Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

[RC] Anemia - Ridecamp Guest

Please Reply to: Rachel K enduranceriderwannabe@xxxxxxxxxxx or 
ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
==========================================


Kathy Said:
"I just read recently that one of the common causes of anemia in horses was a 
heavy load of encysted small strongyles which  could be eliminated (at least 
for a while) with the Panacur or Safeguard purge."

-----This horse is wormed regularly and purged yearly.

Kristene said
"in Karen Briggs' book "Understanding Equine Nutrition", on page
59 : "(Interestingly, it's very difficult to cover vitamins with any sort of 
protective coating in a liquid format, so many of the liquid supplements rich 
in B vitamins, iron, and copper, sold as "blood builders", might actually have 
very little active vitamin content.)"

-----Interesting. Sounds like Red Cell may not be as effective as a vitamin 
carrier. Powders are better or do they need to be capsules? Haven't seen many 
horse supplements as capsules. Mostly liquid or powder or pellets.

In my own research, I have come up with some possibilities. Iron deficiency 
certainly can cause anemia, but there are other factors. B-Vitamins are very 
important and deficiencies in Folic Acid, B1,2,6,12 and pantothenic acid can 
cause anemia in horses and other species. Copper deficiency has also been 
mentioned as a cause for anemia.

Most of my research I have done through the NRC requirements and the KER 
website. The NRC recommendations are from 1989, but my vet says still valid for 
upper limits and toxicity, although maybe a bit low on some of the estimates 
for requirements, especially for performance horses.

TheHorse.com also has a couple of good articles on vitamins and anemia, but the 
ones I read were available only to subscribers. One of them put forth the 
opinion that lack of iron is rarely the cause of anemia in horses.

In the event that diet change does not fix anemia, my vet says there is a shot 
that can be given to stimulate the production of red blood cells. Illegal as 
all get-out, so would never be administered during a ride season.

Any hemorrhaging (including bleeding ulcers) can cause anemia. Scoping is a 
possibility.

So basically, there are three main possibilities for anemia. Heavy parasite 
load, hemorrhaging, vitamin deficiencies. Parasites, treat accordingly. 
Hemorrhaging, find the source of bleeding and stop it. Vitamin deficiencies, 
balance the ration.

I'm sure there are other causes of anemia, but the three above were the most 
common that I ran across during my research.


Rachel


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-