Hi Doctor Getty! I hope you can help me with this...

I would like your advice on this, since I’m following my vet recommendations but I’m having a hard time solving the problem.

My horse had a colic start last Tuesday (one week ago). He was unable to defecate properly, showing signs of pain andfever.
He was medicated to colic, fever and a potential infection, and we took him from the ration and straw, only giving him soaked wheat bran.
First times he ate it, but after a couple of days he stopped, really turning his nose to it even when I put there chopped carrots. He “surgically” eats all the carrot traces and leaves the bran.

I explained this to the vet, but she insists that this is the feed that he has to take or I also can feed him wet hay.

I’m beginning to get worried because he is almost not eating for some days now, and the problem is not totally solved yet (but he doesn’t have fever anymore). Is there another thing that I could give him to eat that would be good to make his intestines work properly?

Where are you from? Portugal

How did you locate this forum? a friend

Hi Ana,

I can certainly understand your concern -- colic is a very frightening situation.

Your vet is trying to provide a laxative effect by feeding bran. However, too much wheat bran is not a good idea because it is very, very high in phosphorus.

I would suggest that you feed him grass hay. It should not be coarse like straw. See if you can provide him with a soft, less coarse hay. Soaking should not be necessary unless he is not drinking enough water.

And, see if you can give him a magnesium supplement. Epsom salts are ok to use, if they are available in your area. Magnesium has a laxative effect on the bowels.

Make certain that he is drinking a lot of water. Giving him Epsom salts will encourage him to drink, as well.

Watch his bowel movements. If he is not defecating, you'll want to call your vet to give him an oral mineral oil infusion.

Of course, the best way to know how to treat colic is to know the cause. Has that been determined?

Please keep me posted.

All the best,

Dr. Getty

Hi again, Dr. Getty!

Thanks a lot for such a quick response.

I’m also giving him electrolytes once a day… is this you mean by “Epsom salts”?

The cause of the colic wasn’t determined yet, but it wasn’t caused by gases or intestine torsion, his fesses were really hard and dry. The truth is that this is the first time this happens in all his life (he is 12) and he is fed at very regular hours and 4 times a day, and no other horse in the yard had this kind of problem this days.
He always was a poor drinker; all his previous blood and urine tests showed that he should drink more water… He never cared much about the salt stone in his stable, and his last urine tests showed signs of excess of salts, so I was giving him vinegar in his feed now and then, and the tests were slowly getting better.

He has an automatic drinker, brand new that is working very well and I putted an extra water can so he doesn’t have to think twice if he gets thirsty.

I’m going to see if I can get him some good quality hay and try giving him that, as reducing the bran.

Thank you very much for your help.

Best wishes

Where are you from? Portugal

How did you locate this forum? a friend

Hi Ana,

No, epsom salt is Magnesium Sulfate. You may be able to find this at your local pharmacy.

Yes, encourage him to drink water. I would suggest that you add some apple juice to the water to get him to enjoy it more, in order to get him to drink. And, instead of electrolytes, a plain white salt block is best.

Keep me posted!

All the best,

Dr. Getty

I’m really happy today, as he showed very good improvements this morning!
No temperature, and pretty normal doing the “solid thing”!

I reduced the bran, gave him a little hay, carrots… and yesterday at night I also gave him a hand full of wet triturated linseed (...I always read your forum and you say wonders about the flax seed, so I found it in a tack shop and it was recommended to prevent this kind of situation, so I decided to give it a try) do you think that it’s a good thing, or shall I stop?

I’m going to try the apple juice in the water to see if I get him to drink more, but one thing I already noticed is that he really prefers drinking from a bucket then from the automatic drinker.

If everything continues improving like this, when do you think I can star adding some hard feed to his meal?

Thanks a lot for all your help!

Where are you from? Portugal

How did you locate this forum? a friend

Hi Ana,

The flax is fine and very nutritious. I believe, from what you've told me, that the issue is water consumption. So, once you have that under control, you can feed him the way you used to.

He should be drinking around 40 to 48 liters of water each day. So, see if you can monitor that.

Dr. Getty

Hello again, Dr. Getty!My horse is doing better, however he still isn’t drinking as much as he should.

I put a plain white salt block but he never goes there, giving wet hay and still some soaked bran along with in hard feed, and he looks much more alive and in a better mood then last days.

I didn’t follow your apple juice in the water tip, because I’m afraid if he gets used to that he will not drink plain water anymore, and that can be a constrain in the place were he is staying now.

I’m going to ask the vet to run some tests (blood, urine) to see is there is something wrong in his overall condition.

Do you know if there is some kind of disease that may cause him not wanting or not feeling the need to drink?

Where are you from? Portugal

How did you locate this forum? a friend

Hi Ana,

I would have your vet check his kidney and liver function, for certain.

The thirst mechanism is located in the hypothalamus portion of the brain. A tumor or a neurological disorder such as West Nile can cause a loss of thirst (adipsia).

Please keep me posted.

All the best,

Dr. Getty

Hi again Dr. Getty, and thank you very much for all your attention on my horse´s problem.

After two days in the vet hospital he is returning “home”. The vet really doesn’t know yet why he is having such a hard time to defecate as the chemical results of blood tests and fesses tests were all ok… however I still have to wait till next week to know the organic results from both urine and blood that may lead us other clues.

The results didn’t show that he was dehydrated so probably he is covering all is water consumption needs, but now he also shows difficulty urinating.

She prescribed some supplements, one diuretic and another that will help keep is fesses humid. I don’t have their names yet, but I’ll tell you once I have them.

She also told me to add oil (1 dl) 2 times a day in his hard feed. She suggested plain vegetable cuisine oil and I know that you don’t recommend corn oil, so I wanted you advice on this… any oil…. Sun-flower oil…. Peanut oil…? I don’t think we have any more different types available in a regular supermarket here in Portugal.

She also suggested that the problem can be originated by a potential intestine obstruction caused by an internal melanoma (he has several small one all over this body, and in the tail / anus area too). I really hope not, and I’m praying that the results next week show us what the problem is really.

Where are you from? Portugal

How did you locate this forum? a friend

Hi again Dr. Getty... I’m really sorry for bothering you again, but I would like to get your OK, or NOT OK, on the final layout of my convalescent horse.

He is fed 4 times a day and he is getting each time: 250g soaked wheat bran + 250 g hard feed (triturated carob fruit + oats + barley + corn flakes + pellets) recommended by the vet as it was specially developed for Lusitanos.
- Two times a day he gets 100ml vegetable oil added on the feed
- Once a day he gets in his feed + 100g Equipur - Renal + Equipur - Digest (At least for the next three weeks to see if there are any significant improvements in his condition)
- Between meals he gets about 2 kg of wet hay.
- Once a day he gets 6/8 carrots, normally after work.

He is sligthly better!

Thank very much for all your atention.

Where are you from? Portugal

How did you locate this forum? a friend

Hi Ana,

I'm so pleased that he is improving. I am not in favor of feeding a lot of grain, especially corn, to horses because it is very poorly digested, so oats would be better, if you need to feed a grain.

Corn oil is better than soybean oil, so stick with that. If you can access canola oil, that would be preferable, but I don't think you have it in your country.

And finally, wheat bran is too high in phosphorus and too low in calcium. So, to be safe, you would need to offer a high calcium feed. Alfalfa hay, pellets, or cubes (soaked) would be fine.

Please keep me posted.

Best regards,

Dr. Getty

Hi Dr.Getty,

I just wanted to let you know that my horse is finally ok. I’m very happy and relieved.

I know everything you say about feeding grain, but is so hard finding alternative horse feeds and the hay price is just prohibitive over here, so I just can give him a small amount each day. However, I will take him out of the bran, so it will stay with 3,5 kg hard feed + 4/5 kg of wet hay every day + 200 ml corn oil + 1kg carrots (in 4 meals).

About the oats, I must say that they come out the same as they go in (it was always like this)... so I don’t think that they provide him anything.

I have to say that here is pretty rare a leisure horse having this kind of feed. Most of the horses don’t get any hay, or just get some straw and hard feed (mostly oats) and generally only in two meals a day. This is not an excuse for don’t making things well, but just to show you that I’m fighting in a hard environment.

Many, many thanks for all your attention and interest, I feel very safe with your advice. Your forum is a wonderful place that I recommend to all my horsey friends.

Best regards,

Ana

Where are you from? Portugal

How did you locate this forum? a friend

Hi Ana,

Congratulations -- not only for getting him well but also taking such good care of him in an environment where it appears you have to do a lot of "up stream swimming!"

I am so pleased that things are better. Thank you for your kind words.

Dr. Getty

Hello Dr. Getty! I hope everything is fine with you!

My horse still getting better everyday and this weekend I had him checked by a horse chiropractic for the first time of his life.

Is an English lady that lives in Portugal for a long time, but lived also in South Africa and in California, where she first developed her skills.

She has a natural approach to the horse’s health and as soon she laid an eye in Miró´s hooves and skin melanomas told me that the poor boy’s liver must be in stress and that he probably must have been eating bad stuff all his life.

At the end she told me that would be a great thing is I could take all the unnatural stuff out of his feed and make him a liver cleaning diet.

To the liver cleaning she suggested Dandelion herb infusion added to his meal, but also told me that are some horse herbal products specific to solve this kind of problem.

What do you think of this, will it really help?

Hi Ana,

I have heard of feeding dandelion herb to horses, but I am reluctant because dandelions, eaten as a weed, are toxic to horses and can cause stringhalt. Dandelion herb, when fed to horses, seems to improve the amount of potassium in the blood. Frankly, I do not see how this would be directly beneficial to the liver.

It is a good idea to remove toxins and preservatives from the diet of a horse that has liver taxation. My approach would be to have your horse's liver enzymes tested by your veterinarian to see if there are any that are out of range. "Liver problems" are often the "diagnosis of choice" whenever a horse appears to be at all run down. This is not always the case, and in fact, is often not the case at all.

But, to improve the liver's function, it is best to feed a simple diet and supplement with an antioxidant formula to help neutralize damaging free radicals in the bloodstream.

All the best,

Dr. Getty

Hi, I was wondering why horses will eat dandelions if the are toxic to them?


Jenni

Where are you from? Canada

How did you locate this forum? internet search

Hi Jenni,

There appears to be a differing of opinion regarding dandelions, and most of the studies regarding their toxicity comes from situation where there were lots of other weeds, including capeweed. So, perhaps it is the poor pasture, and not the dandelions themselves, that cause the problem.

Also there is a flower that looks a lot like a dandelion called a flatweed (sometimes called "false dandelion) that is toxic.

So, if you have some dandelions in your pasture, and the pasture is generally in good shape, I would not be concerned about it.

Dr. Getty

Hello!

I'm glad your horse has finally recovered. I have a friend going through this same problem right now.

I want to mention that milk thistle is the herb of choice to support liver function. I believe milk thistle is safer than dandelion root powder.

My small animal vet has prescribed it for my Sheltie, who has a history of mast cell tumors, and has an inoperable one at this time. Cody's liver is double the size it should be and the texture is *lacy*.

I buy bulk milk thistle and other herbs for Cody and my horses online at a fraction of the price of buying the ready made capsules.

Where are you from? Charlotte, NC area

How did you locate this forum? referred by a friend from another board

Hi Dr. Getty ~ quick question - you mentioned using epsom salts to get them to drink more, is it the epsom salt that has many other uses's and the one that comes in like a 1/2 gallon looking carton? Thanks, if it is, how much in there feed? Thanks Vicky

Where are you from? Illinois

How did you locate this forum? friend

Hi Vicky,

Actually, I suggested epsom salts mainly to help loosen stools. Yes, it comes in a carton (looks like a milk carton) and it will encourage drinking but it serves more as a laxative. You can add 2 tablespoons to a 5 gallon water tub.

All the best,

Dr. Getty

Hi Dr. Getty! Thank you again for your wise advice about the use of dandelion. I will pass and check is liver function with the vet, probably she will prescribe something specific if there is any problem.

Thanks also to Wendy, I was also told about the liver cleansing properties of the milk thistle.

My horse is now very well, but I would like to know if there is something I can do to slow or stop the melanoma’s growth, especially if their development is related with something bad he eats.

Hi Ana,

I would recommend high levels of vitamin C -- 20,000 mgs per day -- while being treated for melanoma.

All the best,

Dr. Getty

Hi Dr. Getty....

Here am I bothering you about my horse again.... I’m sorry.

Since he had all that problems he never got to be the same about the feed issue. As I told you in the previous posts I changed all his feed… got hay… and he was having his hard feed mixed with soaked wheat bran… twice a day he gets plus 100ml corn oil….and is on Equipur Digest and Renal.

I know all the bad things you told me about the bran, and I removed it right away but what happens is that two days after I remove it he starts showing difficulty in defecation, and as soon I start with the bran again it comes to normal. I’ve tried about 4 times now removing the bran and is always the same thing.

The vet says… “Keep with the bran”, but knowing that is a bad thing I really don’t know where to turn!

Any advice?

Hi Ana,

You can continue using the wheat bran as long as you add some calcium source to the diet. Alfalfa, if available, would be your best choice.

Dr. Getty

Where are you from? Colorado

Hi Dr. Getty!

I´m glad that the alfafa will ge good, becaus I just got a new feed for my horse with alfafa pellets :)

Is a national produced feed that is made of alfafa pellets,triturated carob fuit, fava beans and a little of extruded corn and triturated oats. It has no molass or oild or any artificial components added. What do you think of it?

Is one of the best feeds currently sold here... and it is very hard to get it!

Hi Ana,

The feed sounds very digestible and easy to chew, so it is likely to be safe on his digestive system.

You may still want to add some water to it to encourage more water consumption.

All the best,

Dr. Getty

Where are you from? Colorado

...that sounds like "GOOD NEWS"

Me and Miró want to thank you for all your help!!!!

A picture of us:
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/2408/anaemir9wz.jpg

Hi Ana,

What a wonderful picture! I'm really so pleased that things are improving!

Dr. Getty

Where are you from? Colorado