Mystery illness is tying up....

[Sarah McIntosh <smcintos@rapidnet.net>]

Hi guys & gals:

Thanks to all of you who responded to my earlier plea for help.  Tiki
was not 100% but i couldn't tell if it was tying up or what was
happening.  A note for those who are fortunate not to have had a horse
tie-up.  Be sensitive to your horse's minor changes.  Tiki tied up and
yet she never stood still for very long and seemed to walk out of it.  I
did not force her to walk and my vet said i could have done even more
damage to her muscles and kidneys if i would have forced her.

Vet gave her a Vit E/Se shot and left another 3 ml dose for 10 days from
first shot.  He looked at her feed and supplement and she is very short
on Se and E.

The rest of this post is long and technical, so if you don't want to
read blood work results, stop here!!!!

Anyone who has any further suggestions, from reading the blood results,
please send them to me, i am grateful for all your ideas and
suggestions.

Tiki's blood results back.  I can't type the whole thing in and i don't
have a scanner, so here is a summary and highlights.

White cell, red cell, homoglobin, hematocrit, RDW, platelet, all in
normal ranges.


Morphology: aniso - slight, poikilio - slight, platelet - adequate

Variability in platelet size apparent, slight echinocytosis ????

Following items all normal:

glucose, creatinine, sodium, calcium, total protein, albumin, globulin,
albumin/globulin ratio, bilirubin total, alkaline phosphatase, chloride,
carbon dioxide, calculated osmololity, gamma gt, fibrinogen semi quant,
serum iron.

Following items not normal:

Blood Urea Nitrogen          9.6 mmol/l should be 3.5-8.8
Potassium           8.2 mmol/l should be 2.4-4.7
Phosphorus        0.9 mmol/l should be 0.96-1.80
**Sgot (ast)       2480 iu/l should be 130-300 (yikes)
Anion gap          17, should be 5-16
**Creatine Phosphokinase        461 iu/l, should be 70-212 (yikes)

my vet told me the two items marked with ** are the muscle enzymes that
show that she tied up.  Does anyone have experience with these kind of
numbers?  What kind of lay off time should i be expecting?  My vet said
that i can start walking her in a week or two, just short distances,
like a mile or two.  He said use a hrm and keep a close eye on her heart
rate, watch for spikes or elevations to indicate internal distress.
BTW, Tiki seems to feeling fine.  Running around her field, very up
attitude, hand-walked her and her stride is long and reaching under just
as it should be.  So, i do feel hopeful that she will recover.

Comments?????

Sarah McIntosh & Tiki
Abbotsford, BC
Canada