The ponies were blood tested. Buttons was fine. The vet only managed to get a tiny amount of blood from Honey before her legs buckled and we just managed to catch her head before she ended up in a heap on the ground. Very, very traumatic for her. It was enough to be tested though. Buttons results came back unremarkable. Honey has elevated GGT levels. This is common in horses who have suffered ragwort poisoning but can also occur when liver fluke get into the bilary tract. Going by Honey's history of years of extreme neglect and abuse, it wouldn't surprise me if she had been exposed to ragwort in the past. However, we do know that there is fluke exposure in the fields, so it could also be fluke damage. Honey could probably function quite well in her daily life with a degree of liver damage, however, it is imperative that she does not suffer further damage. Fluke can't live a full life cycle in the horse and the horse is not its preferred host. However, if the horse has an underlying condition or a compromised immune system, the fluke does seem to be able to take hold. Honey was given the drencher that cattle and sheep get for fluke. It's not licensed in horses and very little is known about its 'safety' in horses. There has also been resistance in cattle in our area who have been treated with it. She showed mild colic symptoms following the drencher but it passed uneventfully. She seems absolutely fine, the best she has ever looked since I got her. If the flukes had not been discovered during the horse that passed aways autopsy, I would never have thought for a second at the moment that there was anything wrong with her. Appearances can be deceptive. She will be re-blood tested at the beginning of March. I am praying that the GGT level has reduced or at least remained the same. If it has elevated further we are looking at investigating further and having a liver scan and biopsy carried out. This would involve taking her to the vet school. For a pony who gets so stressed having her blood taken, I don't know if this is an option. They have said that she would be in and out in the same day, she would be sedated and it's not a long or really invasive procedure . Buttons would also have to go with her, just for moral support, as she loses the plot if he goes out of her sight. I need to wait and see what the next set of bloods tell us, speak with the vet school and take it from there. The senior vet in equine medicine at the vet school has confirmed that the fluke contamination of the pasture will have came from neighbouring sheep who get through the fence and graze our fields. As long as the intermediate host is present (the sheep) the fluke will remain in the grazing. It seems fairly simple to me, tell the farmer to take his sheep back and secure his fence so they can't get through. This doesn't appear to be the case though. He did come and take them all away on Wednesday, but on Thursday there were a few back on our grazing and yesterday there were even more. I find this really frustrating. One sheep or eighty sheep, if they are infected with fluke, they need to be kept off the horses grazing.
