allergic to grass

[philippa27]

a while ago i posted a thread about my horse having what looked like really bad mud fever. we got the vet out and she thought it was mites and so we treated them but they got no better just worse. then she did some blood tests and skin scrapings and we found out that dafydd is allergic to every type of grass and every type of fly! so we all had a talk and decided it was obviously the best and kindest thing to do for dafydd to have him put to sleep. it wouldnt be fair to keep him in his stable for the rest of his life and never being able to touch grass or be ridden ever again, the thought of how his life would be was unbearable! so it was all arranged but then when we contacted our insurance thay wouldnt pay out and said we had to try treatment. although our vet said that there was nothing that would cure him and nothing to help him, and she would do exactly the same if he was her horse, we have had to put dafydd on steriods( 80+ every other day!) and he is confined to his stable 24/7! his legs are the size of tree trunks, on his lower legs his skin has split open because of the allergy and infection, and he is covered in lumps all over his body, and also itching non stop! he has been on the steroids for over 2weeks now and absolutely no change is noticable. i was just wondered if anyone has ever heard of this before or knows anything about it!! any thoughts or opinions would be welcome please!!

[mogadoga]

Sh1t thats bad! Ive never heard of that!
Was just posting to say I'm sorry about the position your in. Hope everything works out! *hugs*

[amandal]

Sorry haven't heard of anything like that before. Which insurance company are you with that would go against the vet ?

[Tangle]

:eek: Has the vet talked to the insurance company? I'd be giving them a piece of my mind, along with taking masses of photos. I'd also be thinking of calling the RSPCA or similar :mad:.

Poor Daffyd :(

[claire hodgson]

yes, there was a case locally a few years ago of a horse that was allergic to grass, but not to flies as well; it made the papers, but as a success story in the sense that they controlled it and he wasn't allowed to eat the stuff. not as bad as yours.

Who the h. is your insurer? I would definitely get your vet and anyone else you can think of to 'wipe the floor' with them. And possibly, may be worth consulting your vet re getting a second opinion from e.g. the Royal **** or somewhere like that.

No doubt pink's lady will contribute to this thread ...

[chev]

One of my mares is allergic to some plants - it causes her to become photosensitive and she gets the same mud fever type symptoms, on all her white bits. I know of two other horses locally with the same problem, so I guess it must be fairly common to be allergic to something or other. Clover and St John's Wort are the biggest culprits apparently.

With my mare management is not too bad because she can graze grass free from those plants. If she was allergic to grass, then I'd have the option of turning her out on bare ground with hay - but how on earth you'd get round an allergy to grass and flies.. I don't know.

What a horrible situation.

I'd go back to the insurance company and make some noise. Insurance companies will sometimes refuse to pay out if they feel treatment is an option; it really doesn't sound like it is in Dafydd's case. Get your vet to write to them or speak to them saying that treatment is not a viable option. Good luck.

[Wally]

Silly I know, grasping at straws, but a friend's horse made a dramatic improvment in his allergic condition which co-incided with homeopathic treatment.

As you see I am sceptical myself, but he went from a wasted, worried sad specimen to a happy, content fat pony in 3 months, with skin and a mane and tail growing.

[eventerbabe]

my friends horse had an allergy to some sort of bacteria in the soil but she helped ease this with steroids and turnout socks. i'm so sorry to hear your insurance company has put you in such a position. i am inclined to agree with Wally, try homeopathy. i swear by it for myself and recently got some fab advice from FlowerGirl on here regarding aromatherapy/homeopathy for my laminitic pony. its worth a shot.

[philippa27]

our insurance is NFU and the vet has spoke to them all about it, apparently it was a horrible little nasty man who just kept sayin 'well its not my problem' which made us even mdder!! he is now on the highest dose of steroids he can have and has been on them for three weeks and there is no change at all, my farrier came today to take his shoes off and he could not belieive it, he was taking loads of pictures of him! i dont think it will be much longer untill something happens cos we have nearly finished the steroids so then my vet said she is going to ring the nfu and say we've done what u wanted us 2 do now u do *** we want to do sort of thing! i dont know, we'll just have to see how things turn out............

[*Sez*]

Have just caught this thread... what a horrible situation! The insurance company are causing unnecessary distress to your poor horse and I'm certain they're not allowed to. After all they're not vets and NFU should be following the vet's advice. That's like someone making a claim for a horse in need of a desperate operation and the insurance company saying "well, we won't pay until you've fed him sugar water for a month... if he's still unwell then we'll think about it"!! How ridiculous.

Personally, I would be on to my solicitor.