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Re: [RC] Urine color - suendavid



Susan Garlinghouse, DVM wrote:


Normal urine in horses usually varies from light yellow to a somewhat darker
straw color.  > > I'd actually pay attention if a horse's urine were 
totally colorless---in some
cases, that can be an indication of end-stage kidney failure, where the 

kidneys have totally lost their ability to concentrate urine.




Jim Holland wrote:


Huh? Both my guy's urine is clear as water under "normal" conditions at

the barn with their normal water troughs. WORST I've ever seen is dark
straw color.(Sunny running high in Top Ten on a hot ride) My horses get
a pat of alfafa every day.

Hmmm...where you getting this "normal" stuff from? 


If you collected the urine into a white or clear container, you would see that 
it is indeed
most likely a light yellow.  If you collected the end-stream urine (or opened 
the bladder) of a
horse fed more than about 25% of its ration as alfalfa, you'd see a cloudy 
turbidity, or would
find a fine layer of gritty sedimentation layer at the bottom---the calcium 
carbonate being
excreted in the urine.

BTW, urine from horses that get alot of beet pulp might also be a little darker 
under
normal circumstances, due to a natural pigment in the pulp that is also 
filtered out
(harmlessly) in the urine.  Most people don't notice it.  Some drugs 
(irrelevant for this
discussion) turn the urine bright carrot orange or even a lovely blue-green.

The take-home message to get across here is to know the 'at-home' color for 
your horse
and thus be aware when it changes under hot, dry conditions.



You got yellow urine at home? IMHO, your horses don't like your water or
ain't drinking enough!


How likely do you really think it is that my horses aren't well hydrated, Jim?

Susan G

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