How to Treat Laminitis in Your Horse

How to Treat Laminitis - You and your vet.

You should always confirm with your vet, how to treat laminitis, but most of the treatments you can administer involve comfort and care supplied by you, the horse owner.

How can your vet treat laminitis?

Treatment of laminitis by your vet most commonly involves the use of anti-inflammatories (non steroidal anti-inflammatories NSAIDs) which have some pain relieving effect; together with diet adjustment.

NSAIDs such as bute or flunixine are commonly used for around 2 weeks in acute laminitis cases and sometimes indefinitely in chronic laminitis cases. They effectively combat inflammation in the laminitic joint.

Other Laminitic treatments include...

Extra pain relief with narcotic analgesics e.g. fentanyl patches in America, but not used much in the UK.

Antibiotics like virginiamycin. Laminitis treatment aims to reduce the number of harmful bacteria in the gut causing the production and release of toxins.

Drugs to improve circulation e.g. ACP the sedative (also reduces stress). Although most of such drugs have not been shown to help much in laminitis treatment. Isoxuprine has also been used.

Cold therapy. Can help in initial stages of laminitis treatment but the benefits have not been accurately assessed.

Heat therapy. Aims to improve circulation to laminitic feet but there is no evidence that it works.

Nerve Blocks to desensitise the laminitic feet may seem sensible but it may mean that your horse will place too much weight on the sensitive feet and do even more damage.

Treating Laminitis Through Dietary Control

Remove The Cause

In order to expel food that has caused laminitis it may also be useful to use liquid paraffin or even better Psyllium husks.

This is particularly important where your horse or pony has eaten too much grain or concentrates

You can and should use dietary control to help with laminitis treatment, but must remember that a lack of proper nutrients may make it more difficult and slow the healing.

Nutritional supplements are very important not only for ensuring that your horse recovers but also to make sure that he or she does not become nutritionally deficient while undergoing treatment.

Laminitis is really a nutritional problem and it is possible to help your horse a lot by using nutritional supplements. These are not used as medicines but to aid the treatment your vet has prescribed.

Aloe vera, probiotics and antioxidants can help a lot as well as a liver tonic, which some therapists have found to be the most effective supplement.

A liver tonic supports the way the body deals with toxins that are circulating around the body and at the same time tones up the digestive system. It also has the added benefit that most parts of the body work better once the liver has improved.