How the horse develops chronic laminitis impacts how the veterinarian and owner manage initial and long term treatment.
Chronic laminitis definition.
The acute phase is the first 72 hours following the initiation of clinical signs.
Clinical laminitis may be prevented if cryotherapy icing is initiated during the developmental phase.
Chronic laminitis a horse with chronic laminitis will show signs of ongoing symptoms that are generally a result of a relapse from previous attacks.
Symptoms will change as laminitis progresses from acute to chronic.
Every horse is different and will show different symptoms and different degrees of pain recognise and investigate any of these signs too many horses go undiagnosed because the early signs of laminitis are not picked up the earlier you recognise the symptoms remove the.
Chronic laminitis is classically defined as the case in which distal phalanx displacement has occurred regardless of the duration of the disease.
The terms laminitis and founder are used interchangeably.
In equine laminitis belknap wiley blackwell 2017 1 philip johnson gives this definition.
Subacute laminitis is commonly used to define laminitis in which clinical signs have continued 3 days but the horse still has no distal phalangeal displacement.
For example if the horse has experienced laminitis due to carbohydrate.
Treatment response during this time determines if the horse will go into the subacute phase or chronic phase.
However founder usually refers to a chronic long term condition associated with rotation of the coffin bone whereas acute laminitis refers to symptoms associated with a sudden initial attack including pain and inflammation of the laminae.
The horse s hoof will have the appearance of growth rings around the hoof wall which generally indicates that it has suffered from laminitis in the past.
