Causes Of Laminitis In Animals

Laminitis also termed founder is inflammation of the laminae of the foot the soft tissue structures that attach the coffin or pedal bone of the foot to the hoof wall.

Causes of laminitis in animals.

There are 3 main causes of laminitis. Before we get into what causes laminitis in horses let s quickly cover what is laminitis. Common causes of laminitis in horses. The main cause of laminitis in horses in australia and in most parts of the developed world is obesity dependent laminitis odl.

A number of different factors can cause laminitis or predispose a horse to getting the condition. The inflammation and damage to the laminae causes extreme pain and leads to instability of the coffin bone in the hoof. The most famous example of this was the american racehorse barbaro who had a. Laminitis involves the failure of the bond between the hoof wall and the distal phalanx commonly called the coffin bone pedal bone or third phalanx p3.

Relatively less commonly horses can get laminitis from overload typically associated with non weight bearing conditions in one limb thereby overloading the opposite limb. Certain types of colic. Lameness develops rapidly and animals shift their weight from one foot to. The media has made a significant push on the unfortunately high rate of human obesity but companion animals such as horses dogs and cats are also suffering from alarming rates of obesity.

Diseases linked with inflammation can cause laminitis to flare up such as. Laminitis means inflammation of the laminae of the horse s hoof. Animals that are overweight or have suffered previously from laminitis are particularly susceptible.