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  Discussion on HYPP symptoms in 3 week foal
Author Message
Member:
Jcsmoon

Posted on Monday, Jun 13, 2005 - 1:08 pm:

So yet again the strange rescues find their way to my barn. We had an orphan come in for critical care and he responded well. At 2 weeks we began to see that he was developing more muscle than would be expected (Butt the size of a small Texas county), even though he was only gaining 2.5-2.75 lbs per day. 2 days after he was introduced to alfalfa pellets and sweet feed he showed a 10 min episode of muscle twitching in left hip (mild but noticeable), next night 15 min episode in both hips (more noticeable), following night 20 min of full body twitching (VERY obvious). At that point we pulled all feed except grass hay and milk. It took a week but I finally saw the papers yesterday and sure enough, Impressive bred and no record of testing. We are sending off samples today for the stallion and foal to UC Davis.

So my question is, what is your opinion on the long term viability of this foal assuming that this is HYPP and he is showing signs already?

There is a good chance that this foal will return to the owners as they still have legal control, it is also likely that care will be substandard; he will be lucky to get fed, much less fed a special diet. I have read about administering Kayro syrup, and hand walking to deal with mild episodes. Is this really effective?
New Member:
Dove2

Posted on Monday, Jun 13, 2005 - 5:07 pm:

Yes. I have an HYPP horse for about 9 months. He was fine until he got stressed (at the trainers). When he returned to a new barn, and had his feed switched to sweet feed with molasses, he began having episodes. Depending upon the severity of the episode, we administered various amounts of karo syrup in a syringe. There's a great discussion of the best way to administer it on https://www.thehorsesource.com/hypp-lt.html
The main things for care is the more turnout, the better; lots of avail. water, keep stress levels down, regular exercise, no molasses in feed, no alfalfa, regularity in feeding and exercising. During episodes, get the karo syrup started right away, try to walk the horse, being careful for your own safety and position, even if its circles in a stall. Best of luck to you.
Member:
Jcsmoon

Posted on Monday, Jun 13, 2005 - 8:54 pm:

Another question, I understand daily diuretics are used to help with the disease. What are the possible side effects if this drug was given to a foal of this age to control the K levels. And how might this impact other critical balances like Ph/Ca?

Tracking his behavior I am seeing a pattern of 1 day of activity followed by 2-3 days of lethergy.
New Member:
Dove2

Posted on Monday, Jun 13, 2005 - 11:16 pm:

Good questions, Emily, but I think your vet should answer them. I spoke to my brother-in-law, a doctor, yesterday. He said, for humans, they usually add K when prescribing diuretics for humans. In this case, however, you want to reduce the K level. Again, I'm not a vet but have had to research this for my own horse. As I've just discovered my new horse is N/H (I can't believe it!), I'll also be taking out the mineral block and replacing it with a plain salt block. Perhaps Dr. O can help with the critical balance question.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 14, 2005 - 2:44 pm:

I am uncertain how such a young horse will react to a diuretic Emily, so suggest it remain as a last resort and if used start with a very low dose.

It could be a bit more time with good management and he will improve. My experience is that these worsen as the horse matures, but considering all this little guy has been through it may be premature to consider that he might develop into a bad case.

Yes Karo (corn syrup is high in digestible sugar) and walking are good for mild acute episodes. Adding oral calcium would further increase the efficacy and the article gives a IV dose that could be used orally if the foal will swallow it. There are inexpensive Milk Fever (Cal/Phos/Dex) solutions that I would think would be easy to modify for this use, just be sure they do not contain K.
DrO
Member:
Jcsmoon

Posted on Thursday, Jun 16, 2005 - 12:18 pm:

Thanks Dr O, I have not seen a repeated episode since we pulled the alfalfa pellets and sweet feed from him. He is now just on the milk and grass hay while we wait for the results. I have gotten two different opinons here with vets that we work with and neither were very optimistic. If the test shows he is carrying the gene we will have to assume that the episodes were in fact attacks. I will let you know what happens...
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