Piggy's laminitis journey

[goldhorse]

Yeah Piggy! Are you going to change his name since he “lost the excess weight”? . Also congratulations to you for all your work (and worry).

Piggy is short for Piglet of the Winnie-the-Pooh books and was never intended to be derogatory. It has morphed into Pig, Piggy, Piggly-Wiggly, and currently Sir Pigolet (Peee-jo-leigh)
In his winter coat, I call him Fuzzy Wuzzy.

[Chisamba]

I think the ballooning above the eyelid is the best physical tell of insulin levels. Saiph is progressing well.

Good luck on the trot work. Do you ice his legs from knee to fetlock after exercise? Just curious because there seem to be so many different approaches to managing laminitis

[goldhorse]

Vet said nothing about icing. He is insistent though that all work be done on arena footing.

[goldhorse]

Well we got up to 2 minutes of trot work which was going great and then Strangles. It was brought in by a mare that went to a renowned private vet hospital for a colic and was there for 5 days. She came back and then developed symptoms. This sh!t spreads like wildfire. I have a Ph.D in a biological science and know a fair amount about biosecurity but this is something else. So we're knocked down for 4-6 weeks minimum. So far, symptoms are mild and we'll get back to work when he clears quarantine.

[Flight]

Great that he was progressing but sorry to hear about the Strangles. Hoping he recovers soon.

[blob]

oh gosh, Goldhorse, so sorry. We dealt with a strangles outbreak at the barn I was at many years ago and it's definitely no joke.

[goldhorse]

The strangles outbreak is officially over. Insert happy dance gif here Piggy got it on 11/27 and got a negative PCR test this week. No new cases since 12/19 so I think we're clear. But I'm keeping my old retired gelding under semi-quarantine conditions for a few more weeks just to be safe.
During the last 2 weeks, I was able to find an isolated place to handwalk Piggy and begin to trot him on the lunge. He looks so sound! Lots and lots of bucking thrown in for good measure. Hopefully, we'll be able to begin under saddle work on Tuesday when there is supposed to be a break in the rain. I plan to walk him under saddle for 30 minutes for a week and then slowly re-introduce the trot work.
Next recheck visit at Davis is Feb 8 for more hoof xrays and a more sensitive test for Cushings (TSH stimulation).

[exvet]

Sounds promising! Fingers crossed for a good report from Davis.

[goldhorse]

Excellent vet recheck today. Xrays show that everything is stable in his feet and they like what my farrier is doing. We have made it to 10 minutes of trot work this week and he's staying sound (as sound as a horse with laminitis will be). So we are allowed to add 2 more minutes of trot per week and when we hit 16 minutes, we can start cantering. If his canter is good, then he can begin turnout. Even though I warned the vet that it will be a rodeo buckfest.
The medicine folks sprung a surprise on me. The endocrinologist just returned from a meeting and saw a study that a one hour trailer ride creates enough stress that it takes 3 hours of down time for insulin levels to return to normal. So we waited around for 3 hours before they would do their blood work for insulin and a Cushings stimulation test. Piggy munched on his hay and took a long nap. I chatted with some people I know. I will update when the blood work results come in.

[Chisamba]

Lovely update

[Moutaineer]

Super good! 3 cheers for Piggy!

[goldhorse]

Blood work came back. His insulin is almost in the normal range However, his Cushings stimulation test was mildly positive so he's to start on Prascend. The current thinking is that this bout of laminitis was started by having mild PPID. One more week of trot and then we start canter. He's already sneaking in some canter when he can cuz he's a little stinker, as my mother would have said.
Of course, no rehab is easy. My "good knee" (other one had a total knee replacement 6.5 years ago) started acting up so I went to the doc and refused all the usual PT stuff and went right to a steroid injection. I'm not quite bone on bone yet and it's not as bad as the other one was when it was replaced. I found out that Medicare doesn't require pre-approval for SynVisc injections so that probably will be in my future. I hope that injections can get me at least another year on this knee.

[goldhorse]

We have canter!!!! He's very out of shape and can't hold it for a full lap of a dressage court but he's willing to try when he's asked for a depart. So willing that there's a lot of "can we canter now? how about now? you shifted a seatbone so how about now?" Now to build up endurance and strength.

[Chisamba]

Hip hip hooray

[Quelah]

Yahooey! Usually starting canter work in the wettest winter in 160 years would not be cause for celebration, but yeah, woohoo!

[goldhorse]

Yahooey! Usually starting canter work in the wettest winter in 160 years would not be cause for celebration, but yeah, woohoo!

I am very fortunate that the footing at my facility drains quickly. At least one arena is ride-able 1 day after a storm. You just have to get your ride in before they roll the arena for the next storm.
But who cares! Rain and snow, bring it on. Mt Diablo was beautiful this week.

[Quelah]

Yes the footing there is fantastic, I have aspirations to show there this year if it isn't 10000 degrees!

ETA, I just went to their website, no more shows?

[goldhorse]

No more dressage shows. Nannette retired from that after 25 years. She is moving into Working Equitation and there will be 3 shoes for that. Also many clinics. Come to those!

[goldhorse]

Yee-hah!
https://youtu.be/CN_wbOit964

[exvet]

So nice to see such a happy and apparently sound horse

[Moutaineer]

Someone's feeling good!!!

[Chisamba]

Does not look laminitis in that sequence lol

[goldhorse]

Piggy was officially discharged from UC Davis today!!! The lameness vet said that he is as sound as he's ever seen him (6+ years). He tried to nitpick the xrays (2 weeks past the last shoeing) and couldn't find a single thing to tell my farrier. The endocrinologist gave me some advice for going forward and when to schedule insulin and ACTH tests to catch any surges. We are back to full work so I anticipate some shows in the fall.
If I could figure out how to insert a happy dance gif, I would. So instead, please imagine one!
And now I feel like this thread can be closed.

[Chisamba]

Lovely news indeed

[Srhorselady]

Your update made me soooo happy! Any time anyone defeats this awful diagnosis it’s great! Several years ago I had to pts one of mine after fighting the good fight for several years. Go Piggy!

[piedmontfields]

Glad to read about the Piglet's condition! Well done, you two.

[Tanga]

That's great!

[Chisamba]

Yay yay yay