Update on Penny’s Laminitis.

It’s been a month since I first discovered Penny, standing head-down in the run-out shed with her fetlocks all swollen.

I documented in previous posts the treatments by the vet and by myself in our efforts to get her over the Laminitis and back “on her feet”, so to speak.

My last post was about a setback Penny suffered, after I tried to transition her back to the pasture grass.

This post is the latest in the series.

During the last week of July, I tried to transition Penny onto the pasture grass. I started allowing her to graze just a few minutes in the morning one day, then a little longer the next, then a little in the afternoon as well. By the third day she was again showing soreness and getting worse, rather than better. I immediately stopped allowing her to graze and started her back on the Bute, but I ran out of Acepromazine. I had to go out of town the first week of August, so I left her care and feeding in the hands of a very responsible young lady. By the time I left town, Penny was again on the mend.

I left instructions with the young lady to go ahead and feed her dry hay (grass hay – fescue and orchard grass), and to walk her for about 15 minutes every morning, if Penny felt like walking.  I told her it was ok to allow Penny to grab the occasionaly mouthful of grass, but not to allow her to graze. I gave her instructions to wet 1lb of alfalfa pellets and mix 1gm of Bute with it and feed it to Penny each evening, along with about 10 lbs (2-3 flakes) of dry hay. When I checked on her mid week, it turned out she was still sore and didn’t seem to be progressing. I told the caretaker to stop walking her, not allow her to eat any grass at all, and to soak her hay before feeding. She did exactly as I instructed.

Upon my return last Wednesday, Penny appeared to be doing much better, although she was still a bit tender on her front feet. No swelling at all was apparent and she appeared to be in good spirits. She would willingly walk around the pasture with me and looked to be in good shape. She was certainly better than when I left. I decided to discontinue the Bute and see how she did. 

Also, I received the Easyboot hoof boots and pad inserts I ordered the previous week. They arrived while I was gone. On Wednesday morning I fitted the boots on Penny’s front hooves. She didn’t fuss at all and they seemed to relieve a little bit of tenderness on her fronts.

I decided that after the previous week of being completely off the grass, I might try again to transition her back to the pasture, but much slower this time.  I allowed her to graze in the pasture for 15 minutes during the morning, while I cleaned her stall. Then back into the stall to be fed dry hay. On Thursday she seemed no worse than the day before, so I allowed her to graze for 30 minutes in the morning, then back to the stall for dry hay.

On Thursday evening Penny appeared to be getting sore again, so I decided to wait and see how she was in the morning, and determine a course forward from there.

On Friday morning, Penny was noticeably more sore than the day before, and I could see some swelling coming back into her rear fetlocks. No more green grass for Penny. I put her back on the Bute Friday evening and started soaking her hay again for 30 minutes before feeding it.

On Saturday, it was apparent that Penny will not be back on the pasture any time soon. She was almost as swollen and sore as when I first found her with Laminitis three weeks earlier. I could feel she was warm, probably had a fever. She seemed to want me to rub her head. I wonder that maybe she had a headache. She seemed to be feeling pretty poorly, and I felt bad for her. I started her back on 1gm of Bute morning and evening, but I’m out of Ace, like I said earlier. I decided to see how she did with just the Bute.

On Sunday she was about the same. On Sunday evening I decided to see if she would allow me to soak her rear hooves in cold water while she ate her hay. I placed her left rear hoof (the worst one) in a bucket of cold water. After her pulling her foot out of the water several times and me putting it back in, she finally let it rest in the water. I guess it just took a minute to get used to it. After that, it appeared the cold water must have been soothing, because she stood there for a full 30 minutes without moving her rear hooves at all. Never spilled, never moved.

This morning (Monday), Penny was noticeably better, and was moving around tenderly, but easily. She did not feel feverish and was in good spirits again. I noticed she had gotten her hoof boots off (I bought them a size large in the width for her, to accommodate the length of her front hooves and I need to shorten the cables a bit). Since she’s in a stall with a sawdust floor, I decided to just leave them off for now. I decided to see whether she would let me soak both her rear hooves. I placed each rear hoof into a separate bucket. I had a cold pack from our freezer that I placed in the bucket with the left rear hoof. She allowed that and again, once I got her used to the water, she never moved her rear hooves while she fed. I let her soak a full hour before leaving her standing there with her hooves in the buckets finishing her hay. I suppose she probably stood there in the water for at least another 15-20 minutes after I left. This afternoon I bought a large feed bucket, so I could try soaking both rear hooves in the same container and drop a large bag of ice in the water.

This evening I found her much improved again, and in good spirits, but could still see substantial swelling in both rear fetlocks. She seems to be doing very well with her front hooves, and I could detect no swelling. I decided to go ahead and just leave her barefoot again. This time she willingly allowed me to place both her rear hooves in the water in one large bucket.

I dumped in a large bag of ice and she never budged. It must have felt good, because I stood there for a full hour and only had to put one hoof back in the water once. She simply stood in place, soaking her rear hooves in ice water while she fed on the soaked hay. I watched her for a full hour, then left her standing there. There were still pieces of ice in the water when I left.

I’m hoping to find her doing better and see the swelling greatly reduced tomorrow morning.

Wish us luck.