Re: Club foot vs. laminitis, Cushing's dz.

[CMNewell <reshan@deyr.ultranet.com>]

> ... her feet
> seem to be sore because her tendons are extremely tight.

Are  you sure it's her feet that are sore, in that case?



> ...  Other
> vets have told me that sometimes the excess cortisol in the body can be
> the source of the pain in a Cushingoid horse?  I don't know for sure
> about that. 

Never heard that one before. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense,
considering what a potent anti-inflammatory it is.



>  As far as
> the thyroid meds this horse was on...the vet started her on them last
> year even though she tested normal, because she was overweight and has
> never tested her levels since.  I may NOT be a vet but does that
> sound prudent to YOU?


IMO, there are damn few hypothyroid horses in the world, and a helluva
lot of thyroid medication is sold anyhow. So it doesn't impress me too
much one way or the other whether the levels got rechecked, since
she  probably wasn't hypothyroid to start with.



> ... I may have
> made some assumptions and assertions about a vet you don't know that
> offended you

I wasn't offended, I simply felt that, based on the information you
provided, you were making at least as many wildassed guesses as you think
the vet was.



> ...I wrote to
> Ridecamp looking for MORE help.  My uneducated guess is that this
> horse has Cushing's with a club foot 

You say your husband has been shoeing this horse for two years. Did she
have the club foot when he started?

> (that has little
> to no rotation and no laminae separation) that needs to be monitored for
> complications from laminitis....

But didn't you say you didn't think she  *had* laminitis?  I'm
not following you here. 

                  
--CMNewell, DVM