Black Walnut Laminitis Cases Reported by Illinois Vet School

Although finding black walnut in shavings used for horse stalls is rare these days, if several horses in a large barn become lame simultaneously, black walnut laminitis should be considered.
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A few weeks ago, a stable in the Urbana, Ill., area received a shipment of wood shavings to bed its stalls. Little did anyone know that within this batch of shavings from a furniture manufacturer was black walnut–which contains a toxin that causes horses to become lame within 24 to 48 hours.

According to Elysia Schaefer, DVM, an equine surgery resident at the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Urbana, who treated affected horses, "The exact toxin that causes the laminitis is unknown, but it is absorbed through the hoof wall and causes inflammation, leading to pain."

"It can take as little as 5% black walnut in a batch of shavings to cause laminitis in a horse," Schaefer said.

Although finding black walnut in shavings used for horse stalls is rare these days, if several horses in a large barn become lame simultaneously, black walnut laminitis should be considered

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