Re: Uncontrolled founder pain


Filaree doesn't seem to be in quite as much pain as she was a couple of days ago. She's able to stand for longer periods of time.

Questions for Dr Kellon: How often should we be soaking her feet and changing the poultice? I've just returned to active horse duty following a two week post surgery layup and my husband struggles with back pain. He's been doing Filaree's foot care with minimal assistance from me. We're using surgardine poultice recommended by our trimmer. We had a lot of betadine on hand and she said sugardine has properties that would help with the abscesses and prevent further problems. How long should it take for the abscess to come out? If/when we run out of betadine, we'll switch to Numotizine. Yes, our trimmer noted that her heels were a little high and she wanted to take them down a bit, but decided to wait and do that next time (maybe a week or two after her trim on the 28th) because Filaree got soooo sore after her first good trim on June 25th. How certain are you that Filaree has abscesses? What does it mean that her insulin level increased from 63 to 101 in a month, after we started soaking her hay? Our vet wasn't concerned about the increased insulin level. He didn't think it was important. But I'm wondering if the hay soaking isn't helping, can we stop soaking? 

We've owned Filaree since she was a weanling and she has always lived in Southern California. She has never left SoCal. I'm aware that Lyme disease exists in our area. Is laminitis one of the symptoms in horses? Is there a test for it for horses? Filaree hasn't left the property in few years, although a few of our other horses have. should she be tested for pigeon fever and strangles? none of our horses have ever had symptoms. I don't think the vet did CBC work on her, but I'll ask. Her only other previous symptoms have been occasional migrating limb lameness that resulted in a diagnosis of neurological deficits several years ago. She was never head bobbing lame during these occasional episodes, but short striding on one leg or another. She was still safe to ride lightly when the laminitis hit.

We started on Metformin. Hoping that helps bring down the insulin, which will stop the laminitis. But I think we still need to know what's causing the high insulin level and why it increased after we began to soak her hay. We haven't started the jiaogulan yet because we're still weaning her off the banamine. We'll drop dose her again tonight. 

Thank you to everyone for your thoughtful suggestions and support. It is so overwhelming though. I feel like we're trying so hard, but it's never enough because Filaree isn't getting better.
Suzie Kirkwood
Descanso, CA

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