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  Discussion on Yaerling with epipysitis on all oat diet per vet
Author Message
Member:
Fjens99

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 19, 2003 - 11:46 am:

Dear Dr o,
I have a yearling with significate epipysitis of his hocks.
He is a halter horse and I had been feeding Equiss 2 by Advantage feeds formulated for yearlings and forage of a good quality oat hay-- prior to my visit to the vet last week.
My vet as put him on a diet of Oat hay/ Oat pellets
2 oz flax seed( I was giving him that already)
Top dress w/ 1/4 veg oil
North west supplement ( a oral vit- Min supplement- No added calcium that I could see listed on the content side of the bag
MSM
Copperquine( I had already been giving for 2 weeks prior to the visit.
Weekly injections of glucosime and Haluronic acid x 7 weeks

My question is this seems to me at least to be a very high in Phos and low in calicum diet.
I have been reading all I can about epipysitis and diets. If this is a out of balance diet I am wondering if a supplement of calcium is needed?
I questioned my vet on this and she seems to think we have all the bases covered as far as a balanced diet.
Whats your opinion on this?
Any one else with information on this is appreciated.
One of the other vets there thought I should starve him down about 80- 100 lbs
He is 14 months old 14'1 1/2 hands and weighs approx 785 lbs.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Mar 20, 2003 - 6:28 am:

I can see why you are concerned but it all depends on how much calcium he is getting from the supplement. I would have to know the weight of the yearling, weights of all the foodstuffs including the supplement and the calcium-phosphorous content of the supplement.

The caloric rich but otherwise nutrient deficient veg. oil makes no sense to me in this situation where your vet apears to want to decrease the plane of nutrition. Though you want to decrease caloric intake you still want to maintain adequate amounts of protein, minerals, vitmamins, etc.

For more on physitis see » Equine Diseases » Lameness » Diseases of Joints » Epiphysitis, Physitis, and Physeal Dysplasia.
DrO
Member:
Fjens99

Posted on Friday, Mar 21, 2003 - 5:45 pm:

Dear Dr O,
I have emailed the Northwest company requesting the calicum content with no response yet.
I am wonder if too much calcium can be harmful, I know too much phos can.
My vet has added the oil to the diet for extra calories as my horse is a very very picky eater and a body condition of about 4.5 out 4-6 normal for weanling.( looking a little ribby)
I think she has him on the all oat diet to reduce the protein? I am wondering what the difference would be if I fed rolled oats instead of pellets.
I have read that a too high in phos diet can cause OC problems.
The last time he was put on all oat hay for 4-5 weeks he looked just awful.
Interesting is the epipysitis showed up a few weeks after resuming the Equiss s/p injury and addition to a rapid growth spurt.
Do you think the oat diet could have contributed to the epipysitis problem given the high phos content?
Would there be a better feed to be giving rather than the all oat?
Do you think a calicum supplement would be harmful? If not what would be a proper dose?
Horse is 14'1-1/2 hands 790 lbs
Any help is appreciated
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Mar 22, 2003 - 9:33 am:

I am more concerned about the calcium/phosphorous but without knowing the information I requested for above I cannot know. The more times I reread your post the less sense this all makes: you have a ribby foal that has been put on a restricted diet that then gets a caloric boost from vegtable oil? It would not surprise me to find many of he nutrients are deficient from such a diet.

Our recommedation for a OCD diet is in the OCD reference I give above. To learn more about calcium and phosphorous in the diet see » Care for Horses » Nutrition » Calcium, Phosphorus in the Diet.
DrO
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