The half-day course began with Nicola Menzies-Gow discussing equine acute laminitis. Dr Menzies-Gow said that the definition of laminitis was a failure of the attachment of the epidermal laminae, with around 1.5 % of UK horses suffering from the disease. Some of these will suffer recurrent laminitis: she reported that 7.5% of chronic laminitics are euthanased. Dr Menzies Gow discussed the causes of laminitis (such as excessive grain, other diseases - for example, colic - concussion, weight overload and stress), although she said that pasture was the biggest cause of laminitis. Endocrinopathies - equine pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) is also known as Cushing's disease. Signs of PPID include hypertrichosis (hairier coat), laminitis and regional adiposity; there is no cure for PPID but lifelong management of the condition is possible.
展开▼
