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Discussion on Colic due to iron poisoning? dehydration?
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Posted on Wednesday, Jul 24, 2002 - 6:10 pm:
I apologize for the length of this. But I hope I can get some help. I am very new to this forum and haven't seen anything on this topic. If there is information I apologize for the repeat.
My 14 year old gelding had a case of colic just over a month ago. It happened after a hard ride, plenty of cool out and a bath. The barn manager had informed me that my horse was the third in 2-3 days to colic. Of course, my horse had the worst symptoms. The manager, under the direction of a vet, administered a shot of banamine and the symptoms subsided after about an hour. I was told that it was gas colic due to the change in the weather. it was explained further that since the temperature was unpredictable this June, it had an adverse effect on the horses systems. Now I am not very experienced in these areas but I had never heard of such a thing before. And since then I have been obsessing on my horse trying to figure out what the problem was, if it was not just due to a weather change.
So some observations:
1) he has had much less energy for the last few months. Since finishing school I have been able to use him more and instead of his energy going up it has gone down.
2) During turn out he is rolling much more than he ever had a year ago (he was also at a different barn then).
3) AND what is most concerning I've noticed that he will DrOp and stretch like he is going to urinate and then doesn't.
With this in mind I have been piecing things together.
One thing that had caught my attention since then, especially after watching him try to stretch out and pee, is that he will take every opportunity on the trail to drink. I had always been told that infectious diseases can be spread in common drinking areas so i normally wouldn't let him stop, but he has become quite insistent. Well to make a long story short, Yesterday, through some investigating, I found that his in-stall waterer was feeding off of a rusty line. Thus pouring BROWN water into his water bowl... I hadn't noticed before because of the type of bowl it was feeing into (I feel horrible for that) I have since found a water line fed by a copper pipes to avoid anymore contaminated water and I bought him a new large PLASTIC waterer so it will not rust. Now my question is could he have iron poisoning? I know that too much iron can effect humans in an awful way, is that also true for horses? He has been at this barn for a year, and now I am assuming that he has been drinking this rusty water the whole time. Could this be causing his lethargy and the colic? Or perhaps simple dehydration?
Since June he is still VERY lethargic and seems to hang his head a bit more than i remember. I don't know if that is simply due to the heat in So Cal. or if it is due to him feeling awful. I have yet to take him on any long rides or work him hard as I fear that I haven't seen the end of his problems. Am I being paranoid and catering to him being lazy? or do i have a real concern? As I have just fixed the water issue I haven't seen any results if that was the problem. Though I hope changing the water source at least helps.... ::sigh::
Any advice? experience with this?
Thanks a lot
Some other background notes that may be relevant:
He was wormed about 2-3 weeks before his colic.
His food he is getting: alfalfa in the morning with oat hay in the evening, and when i am there at night (about 3x a week) he WAS getting a scoop (perhaps 1lb) of tizwiz 16 a complete feed. Though i have recently heard that too much protein is bad for the horse and can promote stomach stones. I have switched him to a less rich senior feed about 3x a week.
Also he was kept for years (from age 4-12 he is now 14) in a stall with DG (decomposed granite) floors and turnout and it is likely he may have eaten some while feeding. I just recently heard of testing stool for sand but he is in a box stall with shavings now. Could he have stomach stones? and how would I know at this point?
Again any thoughts would be helpful.
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Posted on Wednesday, Jul 24, 2002 - 7:43 pm:
Kathleen,
Good detective work. I bet it could have an effect. Though, I'll leave that to Dr. O to answer. But, in the meantime look up "enterolith" that might be what your barn manager calls a stomach stone. I remember having a scare over them a couple of years ago and the information here is extremely helpful. My horse lives in a very sandy environment. I recommend checking regularily for sand in the manure. You can do it yourself. And I feed psyllium products to help move it out more.
As for the iron poisoning. I hope that isn't the case since my barn used to be on well water and there was so much iron in the water it turned my green plastic water buckets red.... I can only imagine what it did to the horses.
Good luck,
jo
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Posted on Thursday, Jul 25, 2002 - 7:28 am:
Though unlikely if you wanted to test your horse for iron toxicity this is done with a blood test see, Care for Horses: Nutrition: Minerals and Nutrition for more on this. Iron, though it can be toxic, is also a essential nutrient and large amounts are well tolerated.
For information on diagnosing enteroliths (intestinal stones) see, Equine Diseases: Colic and GI Diseases: Colic in Horses: Enteroliths in Horses.
For information on other possible causes of colic and there diagosis see, Equine Diseases: Colic and GI Diseases: Colic in Horses: An Overview of the Diagnosis and Treatment of Colic.
I notice Kathleen that you only deworm every 6 months, is this based on fecal testing, normally this would be considered inadequate. You ask a lot of "could be" questions which are all answered "yes, it could be" but this does not help very much as it could be other things as well. When you have general symptoms like "lethargy" you need to have a thorough exam and lab work up needs to be done to narrow down the possibilities.
The parking out to pee and then not producing anything is significant I think and could be either connected with urinary dysfunction or colic and warrants a further work up by the vet, including an ultrasound looking for urinary stones.
DrO
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Posted on Friday, Jul 26, 2002 - 4:22 pm:
Thank you very much for your advice/thoughts. i know it takes a lot of time and effort to write so i appreciate it. I am looking into getting an appointment to have my Paint checked out. AND of course this has to come on the heels of my cat having a UTI. I wish my insurance covered my animals too! I wonder if i can make them Dependants 
Dr. O.
As far as the worming. Yes i fell behind the last year. I am trying to keep on a schedule of worming when he is shod. So every 6-8 weeks roughly. I recently heard that horses in large barns should be wormed more often would that be a good schedule?
As i haven't seen the vet yet i don't know if he was exposed to toxic doses of iron. But now i am starting to believe that the taste kept him from drinking as much as he should have. Thus he became dehydrated. Of course the only evidence is a feeling. I still want blood work done.
Also I have heard conflicting things about alfalfa being in his diet. There has been a consensus about grass hay being the way to go and the alfalfa may be making his condition... whatever it is.... worse. Though I still need to look up info on safe transition periods for feed. Would you suggest a change before I see my vet or wait? If alfalfa is frowned upon I will try to work something else out with my barn. But of course the last vet I spoke to led me to believe that his diet was fine. I understand alfalfa is always under a big debate. I will look up that topic further when i have more time. Hope I can get some definitive answers.
Anyway I'm Glad I found this site. I expect to be an expert with all the information here. And I know what i need to request upon our vet visit, I appreciate the personal help. I'll let you know what we find out. Wish me luck with the horse and finding new a job (or two) to pay for all his ailments.
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Posted on Saturday, Jul 27, 2002 - 10:11 am:
I am not sure what they are saying about the alfalfa but in general it is excellent feed for horses, a litle too good for easy keepers.
DrO
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