My friends horse has just diagnosed as suffering form Grass Sickness, I know that the out come isnt prob going to be great and the odds are not very good either.


Anyone got any experience and what was the outcome


thanks

A very good friend of mine lost her beloved pony (Bonnie) a few years back due to Grass Sickness.
It was an horrendous time for her & the pony.
The vet was obviously out & because the main veterinary horsepital was in Edinburgh there was no way the pony would of survived the journey, 2 hours in total.
She had to have her pts as there was no miracle cure for Bonnie although they tried everything at the time.
It really is an awful thing to happen.

Fingers, toes & everything else crossed for a recovery but like you say it's doubtful depending the severity of it.

XxX

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yepps, a friend of mines horse had grass sickness,
They put a tube in through her nose and 'flushed' her out, she was then on box rest for 3 weeks, only aloud tiny feeds which had to be 90% water and like slush. she was also not allowed any bedding and had to be kept on rubber matting.

After a week or so they said to take her on small walks 3-4 times a day,
it was horrible to see, it was like someone had flicked a switch, she was sooooo poorly really letargic etc

In the mean time shed had various injections, several nose bleeds and was on a few different medications.

Luckily she made a full recovery and was soon back to her old self

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I wasnt so lucky with Grass sickness, i lost my 5 yr old Shetland Sonny to it about 6 yrs ago. Treatment has come a long waysince Sonny and as its already been said it depends how badly effected the horse is. I really hope you have a better out come than i did, as id hate anyone to suffer as i did, and my heart goes out to anyone that wasnt so lucky.

Please let us know the out come....and good luck xx

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more info please, our litle shetland has been a bit lethargic the last day or so and having read this it has wound me up so to speak, what causes it and why

thanks

jenn

Its not really known what causes it, It was thought to be grass related but horses which have little or no access to grass have got it, so thoughts have turned to hay or haylage.

There is no conclusive evidence as to the cause and there is no cure. Treatment seems to be based on nursing care and supporting the horse through an exremely severe illness.

I have done some reading on the subject last night and survival rates do tend to be based on how severe the case. The survival rates do seem to have risen lately but it still not good odds

signs are:

severly tucked up abdomen
Marked weightloss
Depression/Sleepy appearance
Gut statis
Difficulty eating and swallowing colic
High heart rate
Muscle tremmors
Droopy eyelids
Patchy sweating
Elephant on a tub stance

thanks for that info,thnkfully she has none of those symptons just having a quiet sulk. I am so sorry to hear of horses with this, you are so helpless when anything is wrong, all you can do is rely on your vet.

jenn