barrelracingchick16 - 2017-04-17 12:35 PM
cheryl makofka - 2017-04-15 2:48 PM
I would ask if it is calcified or not.
If it isn't calcified I would have the vet do iv tildren, as this will assist the body to reabsorb it.
Bones spurs generally don't go away and if catching on the tendon, the career expectancy will not be long if left untreated
IMO I would not recommend IV Tildren for a stifle bone spur.
The way Tildren works
(very similar to Osphos
) is to inhibit
(or prevent
) osteoclastic activity. There's a natural bone health cycle which includes cells that take up bone
(Osteoclasts
), and then cells that lay down new bone
(Osteoblasts
). This is why Tildren works very well for lesions like navicular bone cysts where you want them to become more solidified and "fill in", and there has been some work showing the positive effects of Tildren when concerning Hock fusion... However, Tildren will not aid in "resorbing" a bone spur. If anything I would say it would have an opposite effect.
Once a bone spur is showing up on radiographs it is calcified- by definition it is a proliferation of bone usually at a joint margin.
Again, once a horse has developed a spur you are not going to do much as far as removing it especially within the stifle. The biggest priority is to find out what is causing the spur- in a stifle it is usually an underlying soft tissue injury +/- cartilage damage which is leading to chronic inflammation within the joint and ultimately the degenerative joint disease changes you are seeing, aka the "spur". The key is to break that inflammatory cycle and determine if the horse still has an active soft tissue injury which will further guide treatment recommendations.
Folks on-line