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  Discussion on Lab testing for sand colic
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Posted on Wednesday, Feb 7, 2001 - 7:17 pm:

In the summer we became the proud owners of 120 tons of sand to fight the mud problem in our arena. About two months later my horse came down with what we assume was sand colic which we treated as discussed in the article. We've always fed off the ground and have been better (having read the article!) about sweeping sand from the stalls. No reoccurrence for 4 months. Also feeding psyllium once a month for one week.

While we were doing a routine lab test for worms, we went ahead and had the vet order a test for sand. The test came back "negative for sand."

Finally, the questions:
1) What does "negative for sand" mean? I assume it means that a normal, low level was found (since I can't believe they aren't ingesting *some* sand)?
2) What are the odds that the horse just decided to colic because he felt like it just to keep his owners on their toes? Is lab testing for sand a good idea or should we just do the "fecal balls in a jar" routine? It seemed fairly cheap but (as I said above), I don't really know what the results mean.
3) Our vet suggested that psyllium has a tendency to kill normal bacteria in the gut and that we should feed a probiotic microbial feed such as Fastrack. I can't find anything that indicates this is true. I don't mind adding supplements but it seems that a lot of this is folklore rather than science. Any input?

Thanks for the time.

Mark

Posted on Thursday, Feb 8, 2001 - 8:44 am:

Hello Mark,
1) What does "negative for sand" mean? I assume it means that a normal, low level was found?

Not neccassarily, contact the lab for an explanation of the findings.

2a) What are the odds that the horse just decided to colic because he felt like it just to keep his owners on their toes?

Good, horses like to keep you on your toes.

2b)Is lab testing for sand a good idea or should we just do the "fecal balls in a jar" routine? It seemed fairly cheap but (as I said above), I don't really know what the results mean.

Call the lab and ask about their procedures they differ from lab to lab. Most feel the jar menthod is pretty good IF you do it regularly.

3) Our vet suggested that psyllium has a tendency to kill normal bacteria in the gut and that we should feed a probiotic microbial feed such as Fastrack.

This has been a recent cause for discussion with this and the feeding of bran. There have been a few studies of the effect of these two high roughage products and bacterial effects in other species (nothing remotely close to a horse) but I cannot find anything that remotely suggests that it may cause problems or that if it did that probiotics would help prevent it.
DrO
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