Passion

[pnp4kidz]

Well, just to clarify on the bute,
as it relates to Passion, she is acute, meaning it is evolving, or happening right now.
By giving her bute for the pain, you have to keep her in the stall, remember? you can't let her out, or she might do too much and hurt herself since you have numbed the pain...
It does reduce inflammation, so for the first few days, it is used, and you stall them.

Second is the Ace, that actually increases the blood flow to the hoof, as we discussed, she must have more blood flow to stop the process... Ace does that...

Soft Shavings deeply bedded does a few things...
first is it encourages her to lay down. As I said, it is VERY beneficial for her to lay down. Standing on the feet is putting her in danger of tearing the laminae over and over with every step, or stomp, or stumble and catch herself.... laying down is good... relieves her feet of stress. Of course you can't keep her down, but you sure want to encourage her... make it a nice thing.

When she 'is' up, she needs support under her feet. Pads do that... and that supports the bony column, doing our best to keep it from dropping and tearing more laminae... .that laminae is like wet tissue paper right now, and it will be a month or more before she even begins to grow enough foot to see the new hoof coming in with a connection again... and a year to grow that connection to the ground. As we talked, it is about 3 months when they have an inch of new tight growth when you can take a deep breath, and feel like you are peeking out of the woods, that inch makes a much more stable hoof, harder to tear laminae... starting to stabilize.

and Ice... reduces that inflammation. for acute laminitis, it's all about the inflammation... reducing it before 'more' damage is done. YOu can't start healing until you 'fix' the cause of the problem... but ice and bute will stop it now, then you address the cause.

hope that helps,
we talked about so much!!!
and we talked about the clyde too, who is chronic... so kind of different in some respects...
I'm sorry if I got all messed up in explaining! my bad....

[lauras]

That is what I said I do in the acute phase.... Ice and bute. I had special packs made to hold the ice... Keep in the paddock area. Move if they want. Blood draw, check the levels, I did it on my other horse that has made tremendous gains.
I soak hay to reduce carbs. I use senior feed but you suggested another alternative that I am looking into. The vet saw her at her worst. She is getting better. Why would she need IV bute now? I think I will call my vet in the morning...
I will check the numbers that you, Beth, told me to check. I will go from there.
Again. I say thanks for your help.

[calypso]

Laura,

I can hear the frustration in your writing. It also seems like you think this is about not being ready for her/needing money. Obviously I can't speak for anyone else here, but that isn't it for me - and I don't get the sense it is for anyone else. If you saw my posts on Neo (the little bottle-baby kitten) you saw that one night I was getting edgy about the escalating costs and my corresponding lack of funds. The next day I'd regained my equilibrium and realized, money can be replaced. Like you just posted - you borrowed the money from your mom. (Temporary) end of money problem. Shoot - as you pointed out, ALL of us have run short one time of another.

The issue for me is expertise. Passion needs help of a very specific nature immediately. There are a lot of really well qualified vets, farriers, etc out there and I have no doubt that the people caring for her with you are excellent. You say they have lots of experience with rescue and are gentle and Passion likes them. But sometimes having someone with a proven track record - a been-there-done-that (to the specific problem) person/team to step in is essential to a good outcome. That is what is being offered here.

Beth has forgotten more about founder and the related conditions than most vets will ever learn! The Percheron that Beth came over and consulted on here (for free, out of the goodness of her heart - I want to be clear. For Beth this is not a job, it's a calling) was being treated by the best of the best...and he was being treated inappropriately. So, he kept getting better, getting worse, getting better, getting worse. And each time he got worse, it was worse than the time before. Shoot, MY farrier was the one working on him. He does a great job on my girls (he's a track farrier). He does the all the (12) show Clydesdales up at "my" ranch. So he knows drafts - but what he was doing for the foundered/abscessed Perch was dead wrong. Beth's farrier came all the way out (2 hours each way - but she *did* charge :-) ) to assess and treat him and she totally changed his protocol. That's the difference when you get expertise and experience specific to the problem at hand.

Dean has that kind of expertise - personally as well as the team that works at her place. Yeah, I hear the whole "Dean has so many horses.." thing too. There are 50 horses out at the ranch where my kids are. Jeanne has staff. They're all well taken care of. Dean does too. Go check her place out and satisfy yourself. I see she posted and agreed to come out to you - take her up on it.

The old saying "no hoof, no horse" is so true. And, no one can guarantee a good outcome, especially on a horse where you don't know the history. BUT, we can do everything we can to give them the best shot. Frankly, I'd be given you the same advice (listen to Beth & send her to Dean), even if you had your paddock already, she was at your place, and you had a million bucks in the bank!

You mentioned about Deb and Buckaroo and how he didn't have labs etc. I don't know his specific circumstances - were they the same as Passion? Lameness and pain can come from so many causes - perhaps it was obvious there was nothing to be done hence no need for all the diagnostic stuff. It sounds like this "came on" Passion since she was saved. Maybe a different situation than Buckaroo?

I hope you know we ALL are coming from the same place - we ALL have Passion's best interests at heart. And yeah, you get a bunch of rescue people in the same "room" and you're going to get a bunch of different opinions. (it's the same in cat and dog rescue!) But the overriding question in this kind of situation is - who's done this before? Who's got the track record?? Beth and Dean do (so does Katie, but given that she's down here and you're concerned about Dean being far away makes me think you're less likely to take her up - but talk with her - she's been through this too!). I hope you'll given them a chance to help.

Caly

mta: I just thought - if she went to Dean's for treatment that would give you the time you need to get her paddock built - just as if she'd been in QT at Debs.

[watermarkfarm]

Hi Laura!!

That is SO great that you are working with Beth. I had the pleasure of driving 13 hours each way (and then some...) from San Francisco, CA area (we live near each other) to Bend, Oregon. I learned SO much from her. She is far more educated about these things than either my vet or farriers.

Whatever you do, just do whatever Beth says! She beats the pants off vets and farriers. She really knows her stuff with regards to founder, etc.

Good luck with Passion! Katie

[pnp4kidz]

How is she today?

The bute question answer is that you give it until the acute phase is over.
The acute phase won't be over until you diagnose her, and treat the cause.
Time IS of the essence.