This message is from: Jean Ernest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
That brings to mind that feeding horses large quantities of garlic can
cause anemia. Dr. Beth Valentine mentioned this on the Virtual vet site
when I did a search:
http://www.ruralheritage.com/messageboard/virtualvet/1361-1.htm
"If you feed enough garlic to a horse you can cause anemia due to red cell
damage. I don't have an exact number of how much is too much, but for sure
if you think garlic has beneficial effects on your horses, do not feed much."
Here is more from Dr. Beth Valentine, DVM, PhD re: Anemia:
"In my book (literally, now!) a horse is anemic if the packed cell volume
(PCV, also called the hematocrit) is less than 31% or if the Red Blood
Count (RBC) is less than 6.3 million per microliter. Mild anemia in horses
most often reflects some other underlying problem, called anemia of chronic
disease. When the underlying condition is treated, the anemia resolves on
its own. So, yes, some EPSM horses have tested as slightly anemic. A horse
would have to be more severely anemic than slightly for it to affect
performance or attitude, but unfortunately sometimes the only thing found
on testing is anemia, and so it gets diagnosed as the cause of the problems
and treated for. In my experience, products such as Red Cell designed to
"build the blood" are only useful in horses with true anemia, which most
often occurs due to blood loss or destruction or, much less often, to iron
deficiency.
Anemia in draft horses is no different from anemia in light horses - in
most horses with signs like yours a slight anemia only reflects some other
process going on - slight anemia will not cause the lethargy you are
seeing. And, a draft horse would have to lose an awful lot of blood quickly
before that would cause anemia. I suspect there is another problem here. I
would look hard at her muscle enzymes AST (sometimes known as SGOT) and CK
(sometimes known as CPK). Unexplained lethargy in a draft horse, with or
without anemia, makes me very suspicious of EPSM. My high normal for AST in
horses is about 420, and for CK is 350. But, I have worked with plenty of
EPSM drafts that had normal blood levels of these enzymes, even when blood
was taken after exercise - only muscle biopsy allowed us to make a
definitive diagnosis in these horses. Since many veterinarians are not
aware of this problem, or are not aware of the subtle signs and blood
changes it can cause in a draft, you might want to look at the information
on it in the Contents of this site. Diet change to one that is high in fat
and low in starches and sugars is often very successful at controlling
problems due to EPSM"
BTW Dr. Valentine has written a great book: DRAFT HORSES, an Owner's
Manual" (Co-authored with Michael J. Wildenstein, CJF)
Jean in Fairbanks, Alaska 50 degrees.
>Could it possibly be an ingredient in his past diet..? Nutrient imbalances
>can lead to anemia, not shortages, but surpluses. For example, I read this
>item about leaves.. "Actually, *fresh* red maple leaves are harmless. The
>wilted leaves however... cause a hemolytic anemia"
