This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Colic, Diarrhea, GI Tract » Mouth, Esophagus, and Liver » Liver Disease and Failure »
  Discussion on Beginnings of liver trouble or something else?
Author Message

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 29, 2002 - 3:46 pm:

OK- I have posted about my older gelding before and have just pulled blood once again to see where we are.

He is somewhere between 18-22yo (I thought younger but i have been told my two vets that he could be as old as 18-22 so let's go with that for arugments sake)

He is overweight (has been an easy keeper his whole life), normal appetite.

Lethargic, maybe approaching mildly depressed

His Blood showed the folling irregularites:

Alkaline Phosphatase 319 (H)
CPK 425 (H)
Hematocrit 38.8 (L)
WBC 5.2 (L)
RBC 6.34 (L)
Absolute polys 2080 (L)

His RBC and WBC have been consistently low for over a year and his CPk is consistently in the 330-425 range

His bilirubin has been as low as .6 but is 1.0 on this report

Glucose as low as 39-40 and is 80 on this report.

Nothing else really jumps out on this report or any others....

Does anything jump out at you from these findings? Is there any other information I can provide that could be helpful?

He has a history of a "summer disorder" that includes severe joint soreness and what I call "drunk driving" and tripping. It usually begins in April and clears in the fall. Each year he gets worse each summer and seems to improve less each winter although there is a marked distinction between the two.

We pulled blood this winter to compare to summer amounts.

It seems he a little bit of everything but nothing that goes in one direction. I was hoping you may have an idea or two.

Thanks.

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 30, 2002 - 7:10 am:

Leah,
I don't know where these normals are generated from but I do not know anywhere that a HCT of 38 is considered low. A slightly low WBC count in the face of no infection is not to be worried about. Low field glucoses are frequently not reliable because of the amount of time that passes between pulling the blood and testing: it is constantly going down once pulled. It is normal for bilirubin values to vary up and down and the first signs of chronic liver failure tend to be jaundice and weight loss.

Neither the AP or the CPK are liver specific and the mild rise (using my lab normals) is not significant. Just being fat might be stressing the liver for the mild increase. I do not see anything in your lab results that are startling.

Leah why not get the extra weight off this horse and see if helps. In not, consider the most common reason for generalized depression in an older horse is Cushinoid Disease, see Disease: Endocrine: Cusninoid Disease for more.
DrO
Home Page | Top of Page | Join Us!
Horseadvice.com is a BBB Accredited Business. Click for the BBB Business Review of this Horse Training in Stokesdale NC