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Enteroliths are not formed by calcium, BUT instead, excess calcium tends
to make the intestinal content and fluid more alkaline. When this
occurs, magnesium, phosphorus, and ammonia can crystallize around the
small object and over time, enlarges this nasty stone. If the
intestinal content was more acidic, this crystallization could not
occur.
Some folks try adding apple cider vinegar to their horse's ration to
decrease the pH (in an attempt to make the intestinal fill more acidic).
However, researchers suspect that the amount of vinegar needed to alter
the pH would be more than most horses would tolerate each day! So,
those horses who have developed enteroliths before or are at high risk
for developing them usually have their high-calcium feed intake
regulated instead.
Do Arabians tend to develop enteroliths more than other breeds? A few
researchers say "no", and support their beliefs with economics. Back in
the days when Arabians were high-dollar horses (80's, I guess - please
correct me if I'm wrong), colic surgery was usually preformed if
indicated as necessary to the horse's survival, rather than just
"putting 'er down" (for the lower priced horses). When these Arabians
were opened up, low and behold, the vet would find this nasty stone in
there, blocking quite a large accumulation of manure, etc. Sometimes
intestinal tract would need to be removed due to dead tissue... could
really make and interesting plot for gruesome, Halloween tale... but
anyway...
So, each surgery that was preformed was recorded by the vet, and of
course, he or she would note the cause of the problem. All of these
high dollar Arabians get operated on (versus euthanasia for your
everyday QH, crossbred, etc.) and eventually, enteroliths start to
maneuver into the "Arabians tend to get" category of ailments.
Some horses get 'em, some don't. Researchers still trying to understand
why some horses fed high calcium, high magnesium/phosphorus/protein
rations develop these stones, while others live to their twenties
without a single problem.
If anyone is interested in the research, I have a few papers on it and
can send you the references (just don't have them on hand at the
moment). Happy Halloween!
Kim (and the mutt, Lee)
aliakey@geocities.com
On Tue, 21 Oct 1997 21:31:37 -0700, "Duncan Fletcher" <dfletche@gte.net>
wrote:
>
> >From an article written by Jan F. Roser, Ph.D., Department of Animal
> Science, UC Davis. "Enteroliths are hard, solid objects, composed of
> ammonia magnesium phosphate and found in the small or large intestine of
> horses.....Because enteroliths have been found with greatest frequency in
> the Western states in horses fed alfalfa, it is thought the high magnesium
> content of alfalfa contributes to the formation of these so called GI
> 'stones'. However, a direct link between alfalfa and the formation of
> enteroliths needs further investigation."
>
>
> The ammonia comes from breakdown of protein. Calcium is not a component of
> these, although it is possible that there are stones composed of other
> compounds. As Susan has indicated, the magnesium content of hay can be
> extremely high in some regions. Phoshorus content is not as likely to be as
> variable. Bran is also high in magnesium and would not be a good choice to
> feed in those regions where that is a problem.
>
> Duncan Fletcher
> dfletche@gte.net
>
>
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