Characterization of hypertriglyceridemia and response to treatment with insulin in horses, ponies, and donkeys: 44 cases (1995-2005)

Objective-To characterize signalment, clinical signs of disease, and clinical response to insulin in equids with hypertriglyceridemia. Design-Retrospective case series. Animals-20 horses, 17 ponies, and 7 donkeys with hypertriglyceridemia. Procedures-For analysis of medical record data, horses, donkeys, and ponies with multiple serum or plasma triglycerides measurements were separated into groups. Hypertriglyceridemic equids that were (HT-1; n = 14) or were not (HT-N, 10) treated with insulin consisted of equids with an initial triglycerides concentration > 44 mg/dL but < 500 mg/dL. Equids with an initial triglycerides concentration > 500 mg/dL, all of which were treated with insulin, constituted the lipemic group (LIP-1; 20). Each group included a full range of ages. Pretreatment and posttreatment values from serum or plasma biochemical analyses were compared among groups:. Results-No age predilection for hypertriglyceridemia was apparent. Of the 29 female equids, only 7 (24%) were lactating or pregnant. Multiple illnesses were diagnosed in hypertriglyceridemic equids, including colitis (14/44; 32%) and colic (9/44; 20%). Many breeds were affected, including 16 (36%) American Miniature Horses and 9 (20%) Arabians or Arabian crossbreds. The mean posttreatment triglycerides concentration was not significantly different from the initial value in HT-N equids (175 vs 125 mg/dL) but was significantly lower than the pretreatment triglycerides concentration in HT-1 (252 vs 55 mg/dL) and LIP-1 (872 vs 87 mg/dL) equids. Conclusions and Clinical Rellavance-Equids of all ages and sexes with various diseases had hypertriglyceridemia. Insulin treatment decreased the triglycericles concentrations in affected equids. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2009;234:915-919)