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  Discussion on Horse toxic, some liver lissues?
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Member:
vickiann

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 1, 2010 - 8:55 pm:

I understand that this site does not formally address third party issues but am posting this because it may help someone else in the future or perhaps someone will have pertinent comments.

The horse of a good friend began having severe photo-sensitivity issues soon after receiving some vaccinations.

After battling this issue for 2 - 3 weeks, suddenly the horse presented with massive amounts of salivation, ulcerations on the gums and tongue, bright pink gums but with areas of yellowish/greenish colors, including a bad odor from the horse's mouth.

He also had edema under the ventral line and on up to underneath the tail.

This progressed greatly over the time of a day.

The horse had a lot of skin sores that looked like pyroderma. He also soon developed edema of the chest between his front legs. Edema was also present in the sheath area.

Vet came out and was very concerned to see such extreme ventral edema but thought initially it might be due to some kind of extreme allergic reaction or a heart problem, but heart sounds were good, strong and without arrhythmia.

Vet drew some blood and went straight to the lab for analysis but was back soon to draw more blood. Initial results showed low blood protein and high bilirubin.

Chance of liver failure seemed very real.

He stated then that the symptoms were what one would see with a case of Lantana weed poisoning.

I had walked the pasture and found a couple of Lantana plants but they did not seem to show signs that the horse had been eating from them. There were also some other toxic weeds such as partially wilted cherry leaves and china berry, some indigo, assorted mushrooms and pokeweed, other suspect weeds and grass (Johnson's ? not sure).

We have had fluctuating weather conditions with DrOughts followed by periods of heavy rains.

The more detailed blood work results received this morning thankfully showed that the liver enzymes were normal, bile normal, but bilirubin high, kidney values low, phosphorous high, muscle enzymes "high and low" (related to multiple injections?)

Vet had initially given banamine injections twice daily, also Lasix to try to deal with the edema, and injections of Naxcel.

We were told to hose the areas of edema and hand walk the horse to try to aid this problem. We also gave 10 capsules daily of Milk Thistle to support liver function.

After the recent blood work results, the Vet was coming out this afternoon to give a steroid shot and bringing some type of oral antibiotics.

He had stated that due to the test results, medications would be changing.

His analysis continues to be that there is some kind of toxin that is involved.

Any comments or suggestions are gratefully welcomed.

This is a much-loved 19-year old Icelandic horse.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 1, 2010 - 9:02 pm:

I forgot to add that the horse had a fever, not extremely high, at the same time that the edema presented.

The fever responded to the injections of banamine and antibiotics.
Member:
scooter

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 1, 2010 - 11:30 pm:

Kind of sounds like alsike clover poisoning is there any of that in his pasture?
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Thursday, Sep 2, 2010 - 6:46 am:

Thanks, Diane. I did not see any clover at all.

The more that I think about it I am suspecting the Lantana, because although we could not notice the two plants found showed signs of having been eaten, the Vet said only a leaf or two could potentially cause poisoning and one of the plants was located exactly where the horse likes to hang out in the shade.

The plant looked more tidy and upright than is usual for the species when growing in the wild and that makes me suspect that sometime before the photo-sensitivity began the horse may have nipped at some of the newer growth on the plant.

When the horse got his vaccinations it was suggested that he was becoming a bit overweight and to watch his diet.

At that time there was probably less grass to eat due to the weather patterns this summer so if the hay was cut out to avoid weight gain, who knows.

This is just speculation, but the symptoms seem to be in line with Lantana poisoning.

Most horses try not to touch the stuff but I have seen a horse eat it when the plants were small and new and sometimes one will develop a liking for this odd plant.

I surely hope that he is going to recover, because he has a long way to go. I will feel better when I see an improvement with his mouth and gums, the edema, and know that he is again passing manure.
Member:
scooter

Posted on Thursday, Sep 2, 2010 - 7:04 am:

Vicki, I am not familiar with lantana, we must not have that around here. Seems some horses like to eat or at least taste the bad stuff for them, look at Sam and the locust pods.

If they find out what it is let us know. I hope he recovers with no problems.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Thursday, Sep 2, 2010 - 9:36 am:

Thanks, Diane.

Now my friend is wondering if this could be Pigeon Fever because there have been a few cases in Florida this past year, but I believe the Vet would have considered that possibility.

I don't think that answer would explain all that is going on in this case.

The Vet has stated after the second round of blood work that he believes the horse's condition is due to a toxin.

I'll post what more I hear.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Thursday, Sep 2, 2010 - 12:50 pm:

Vet explained to my friend the reasons why there is no way the horse has Pigeon Fever.

He is doing better though and the fluid accumulations have reduced greatly in size.

Vet continues to say that this is a toxin-induced illness.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Thursday, Sep 16, 2010 - 6:20 pm:

After following the recommended treatments from the Veterinarian this horse made great improvement.

The edema had subsided, ulcerations in the mouth and the slobbering had stopped, including the bad odor from the mouth. The next set of blood results were looking normal except for still showing slightly low blood protein.

The Veterinarian thought that his work was probably about done but next the horse presented with some squirting and watery diarrhea, which was pronounced to be colitis.

Horse's temperature soared to 105 degrees with labored breathing. Yet the blood work looked okay including the white cell count.

For about 24 hours IV fluids were administered, also bio sponge, penicillin and Banamine.

Though the diarrhea stopped, the horse continued to have problems with fever and then last night the edema began to return in the ventral line area. A bad odor also became prominent.

Vet said that he could administer fluids for a couple of more days to see if the horse would pull through but he was not optimistic for a good outcome.

My friend then elected to euthanize her beloved boy before his condition declined any further.

He had been in pain and looking at his sides a great deal and when medications would begin to wear off his breathing would become more labored.

A sad ending for a lovely horse and his owner who had a really special love and partnership with him.

With great sadness, I post this for the record in case it may help someone else.
Member:
scooter

Posted on Thursday, Sep 16, 2010 - 10:12 pm:

Not a good ending My condolences to your friend Vicki. Did they ever figure out what the cause was?
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Friday, Sep 17, 2010 - 8:30 am:

Thanks, Diane.

We all tried so hard to save the sweet little guy.

The Vet originally thought Lantana poisoning was the likely culprit.

We also had an extension agent out yesterday to walk the pasture and he pointed out a few other plants that are toxic and took one back to the University for analysis because it appears to him to be likely very highly toxic and some kind of a house plant that has jumped into the wild and made its way into our area pastures.

With the symptoms of slobbering excess saliva, photosensitivity and increased bilirubin he told us that three plants in our area will cause that and that Lantana is the prime suspect in this case because we dug up a number of those and still found a couple more yesterday. Nibbles on some other plants could have also added to the sickness.

Crotalaria is another that will have the same effect as Lantana and I will post the name of the other later as I can't think of it right now.

He also pointed out the extreme danger of a cherry tree and small cherry volunteers in the pasture but that would be different symptoms.

He also told us that lime trees are very toxic being the only citrus tree that is, and there was a tree within range of being able to be reached over the fence.

He also advised removing purple passion vines that were on the fence because they appeared to have been nibbled and will have a cumulative toxic effect.

He told us if butterflies gravitate to a particular weed, suspect toxicity.

He also advised not to let your horses see you pulling something up because they will then associate those plants being in your hand with something that is edible.

He also cautioned against allowing horses to grab bites of plants along trails. There is a lot of Cortalaria along some of our public trails.

Vet was non-commital at the end.

Said the horse could also have had an ulcer that perforated causing a slow and toxic leak in the horse's system or perhaps could have had some kind of stone (biliary?) creating a problem.

Without an autopsy it is impossible to know for sure but some of the things in the blood work were a little odd in terms of this being related to a toxic plant so perhaps it was something else internal that caused this.

In any case, it is wise to be aware of the potential for poisoning by these toxic weeds.
Member:
lilo

Posted on Friday, Sep 17, 2010 - 11:11 am:

My condolences to your friend, Vicki. Amazing how many toxic plants you have to deal with.
Very sad ending,
Lilo
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Monday, Sep 20, 2010 - 12:46 pm:

Thanks, Lilo.

Senecio (AKA Ragwort/Groundsel) is the other toxic plant in our area that could potentially have caused some of the similar effects.
Member:
frances

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 21, 2010 - 7:29 am:

Very sorry that there was no happy ending. Hugs to your friend.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 21, 2010 - 5:45 pm:

Thanks. It has been a really sad time.
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