Will I Miniatures

 My experience with this awful disease

Roz's Just N Time DOB 5/16/2004  AMHA/AMHR  had foaled 2 months prior .

Hyperlipidemia is a condition that Miniature Horses are well-known for although it also affects ponies and donkeys. In short, hyperlipidemia (or hyperlipemia) is a disorder of lipid metabolism that may lead to fatty infiltration of the liver, clinical signs of liver disease, loss of appetite and, ultimately, death. The disease often occurs in obese individuals that are stressed, anorectic (off-feed), pregnant or lactating. It frequently develops following a primary illness of several days duration such as diarrhea, endotoxemia, parasitism, pituitary tumor or neonatal septicemia, but can occur any time a horse is unable to satisfy its own metabolic energy needs (late gestation, early lactation, hormonal imbalance, etc). Affected horses usually will begin with anorexia and lethargy, progressing to incoordination, abdominal pain, head pressing, circling, diarrhea, convulsions and death. It is important for owners and veterinarians alike to always suspect hyperlipidemia in any obese mini with severe depression, anorexia, neurological signs, and icterus (jaundice). Owners may prevent this condition by providing appropriate nutrition while avoiding obesity, stress and engaging in good routine health care. 

Duchess presented with low fever the first few days, then progressed to not eating and lightly drooling, hanging head, and not eating but drinking little bits of water.

On first set of labs her lipids , Triglycerides were nearly 1700. Her glucose was 56, extremely low. Ggt (liver function was nearly 1,000. (2 - 30  is normal range) her bilirubin was 3.7 ( normal 1.2 ) . She clearly was all over the map. Then her white cell's came back at a whopping 17,000. We were dealing with a VERY sick miniature. Duchess was jaundice soon after, and very, very thin, happened so fast, please do not wait for to do labs, if something is wrong and they are different , time is of the essence . Move fast, call vet, get going on a plan, they don't have time  to wait and see...on basic things you have ,they need medicine and to be forced fed.   Please note during this awful process I kept her 2 month foal at side, as not to stress her body any further, she nursed what she could and I did the rest . As you can see in pic he is standing at her side. I did not post pictures of her towards the end of May , she was extremely thin and was not something I wanted to share. 

Plan of attack. Medicine tried SMZ's didn't work. Move onto Gentamicin again didn't touch it.

Started her on a compound of Chloramphenicol . Finally started to take effect. Moving into  5 days of not eating a thing, I was syringe feeding 4 times a day Well Gel by Purina, what a magical product  along with this she was getting 60cc's of Karo syrup 2 times a day to keep up glucose levels. 1/2 cup corn oil , red cell for anemia , probios , gastroguard, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, Silver Lining liver detox , vitamin B shot every 3 or 4 days or so,  applesauce just because :)

I tried not to use banamine if I didn't have to, did not want to slow down her organs any slower then they already were.

My girl ,daily would endure , all these via syringe plus the 4 times daily ringers for dehydration.

She was a TROOPER !!

This all started May 1st 2015, by the end of May she was getting better. Duchess had a total of 6 sets of labs drawn to see she was making progress. 

She finally moved her bowels 13 days in!! It was white and stringy, scared me to death but common for a horse that has not pooped in 13 days, (to mention the smell was horrific .)

we were on the right track with her protocol.