, 2015
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vet has just been and she thinks we have caught it early.
So she is on box rest and Bute for 10/14 days, the reassess to see if we need x-rays and blood tests.
Poor little girl will be bored and hungry as I will only be able to put hay in twice a day.
Tips for keeping her occupied please ( and get well soon vibes!)
 
Aw loads of get well vibes. Can you ask someone else to come and give her some of her ration of hay?? Just thinking it might make her less bored? How is she in herself atm? (The more well they feel, the more bored they get - well J did). Good that you've caught it early. I have only experience personally of low grade lami when we had J. My friend's horse had it earlier this year but recovered quickly and is fine now. Lots of get well vibes coming.
 
Oh I am so sorry, Laminitis is awful, I know from experience. Can you not give her adlib soaked hay. There is a whole new thought on how to treat lammi these days. I hope she doesn't have it too badly and will be back to normal soon.
 
Could split day net into two most days and ask hubby to put it in at dinner. Vet has recommended her hay is weighed out for the time being, as she needs to lose weight. She suspects EMS.
Pony is very well in herself, so think she will easily get bored.
 
I would weigh, particularly if she's overweight with suspected ems -it's amazing how little they'll eat & put weight on. You don't say, but I assume you're soaking it for a good number of hours? Properly soaking in plenty of clean water & weighting it so it stays submerged, I know that sounds a silly thing to say but too any people seem to think soaking is checking it in a leaky barrow & pouring a couple of buckets of water over it. What % of bodyweight are you weighing her hay to? I wouldn't go below 1.5%.

To keep her amused I'd split the hay up as much as possible & give her company whenever you can. I don't know your set up but is there anyway she can have another horse for company some of the time? Personally I've always found food - which of necessity must be restricted - & company of any kind are the However routine will help them settle into box rest more quickly.

Has your vet fitted supports, and have you spoken to your farrier? In my experience I've found a farrier is essential when treating laminitis.

Since you had the sense to get the vet involved early then I needn't say get back to him if she shows any signs of worsening, but I'll put it in because you never know who looks up these threads for ideas. And a product I've found invaluable managing my Sec D is NoMetSyn by EquiLife which is the sales arm of the Laminitis Clinic, they are also very generous with advice based on years of experience & research.
 
When mine was on box rest the hay lasted. I have the trickle feeder nets and I put also put some loose on the floor and she always had something left.
I bedded on straw which she nibbled so I didn't concern myself that feed would run out.
We ticked a good few ems boxes but didn't test because she lost weight. If she hadn't in the restrictive diet we would have a problem.
I think I offered swede which eventually got nibbled.
 
Oh no, poor girly ((((healing vibes coming her way)))))

I would split the ration as much as you can, even if you only put it in twice a day having it in 2 or 3 different nets seems to help keep them amused, and slow feeder/double nets help loads. Jess really appreciated browse when she was confined, I cut hawthorn branches, willow, sticky weed and nettles (wilted for 24 hours before feeding) and it kept her busy picking the leaves off (I tied the branches in a bunch and hung them from string so they were harder to nosh :)) plus the willow particularly is good for pain and hawthorn is full of anti oxidants, both helpful with lami.

My friends mare has recently done 6 weeks box rest after surgery, he put up a stable mirror for her and she spent ages snoozing with her self :p
 
sorry to hear this, we had Charlie with it last year and months of box rest, get the trickle feeder nets they are brilliant, we had four and split the ration between them - we were able to put a small flap in each, we also soaked them for hours and only put up well soaked hay, he had one first thing 6.00am another went in at dinner and then another at approx. 5.00pm and one at 9.00pm, we also put a Mirror in which he loved (literaly) he groomed his reflection ! he was able to see others out and soon adjusted, he is excitable so he was on sedalin just to keep his head right - he is absolutely fine now, lives out 24/7 on very restricted grazing and gets a flap of hay a day and 2 small bucket feeds for vits etc .
 
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When mine was on box rest the hay lasted. I have the trickle feeder nets and I put also put some loose on the floor and she always had something left.
I bedded on straw which she nibbled so I didn't concern myself that feed would run out.
We ticked a good few ems boxes but didn't test because she lost weight. If she hadn't in the restrictive diet we would have a problem.
I think I offered swede which eventually got nibbled.

Hehee J didn't do nibbling swede, he seemed to have a method of demolishing it asap......he must have had big jaws and a good bite, despite constantly losing teeth!!
 
Thanks for all the replies.
I am feeding 12 kg of hay (dry weight) as I want to get to to around 380 kg. On top of this she has a slice of straw to nibble at.
The hay is being soaked for 12 hours.
I went up this morning at 6 am and left her with a tiny net. A friend went up at 8 to turn the other horses out so she put in a larger net, husband went up around dinner to give her a small net, and I have called on my way home at 5 ish to put another tiny net in. I will go and spend a bit of time with her tonight and leave her around 7.30 with her usual size night net. Hopefully this will work out.
Three other horses on the yard, one next to her and two opposite, owned by friends. All have been turned out today :(. The girl owning the cob next door seemed more bothered about her horse being stressed out in the field on her own!
She has supports inside her hoof boots, vet suggested taking X-rays in two weeks if no improvement and getting farrier involved then, however she is barefoot.......
Good idea about the nettles, there are plenty on the yard, so I will cut and dry some.
I thought about hanging up a suede, but she isn't really a fan. Will see if I can get a mirror if anywhere local sells them this weekend.
Feel like I should be lending her my iPad, or getting a tv in there for her.
Hubby spent a bit of time with her, but said she was more interested in the hay net he'd just put in!
 
If her ideal weight is 380kg it seems you are feeding just over 3% of her ideal bodyweight which is too much, try to aim for 1.5% if you are wanting weight loss and then she can get 2% when she is at her ideal weight. My horse is 15hh weighs about 450kg in the winter and I would never give him more than 9kg but saying that I am a great believer in never letting a horse stand without hay in front of them but I have been lucky that 9kg seems like adlib to mine as he always has a handful left in the mornings. I feed the hay in trickle nets, greedy nets and also I have a Martsnets which is great.
I hope she doesn't get too bored and has a speedy recovery. Everybody has already given you great advice and I am no expert but I'm sure everyone else will agree with the amount of hay.
 
Do any of her neighbours come in overnight? It is nice if they can have company for a few hours. Lucky for me when Storm was on box rest recently, Chloe actually brought herself back up the yard and was happy eating outside Storm's box.
Lots and lots of recovery vibes continuing for her. I hope it passes quickly for both of you.
 
I was going to say the same as Joellie, that's too much - it would be 2% for a 600kg horse & if she's meant to be 380kg I really hope she isn't that heavy! I was told that you should feed to current weight, particularly if working on 1.5% calculation & monitor droppings etc on less than 2%. If you're feeding straw then weigh that too & reduce her hay by the same weight - the % figure is all feed, not just hay. With what you're feeding I'd say she'll put on weight, not lose it :(

Farriers do an awful lot more that nail shoes to feet, a good farrier trimming to x-rays will quite probably have her much more comfortable very quickly if there's any foot imbalance to begin with. Personally I'd get x-rays sooner rather than later if you can afford them, that way you know exactly what you're dealing with & can get a correct trim done sooner rather than later.

Be careful with things like swede, they should be weighed and included as part of her daily ration, but are actually high in sugar so not what you want at the moment.
 
Trim was only done 2 weeks ago, so too soon to trim again. Vet recommended x rays in two weeks, I think she hopes box rest will sort any problem out as it has been caught early.
Her next door neighbour comes in at night so she has company for then.
 
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Lol I was going to say, jess (560kg) and hank (120kg) get 12kg between them when there's little grass :p def makes more sense in lbs :)

For mirrors if you have a look on eBay or the like you can get sticky plastic ones for a few quid, don't worry about them being in the horse section we all know that triples the price ;)

Mine both enjoy a lettuce as a treat, I just chuck it in whole, might be an alternative to swede?
 
Trim was only done 2 weeks ago, so too soon to trim again. Vet recommended x rays in two weeks, I think she hopes box rest will sort any problem out as it has been caught early.
Her next door neighbour comes in at night so she has company for then.

If the foot balance is wrong it isn't too soon to do a trim to correct it, and it almost certainly wouldn't be a case of trimming all round. I've seen first hand the difference taking a few mm off the heel & taking the toe back can make to a laminitic, and that was on a foot that from the outside looked well balanced but which x-rays showed to have a completely unlooked for rotation.
 
for me I would give only soaked hay until the flare up is over and then review with advice from your Vet, if you weigh it properly in the correct ratio then the soaking will reduce any sugars and you will be surprised at the weight loss initially but it should pan out , Charlie wasn't overweight (Stress induced lammi) so he looked poor initially but soon levelled out and then it was agreed we could up the hay slightly - he soon put the condition back on and maintained a weight the Vet/farrier/us where a happy with, he had a small bucket feed (unmolassed happy hoof) for his meds twice a day, and I mean small just a handful. He had no access to grass for 12 weeks + and when he was allowed out it was on a bark area, then eventually with a small amount of grass, only let out in small strips every few days - very small turnout paddock. he was nearly 8 months in total from onset to vet/farrier clearance and not looked back but we manage very carefully. Farrier came out to discuss with Vet after 2 weeks when he had Xrays- only once X rays where available was a remedial trim performed and a remedial plan in place, he had rotation in fronts and one back, you wouldn't know it now.

When Acorn had it the treatment was different for other reasons and his feet are not as robust as Charlies are now.

Every horse/pony reacts differently in both mental and physical health and have different needs, listen to your Vet and Farrier, they should be talking and including you even now so make sure they do and don't be afraid to ask the question if you are unsure at any stage, are you insured and claiming then get the best possible treatment and don't rush it, our vet bill including bedding, hay, meds, X rays and trimming cost just under 4 K but the end result we have with Charlie was well worth it.
 
Have you heard of ruffle snuffles? Take a look at their website. If they'd been around when my Bonnie was on box rest I'd have got her one. I used a likit boredom breaker without the likits and would skewer a limited amount of veg on it for her to nibble at.

I agree that X-rays should be done as soon as the horse is more comfortable. You need to know what is going on in those feet. That way vet and farrier can liaise quickly and formulate a plan of action. Our mare ended up having a resection (I think? It was many years ago) to relieve pressure and required specialist shoeing to get her right. All in all our bills over the years exceeded £10k and we didn't get things right until we removed her from the cause of her laminitis- the horrid yard we were at.

Bonnie was often quite subdued on box rest anyway was standard treatment for laminitis used to be ACP which made her a little sleepy. Fingers crossed for you, laminitis is such a stressful illness to deal with.
 
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