First off, I'll say we have been working with our vet and he is stumped. He's been in practice over 50 years and specializes in horses. He said he's never seen a horse be like this before and that they've always improved, not gotten 2x worse in such a short time. Sorry this will probably be long. Trying to get ideas to fix issues, get her healthy, and keep her alive.
We put down a horse back in November who we thought (including vet) was just passing because of old age and his organs (including liver) were shutting down. I'm a bit suspicious of that now as looking back it was classic hepatic encephalopathy.
We just lost another at the beginning of June. She would have been 13 in August. Her GGT level was 1250 (the high limit is 24). At first (before bloodwork) we all thought it was impaction colic (which she was impacted for several days despite vet visits and treatment and had been at a show where we had a super hard time getting her to drink) until we got bloodwork done to show liver was the issue. Due to the timing of when she passed we couldn't get a necropsy done as we had no way to keep her cool for 2.5 days before the state vet hospital was open a few hours away and could take her. They are the only ones who do horse necropsies and biopsies in our area, but it's quite a drive.
We immediately got bloodwork done on our other 2 minis and 1 of them had extremely elevated GGT levels of 364 and slightly elevated AST. The other was within normal limits (23 of 24 for GGT, but slightly elevated AST of 399 out of 340). Our vet put both of them on milk thistle 3grams daily, off of all alfalfa (they were on an orchard/alfalfa mix and now are on certified noxious weed free timothy from Standlee), and we penned them up on a full dirt area so there was no way to get into anything they shouldn't.
We do have tansy in the field they were in that gets pulled when it pops up and we keep 24/7 hay out for them during that time to help avoid nibbling. There is a buttercup groundcover that we discovered is toxic and also snowberry--but can't find anything definite on the snowberry and toxicity. The one we lost in June had eaten snowberry for sure.
So the 364 GGT level was taken June 13th. On July 5th I took her in for a re-draw and her GGT is now 790. Something seems to still be poisoning her despite changing diet, environment, and giving milk thistle. Our vet is stumped. We turned in water samples for testing but that takes a week and a half to come back. We are hauling water now from a friends house in the meantime. I mixed their milk thistle in purina sr active and the vet is fine with that, but that is the only other constant besides the water. I also had given them another salt block (small trace minerals, no selenium)--but is now removed. I switched the grain this week to beet pulp to try that and see if it helps. On the 5th, he gave her dexamethazone and an antibiotic (trimeth sulfa) to try to fix it and redrawing blood on the 28th. We really need this to work. It's not fair for something here to be hurting/killing them and I feel horrible about it all. Our other mini that was mostly within limits is going to be getting blood drawn again on the 11th to see what her levels are doing.
We consulted two other vets but they want to do their own work-ups and can't see them for almost 2 weeks. We also had a wildfire 3yrs ago and everything was covered in thick, nasty ash when we got home so not sure if the deposited toxins in the soil or what they had breathed during that time are contributing to anything. The one horse that was okay bloodwork wise was not here for that fire and is only 3. She came from a different part of the state.
I've been scouring the internet all month in addition to picking our vets brain and my brain is fried. If you've made it this far, thank you. Does anyone have any ideas of what else we are missing or can do to help the horses? Bloodwork in June showed no infection. He didn't check that this time, just liver enzymes. Billirubin is normal. AST is slightly elevated and increased since the last visit from 380 to 427. BUN went down from 16 to 8, so it almost seems like she is starting to shut down. She is only 17yrs old and we've had her (and the other 2 we lost) for 12 years. No neuro symptoms at this point thankfully--those are horrible and I never want a horse to go through that again. I also have a call in to the vet about getting meds to reduce ammonia in the blood in case that is starting to be a problem, especially since we are heading into the weekend.
I'm so sad, frustrated, upset, etc about all of this. I want to go back to last summer to fix whatever the problem is before it became a problem that is deadly--so if anyone knows how to time travel, lol ( I know it can't be done and what is done is done, just wishful thinking)...
We put down a horse back in November who we thought (including vet) was just passing because of old age and his organs (including liver) were shutting down. I'm a bit suspicious of that now as looking back it was classic hepatic encephalopathy.
We just lost another at the beginning of June. She would have been 13 in August. Her GGT level was 1250 (the high limit is 24). At first (before bloodwork) we all thought it was impaction colic (which she was impacted for several days despite vet visits and treatment and had been at a show where we had a super hard time getting her to drink) until we got bloodwork done to show liver was the issue. Due to the timing of when she passed we couldn't get a necropsy done as we had no way to keep her cool for 2.5 days before the state vet hospital was open a few hours away and could take her. They are the only ones who do horse necropsies and biopsies in our area, but it's quite a drive.
We immediately got bloodwork done on our other 2 minis and 1 of them had extremely elevated GGT levels of 364 and slightly elevated AST. The other was within normal limits (23 of 24 for GGT, but slightly elevated AST of 399 out of 340). Our vet put both of them on milk thistle 3grams daily, off of all alfalfa (they were on an orchard/alfalfa mix and now are on certified noxious weed free timothy from Standlee), and we penned them up on a full dirt area so there was no way to get into anything they shouldn't.
We do have tansy in the field they were in that gets pulled when it pops up and we keep 24/7 hay out for them during that time to help avoid nibbling. There is a buttercup groundcover that we discovered is toxic and also snowberry--but can't find anything definite on the snowberry and toxicity. The one we lost in June had eaten snowberry for sure.
So the 364 GGT level was taken June 13th. On July 5th I took her in for a re-draw and her GGT is now 790. Something seems to still be poisoning her despite changing diet, environment, and giving milk thistle. Our vet is stumped. We turned in water samples for testing but that takes a week and a half to come back. We are hauling water now from a friends house in the meantime. I mixed their milk thistle in purina sr active and the vet is fine with that, but that is the only other constant besides the water. I also had given them another salt block (small trace minerals, no selenium)--but is now removed. I switched the grain this week to beet pulp to try that and see if it helps. On the 5th, he gave her dexamethazone and an antibiotic (trimeth sulfa) to try to fix it and redrawing blood on the 28th. We really need this to work. It's not fair for something here to be hurting/killing them and I feel horrible about it all. Our other mini that was mostly within limits is going to be getting blood drawn again on the 11th to see what her levels are doing.
We consulted two other vets but they want to do their own work-ups and can't see them for almost 2 weeks. We also had a wildfire 3yrs ago and everything was covered in thick, nasty ash when we got home so not sure if the deposited toxins in the soil or what they had breathed during that time are contributing to anything. The one horse that was okay bloodwork wise was not here for that fire and is only 3. She came from a different part of the state.
I've been scouring the internet all month in addition to picking our vets brain and my brain is fried. If you've made it this far, thank you. Does anyone have any ideas of what else we are missing or can do to help the horses? Bloodwork in June showed no infection. He didn't check that this time, just liver enzymes. Billirubin is normal. AST is slightly elevated and increased since the last visit from 380 to 427. BUN went down from 16 to 8, so it almost seems like she is starting to shut down. She is only 17yrs old and we've had her (and the other 2 we lost) for 12 years. No neuro symptoms at this point thankfully--those are horrible and I never want a horse to go through that again. I also have a call in to the vet about getting meds to reduce ammonia in the blood in case that is starting to be a problem, especially since we are heading into the weekend.
I'm so sad, frustrated, upset, etc about all of this. I want to go back to last summer to fix whatever the problem is before it became a problem that is deadly--so if anyone knows how to time travel, lol ( I know it can't be done and what is done is done, just wishful thinking)...
We do have chickens next to them, but their feed is not where they can get it. There are also rats that come and go into the chicken pen. We keep killing them, but more show up. They are never ending and the pen is too big to fence under. Might hire some terriers. Racoons are here often too, but we get rid of them as well when we see them. We have seen possum, but not often. Maybe a couple times a year at most. Contaminated feed and chemicals used in the hay are other possibilities we are looking into as well. Not sure where to get grain and hay tested for toxins though. 
