 |
RE: [RC] Vet advice needed - horse with low potassium - Susan E. Garlinghouse, DVMIt might be a couple of things, including 'don't worry about it.' If she hasn't been ill, had diarrhea, or any other medical issues, then I'd repeat the potassium assay in about a month and seriously not worry about it in the meantime. There are all kinds of ho-hum, transient things that can temporarily shift potassium from one cellular compartment to another and aren't of concern. If the K is still low in a month, then I'd probably follow up on possibly a chronic renal disease issue, or possibly a metabolic syndrome issue---changes in aldosterone production and other funky things with kidneys/adrenals can affect potassium. You might also add a tablespoon or three of Epsom salts to her daily diet in the interim. You didn't mention her magnesium levels, but hypomagnesemia (which is relatively common) causes increased aldosterone production, increased potassium secretion by the kidneys and thus eventually gets around to causing hypokalemia---pretty mild in your case. Wouldn't be a bad idea to have your hay analyzed for its mineral profile. I'm guessing that the most likely problem here is just a mild imbalance in the dietary minerals, and its amazing how interconnected they all are. Susan Garlinghouse, DVM -----Original Message----- From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Sheila_Larsen@xxxxxxx Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 8:46 AM To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] Vet advice needed - horse with low potassium I just had blood pulled on my 17 year old mare. Fortunately I had blood pulled in Sept of 2007 so there is a comparsion. These are the results: Bicarb (TCO2?) Sept 23 Feb 23 (Stable) Sodium: Sept 137 Feb 141 Chloride: Sept 101 Feb 106 Potassium: Sept 4.8 Feb 2.3 There hasn't been a change in diet she get grass/alfalfa in the morning and meadow grass in the evening and she has not had diarrhea or been sick in anyway. She get about a pound of Purina 100 in the evening and I have just started her back with her flax seed, she is currently getting about 1/2 pound (1 1/2 cup) of freshly ground flax seed and I am working her up to a pound (3 cups). She is hardly getting ridden (so no excess sweating) so I don't know if the muscle mass loss is from low potassium or just lack of exercise but to me it seems like she should still have more muscle mass than she does. as she is out in a small hilly pasture during the day and inside at night. Ok the weather is awful so I don't think she is moving around that much. When I do ride her she seems peppy enough. I was going to put her on 1/2 tablespoon of lite salt but when I went to the store I saw a salt substitute that was all potassium ( 1/4 tsp has 610mg of potassium) so I gave her 1/2 tsp last night in her grain. My vet couldn't think of anything off the top of her head that would explain the low potassium in light of the other numbers. She is off on vacation in Mexico this week so unless she thinks of something while sipping a drink with a little umbrella in it I am not sure what else to do so advice would be helpful as 2.3 is not far from 1.8 (which is bad news). In my opinion, a horse is the animal to have. Eleven-hundred pounds of raw muscle, power, grace, and sweat between your legs - it's something you just can't get from a pet hamster. ~Author Unknown =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|