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Re: [RC] selenium - heidi

Kim, work with your vet with the selenium issue and make sure your vet
understands what you are doing.  That is what I did.  Keep Angie's
warning in mind, Maggie was okay, her selenium was so low that the shots
didn't hurt her other than make her neck stiff.  And they brought her
level up so I could compete her.  Putting something in the grain will
take a couple of months or longer to build the horse's selenium level up
to where it should be.  Jeanie


Gotta jump in here.

First of all, most vets and labs are stil working with outdated normals
for whole blood selenium levels.  Endurance riders were on the right track
when they felt their horses had to be "high" normal under the old levels,
since more recent research has indicated that normals are more in the
realm of 200 to 250 ppb.

Second, I've had experience with horses who were extremely deficient, and
who were unable to raise their levels at all by oral supplementation until
they had an injection.  After that, they were able to maintain their
levels with oral supplements.  (This is not saying that ALL horses are
like this by any stretch--but if your horse is quite low, and you opt to
use oral supplements instead of an injectable, RETEST after a couple of
months to see if you are getting anywhere--don't just assume that you've
solved the problem!)

Third, daily requirement for selenium (per Oregon State University) is in
the neighborhood of 8-10 mg per day.  Chronic toxicity (again, per Oregon
State) will occur somewhere around 60-90 mg per day.  While Angie is
correct that toxicity can and does occur, it is FAR more rare, in my
experience, than deficiency--and in fact, more rare than extremely
profound deficiency.  Granted, I live in a part of the country that
doesn't have enough of it.  Nonetheless, across the country, I still think
that deficiency is far more common than toxicity.

Bottom line--find out what the selenium status is of your area, and if you
get hay from outside your area, find out the selenium status there as
well.  Yes, do work with your veterinarian--but make sure that your
veterinarian is up on current knowledge of selenium levels.

And just another comment--selenium injectable is quite irritating, and I
can't even IMAGINE giving it in a horse's neck.  I personally prefer IV
injection of it, as there is NO sore spot that way.  If you do want to
give it in the muscle, this is one I wouldn't even give in the pecs,
unless it is a last resort on a kicker--I'd put the horse in a set of
stocks, if need be to keep from getting kicked, and split it into two
doses in the backs of the thighs.

Heidi



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