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  Discussion on Dark urine, blood test results, agitation
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New Member:
Rddavis

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 10, 2007 - 2:17 pm:

Hi everyone, it was great to encounter this excellent resource!

Recently, during a trail ride, my 14 year old mare's urine was
extremely dark, appearing to have blood in it. The day before, it
smelled unusually strong, but I didn't observe it being that dark, but
the lighting conditions were different.

Blood test results, from a blood sample taken a few days later, showed
high levels of potassium and CPK along with a low level of amylase:

potassium: 9.3 (ref: 2.4-4.7) mEq/L

CPK: 712 (ref: 100-300) U/L

amylase: 3 (ref: 25-300) U/L

Prior to the ride, she was highly energetic, as usual, until she had
to walk through a muddy area. During the ride, her strides were
shorter and she would stop occasionally and look around as if alarmed
by something unseen, which is atypical.

She refused to drink water before that ride, but drank an unusually
large amount after the ride.

There was no perspiration during most of the ride. Towards the end of
the ride, her perspiration was mild; not at all excessive. Her
respiration was normal. Muscles didn't appear tense. There was a slow
warm-up as usual at the beginning of the ride. Normally, her strides
are shorter than expected, and she moves freely forward and doesn't
lack energy, whether we're riding in the area or after three hours of
riding on trails.

A few things to note: the trails were slightly muddy in places and she
dislikes walking through mud; there were people, hunters, walking in
areas where she's not used to seeing any humans walking; quite a few
normally narrow trails were wider from 4-wheel-drive vehicle
tire-tracks; she was agitated and annoyed throughout the ride by a
horse behind her.

Throughout the ride, she was very agitated and annoyed at one of the
horses behind her, a gelding that she hangs out with in the field,
whom she likes to kick and pick on. Until recently, she never
appeared agitated when he was on trail rides with her. When he was
directly behind her during that ride, however, and would invade her
space, she was determined to kick out at him. Also: soon after going
into a nice smooth canter, she'd suddenly switch to a fast trot, then
quickly slow down just enough for the horse behind her to catch up and
get into kicking range, then halt and try to kick---it would all
happen very quickly. The one time when I wasn't able to prevent her
from kicking after she did that, she took a sigh and appeared quite
happy after kicking him; then she moved forward quite freely.

I've read about tying-up, which isn't a problem that she's had before,
but the lack of profuse perspiration, tense muscles and faster
respiration, and the fact that she began moving forward freely after
getting in that kick, appeared to contraindicate that.

About a week later, she had some mild, clear, nasal discharge from her
nose. During that next trail ride, she moved forward far more freely
than before; she didn't stopping other than to relieve herself (no
urination, however). After the ride, there was a thick white
discharge from her nose, which is highly unusual.

Also, when I can get a urine sample from her, I'll have that analyzed.

For the past eight years, she's been on the same grain, with 10% fat,
and has been fed much less grain on days when not working. The vet
who took the blood sample mentioned that she needs to have higher
quality hay---although the farm provides her with a plentiful amount
of hay (although I'm not sure of it's nutritional content), so I'm
buying her some known good quality hay to eat as a supplement along
with her grain, hoping that will help somewhat, as she's not kept in a
stall.

Would going with a higher fat-content grain, adding selenium and more
salt, as well as some oil, to her diet be helpful? I'd tried
switching to higher-quality grain with rice in it this past summer,
which she enjoyed at first, then suddenly refused to eat after a few
weeks. I was told by the manufacturer that they might have put too
much proprionic acid in it as a preservative, so I switched back to
the former type of grain (Legends 10).

Thanks for any information that anyone can kindly provide with this.
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 10, 2007 - 2:56 pm:

The change is gait could be from annoyance (horse behind her), nervousness (hunters, etc.) and dislike of the trail conditions. However, the dark urine could be from not drinking enough water. You don't state how cold it was or how hard and long you were riding, nor how heavy or coat is. All of these would affect how much she prespired.

The blood and dark urine could be indicative of a urinary tract infection. Has she been urinating more frequently than usual with smaller amounts coming out? What did your vet say about the lab results? Dr. O is the most qualified one to comment on that and on changes in her diet. I wouldn't change anything until he comments, unless, of course, your vet had a recommendation. Also, have you read the articles on nutrition? There might be some info there you could use. Good luck. I know how nerve wracking it is to feel there is something wrong with your horse, and not know what it is or what you should do about it.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 10, 2007 - 6:34 pm:

Welcome RD,
Hmmm you have to be careful with interpreting urine color in horses as dark reddish urine is within normal, see Diseases of Horses » Urinary System » Normal Urination in Horses. Also a doubling of CPK is not that abnormal, as it can rise 4 fold from hard exercise alone. So this too is a borderline finding. Then again we cannot say there is not some disease process going on. I agree that if the urine remains questionable you should have it checked.

But a potassium of 9 is quite remarkable, first what breed is your horse? For more on selenium, fat (which is the same as oil), and salt you should see the articles covering each of these subjects, but there is nothing in your post to indicate these need supplementing, at least until we have ruled out tying up completely.
DrO
Member:
Muffi

Posted on Thursday, Jan 11, 2007 - 10:56 am:

I was worried a little bit ago - stains in the snow were Orange-ish. Not good I thought the worse, but read an article in the Horse Journal that discussed Early Stages of Dehydration -
I started adding more table salt (About 2 Tbls or one oz) to their twice daily Pellet mix and lots of Water - mixing with the Rice Bran it made a nice paste that they loved. They drank more water with the Salt and now we see good ol yellow snow. Simple solution to what was originally scary..
So remember Frank Zappa - don't eat the Yellow snow!! (boy you can tell I am a retired Hippie!!!)
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Thursday, Jan 11, 2007 - 11:25 am:

I'm glad you saw the article! And, glad you're seeing yellow snow again!
New Member:
Rddavis

Posted on Thursday, Jan 11, 2007 - 12:57 pm:

Hi,

Thanks everyone for the replies; I hope all is well with everyone's
horses.

MRose: We'd been riding for about an hour or so when the darkness in urine
was observed. She hasn't been urinating more often. The weather was
mild, with the temperature in the low 50's.

DrO: She's a Quarter-horse. At 14 years of age, if this was related to
HYPP, I'm wondering: shouldn't that have manifested before this time?
Is there a danger of cardiac problems with such an increase in serum
potassium? Does there exist any immediate danger? Should exercise
such as three hour rides, at mostly a walk with occasional trotting
and cantering, be avoided for the time being, until after further
testing?

With the low level of amylase, should she be on a lower-starch diet?
She's losing a small amount of weight; her ribs are not visible, but I
don't want it to reach the point where they are. Also, she has
somewhat of a hay belly; is this due to the quality of forage (the
farm where she resides always puts out a large amount of hay in the
fields for the horses; she's not stall kept)? Might there be any
connection between the amylase and the hay belly?

Muffi, I'm glad that adding table salt helped. When I tried adding
table salt, she picked up her grain bucket after eating a small amount
of grain, and dumped the grain on the ground---her way of saying
"There's something in it that I don't like! I don't want that!" As
to Frank Zappa: I remember him. Doesn't seem all that long ago. :-)
Member:
Mcbizz

Posted on Thursday, Jan 11, 2007 - 1:11 pm:

I had to chuckle at the reference to Frank Zappa and being a "retired hippie." I'm there myself...my Mustang is named McMurphy after the main character played by Jack Nicholson, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey...one of my heroes.
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Thursday, Jan 11, 2007 - 4:41 pm:

huh?...Zappa isn't still in???
Member:
Mcbizz

Posted on Thursday, Jan 11, 2007 - 6:14 pm:

C'mon, dig out those bell bottoms and beads...it's never too late!
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Thursday, Jan 11, 2007 - 7:08 pm:

Hate to tell ya' but they're so old they're back in. Sad, isn't it?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Jan 12, 2007 - 6:07 am:

RD not necessarily N/H can have quite irregular presentations. If your horse has the potential for the genetics, you should have them tested.

Muffi after every snow fall I get at least 3 calls on this subject. The orange colored urine is within the range of normal for horses, for more see the article I reference above.
DrO
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