Does anyone have experience with this diagnosis? I did find a thread from 2/21 but the horse posted about had far worse numbers than my guy. I only purchased this horse in December (for my mother to fill the void of the loss of our pony of 25 years no less…) and we found the diagnosis very incidentally after admission to UF for an eye ulcer. His creatinine is hovering around high normal to slightly elevated (between 2.0 and 2.2; normal is 0.9-2.0) and his BUN is 28.0 (reference range 10.0-24.0). He is also mildly hypercalcemic (15.1; reference range is 11.2-13.6). GFR is within normal limits as is his alkaline phosphatase. The team at UF feels that his condition is chronic but that he can be managed on a low protein diet. He is in excellent shape, he’s incredibly fit, has a voracious appetite, and is always keen to go jump. He’s a quiet guy on the flat, but apparently that’s been him since the day he was broke, so I’m not taking that as a red flag. He definitely has signs of both polyuria and polydipsia, however. The vets seem to think this is manageable for a very reasonable period of time going forward, but I wanted to hear from other owners who have received this diagnosis, particularly if your horse’s numbers were in the general ballpark of those I mentioned above. He’ll go north in the summer and stay in Florida through the winters as to avoid extremes in temperature and keep his water intake up (per the vet’s advice) and I plan to add PEMF and acupuncture to his regimen supportively. Whether or not they’ll make a difference is TBD, but I’m willing to try just about anything at this point! We are absolutely head over heels in love with this big guy and I am desperately hoping we can keep him happy and healthy for many years to come.
