Rhubarb foundering, maybe?

[JHAAS]

Hi all,

It’s been a stressful week. My 22 yo belgian gelding went off his feed a week ago, I saw that some rhubarb plants got munched, knew they’re poison and called the vet. He got Tums to crystallize the oxalic acids in the kidney and IV to flush him out. While I was giving the IV, his shoulders started trembling. Next morning he was eating again, but slowly. The vet suggested founder and we began treatment for that – bute and cool water. That evening he was unwilling to move, not laying down, but standing stock still occasionally lifting each foot. Eating and drinking normally. Passing manure and urine which look normal, though it seemed difficult for him to pass the urine, which could be a kidney thing.

So far he’s walking about more, but still not wanting to lead. His trembling has mostly subsided, but still comes up every now an then. Had my farrier/mentor look at the feet and didn’t see anything weird. Sheath also looks a little swollen.

Anyone have any ideas or thoughts? He’s old, but he was working so well this year and it’d be a hard loss. I just want to do right by him.

Thanks
J

[dominiquer60]

Some founder is not apparent at first without radiographs, that would be a more sure way to rule founder out.

Erika

[Ron]

Hi JHAAS
I think if it was founder you would likely know it by now the heat in the feet usually are obvious. I am not a vet just someone who has seen a lot of foundered horses. It sounds to me like a poisoning. A horse who has even had mild rotation of the pedal bone does not want to move those feet and will stand pointing the foot or feet. Founder usually hits the front feet the worst and they will stand leaning back on the hind feet trying to take the weight off of them. The hind feet will be tucked right in under them. If it is in all four feet from a grass founder your farrier should be seeing it pretty clearly. I did lend a horse to some one one time and they foundered the horse on grain in the right front foot. At the time it was easy to tell what was going on she pointed the one foot and did not want to walk on it. We looked after it well and it came along but every year when she went out on grass she would go lame in the one foot. The only way that you would know the rest of the year that the foot was foundered was by a radiography. If a horse is sick enough from a fever or poisoning the will also founder and those are really nasty founders
Ron

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