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  Discussion on Arthritis, now what?
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Member:
Foggyval

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 20, 2006 - 4:31 pm:

My 12-year-old mule had a bout with thrush but still came up limping. After several vet visits, antibiotics and x-rays, it was determined that she also had arthritis in her hoof. The vet said her knee seemed okay....is it weird for her to have arthritis in just ONE hoof area? He said the hoof is now clear of thrush and also ruled out white line disease. I'm confused about the MSM he recommended though, he mentioned glucosamine and I wondered if the regular MSM is glucosamine or do I need another different kind of MSM that specifically states glucosamine in there?

Does anyone know how long before we see any improvement? Is it safe to Bute her and ride her?

Any input greatly appreciated.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 21, 2006 - 9:05 am:

Hello Sara,
No MSM and glucosamine are different chemicals though you often see them together in the same product. If arthritis is a correct diagnosis, you should consider the MSM as experimental but the glucosamine as important. Because of the nature of arthritis the prognosis depends on the specific joint involved and the lesions seen on the radiographs, but even with that information the disease progress is variable and you should discuss with your vet if bute and riding is advisable. For more on glucosamine / bute / and riding a horse with arthritis see the article associated with this discussion.

If you will give us a bit more history on the lameness: how long it is going on and how bad is it, how it started, the location and lesions on the radiographs I would be interested and will give you my thoughts.
DrO
Member:
Foggyval

Posted on Thursday, Jun 22, 2006 - 7:38 pm:

Okay...the history. We took her shoes off in about October. Shortly after that she started limping. After studying this site, we checked her for thrush, which we have never ever seen or had before. Sure enough, that was it. Our vet gave a course of antibiotics and we did the cleaning, keeping dry, tried several different thrush meds. Still she would limp. She would look good one day and then the next seem like she could hardly move. After about six weeks of this plus keeping her in the barn to keep the foot dry, we took her to another vet who looked and said she had thrush deep in the hoof where the flesh turns to bone and in BOTH front feet, and to keep the feet dry and treat with 100% bleach, and that no antibiotic would work at this point. So we did that for about three weeks and it got so she would just flinch when we tried the bleach because it hurt. We didn't like the results (actually there WERE no results from that) so we quit and kept treating her with some Old Hickory Black Salve we had gotten from the farm store to keep the foot sealed and dry. Still kept her in the barn. This was about three weeks ago. I called the vet again and asked what now. He said to do an x-ray which we did. He read it and said there was no navicular, bone looked good, there was some "fuzziness" around the cartilage and he said it is arthritis and to put her on MSM, and that is all. She looks a bit better, but not 100%. She will look good one day and then be limping the next. The vet said go ahead and turn her out as he had seen no more thrush, and didn't think it was white line disease. We are at wits end. We almost think it may be something else because she was fine all last summer, never a problem, and only after we pulled her shoes did this start. We have only had her one year and someone told us that maybe she never had shoes on before and when we shod her last year it was a mistake because "she probably had hardened hooves from never being shod and didn't need shoes."

If you need more specific info I can call the vet again and ask about specific areas of lesions. He just said "fuzzy around the cartilage." I just have this feeling we are missing something. She seems to have no soreness in the shoulder, knee, leg....but some occasional "ouchiness" when we press on the bottom of the foot.

The thrush seems to be all cleared up but we constantly pick her feet and keep salve on the foot. Would your thrush mixture help her do you think? Is there such a thing as "deep thrush" where it's way up and nothing will help? She is such a sweet and calm and gentle animal, my first mule, and it's frustrating that I can't help her. Some people say "Just Bute her and ride her," but I don't want to hurt her.

Thanks for any help in this FRUSTRATING problem....

Sara Lee
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Jun 23, 2006 - 6:35 am:

I have to say starting with systemic antibiotics and going to 100% bleach, I do not like either choices. I am surprised the mule will still let you handle the feet.

The sulcus is the cleft in the middle of the frog and where thrush tends to accumulate if this cleft is deep. While this conformation makes treatment more difficult and recurrence likely, diagnosis is still easy and I have not had one I could not get well using the guidelines in the article.

But first is to determine is this your problem: is your mule still sensitive when you gently but deeply clean out this area? What about black goo, and odor?
Member:
Foggyval

Posted on Friday, Jun 23, 2006 - 11:06 am:

She is just sensitive in one particular spot. No black goo, no odor.

She's such a calm and sweet little girl. We have done everything to try and help her and she just lets us keep on trying..... Our vet says arthritis but I have a fear that it's just NOT that. I mean, wouldn't any 12-year-old animal show SOME arthritis anyway? Like people do? I had really hopes for the x-rays, but at least he did rule out navicular and said the bones look good.....
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Jun 24, 2006 - 8:02 pm:

And why is this area sensitive Sara? If there is no horn over the corium or the horn thin, that certainly will make an area sensitive and may be cause of the lameness. If it is well covered with horn, I wonder why it is sensitive and makes the cause of lameness less sure.
DrO
Member:
Foggyval

Posted on Sunday, Jun 25, 2006 - 3:15 pm:

Is it possible there is still thrush even though there is no smell or sign of it? Can it be so deep it can't be seen? Should we start with your thrush recipe once again and see what happens? Even if there is no thrush there, it wouldn't hurt, would it?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Jun 26, 2006 - 7:30 am:

I think if you have thrush you would see it Sara but it is not the thrush that is painful it is exposure of the sensitive tissues that is painful. Though the thrush is gone you still may have exposed sensitive tissue or the horn so thin that the sole is still sensitive to pressure.
DrO
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