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  Discussion on Small Liver
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Posted on Monday, May 22, 2000 - 11:04 am:

Hi everyone!

Last Sunday (the 14th) I had to call my vet out to my barn because I thought my horse was colicking (sp?). As it turns out, he wasn't colicking at all! or so we thought! He had obvious signs of abdominal pain, typical tail swishing, kicking at his stomache, and laying down. He was very depressed and had no interest in his treats or hay. However, we quickly realized after the vet started his exam, that he had no kind of impaction, was passing manure normally, and had REALLY yellow gums. Therefore the vet told me that my horse probably had some liver irritation, and since he has been eating normally,(he had even eaten his breakfast that AM!) he felt it was probably a bacterial infection. He took some blood to run various tests, and told me that a liver ultrasound would probably be a good idea. He called me later that day to tell me that his liver enzymes were elevated, but his GGT levels weren't nearly as high as he had expected them to be, and maybe his inital diagnosis was incorrect. I scheduled his ultrasound for the following Tuesday, and started my horse on antibiotics and Banamine while we were waiting for more info. My horse's symptoms were gone by the time the vet had left...I guess the banamine did the trick there!)

Tuesday I took my horse to New Bolton Center for the ultrasound, and the poor doctors there spent 4 hours just trying to FIND his liver! Finally they found a little piece of it, (so at least he has one! ugh) They also did another rectal exam, and found nothing abnormal there. They were primarily concerned about a couple of things they saw. #1: if his liver was irritated it should have been bigger than usual on the ultrasound, but they saw SO little of it, they determined that he has a REALLY small liver anyway! #2: it seemed as if his lungs were displaced two ribs too far forward (towards his head)therefore they could be hiding his liver from the ultrasound, but WHAT was displacing his lungs?

The conclusion they came to was fairly ambiguous. They took some more blood for more liver tests (ones my vet didn't have access to, just to be safe) and decided that my horse must've had a bout of gas colic on Sunday which could've irritated his liver, therefore the yellow gums, etc. And they thought that he could still have some gas that was displacing his lungs. However, they expressed some concern about the size of his liver, period. We are going to take some more blood early this week to compare to last week to see if those enzymes are going back down. His gums look somewhat better now, but they're still yellowish.

My horse has no history (that I am aware of) of any kind of liver problems. I was advised that they could do all sorts of other tests (like liver biopsy, Xrays, and full abdominal ultrasounds), but since he has no history, it may be best just to watch him.

My question is this: (sorry for the long winded story!)

If my horse only had colic the other day, (ie it wasn't some major liver event!) what would having a small liver do to his system, and what things should I look for in the future? Is there a way to support his system now if it's going to keep causing problems? I've read the article on Liver Disease, and I'm not sure how much of that applys, or could apply to me and my horse!

Thanks!
Daisy

Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2000 - 6:37 am:

I don't think a mild colic is likely to have any secondary effect on the liver and without a diagnosis as to why he colicked I don't think we can make any good recommendations other than review your management for problems.

Unless a functional problem with the liver was found I don't think any special management need apply but if there is a functional problem the recommendations for treatment and diet may apply, these are really questions to discuss with your veterinarian who is most familiar with the case.
DrO
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