Clinical Equine Nutrition Flashcards
What are some feeding management issues?
competition, vices, and dental problems.
What are some clinical signs seen with esophageal obstruction?
dysphagia, watery feed tinged nasal discharge*****, gagging, repeated attempts to swallow, stretching of the neck, and anxiety (some paw the ground)
What are the main culprits in causing esophageal obstruction?
pelleted feed (95%), hay cubes, beet pulp.
How do you treat esophageal obstructions?
sedation, naso-gastric tube, +/- tx for aspiration.
How do you manage/prevent esophageal obstruction?
slow down eating, separate the “bully”, soak the feed. These guys are commonly repeat offenders.
What are some abnormal oral behaviors that are associated with feed management?
cribbing, wind sucking, wood chewing.
T/F: weaving, stall walking, and head shaking are also issues associated with poor feed management.
False.
What are some concerns with cribbing?
poor performance, weight loss, incisor wear, flatulent colic, epiploic foramen entrapment, destruction of property.
How is cribbing treated?
Can place collars on them, masks, rings in between incisors, surgically cut the “strap” muscles, or can give anti-depressants or NMDA receptor blockers. This doesn’t address the reason for the cribbing
Is wind sucking different from cribbing?
Yes. It can lead to cribbing though.
What are some clinical signs of dental issues?
weight loss, dropping feed, difficulty eating, and quidding.
Enamel points are found where?
along the buccal surface.
Are enamel points and molar hooks different?
yes. Molar hooks are on the front end of the tooth.
What can enamel points or molar hooks lead to?
ulceration of the mouth.
T/F: alfalfa is the “gold standard” hay.
True.
Who can alfalfa cause a problem in?
foals. Increased Ca can interfere with other electrolyte absorption and the increased P can promote osteochondrosis.
What is another concern with alfalfa?
blister beetles. Can cause cantharidin toxicosis.
What are some clinical signs seen with cantharidin toxicosis?
colic, anorexia, depression, GIT erosions, frequent urination, colitis.
What is a problem that can be seen with fescue?
contamination with endophyte.
What are some clinical signs that indicate fescue toxicosis?
prolonged gestation, premature separation of the placenta, dystocia, retained placenta, agalactia.
T/F: you can safely feed fescue to gestating mares until their 3rd trimester.
True. Move them off of the fescue pasture in late gestation.
What are some ways to prevent fescue toxicosis?
cut the grass, domperidone, buy fungus free fescue, or re-seed.
T/F: red clover can cause major issues (like dehydration) for horses if infected with mold.
False. Can cause excessive drooling due to slaframine, but there are no significant issues that come along with this.
What should you do with a horse that is hypersalivating due to red clover?
remove from the clover.
What is the most common clinical sign seen with grain overload?
colic. Can also see colitis, laminitis, or gastric rupture.
How can non-structural carbs cause colic?
they are highly digestible and rapidly ferment in the hind gut, leading to gas distention.
How do you treat colic?
flunixin (NSAID), rectal exam to ID structures involved, and NG intubation.
A horse that has laminitis should not get what in their diet?
carbs.
How do you treat laminitis?
varies case by case, but very important to shoe the horse and provide sole support.
Horses are ____ more sensitive to ionophores than poultry.
200x
What is the most common ionophore used?
monensin
What are some CS of ionophore toxicity?
trembling, sweating, cardiac arrhythmias, and death.
Moldy corn poisoning causes what?
leukoencephalomalacia aka blind staggers. Will lead to liquefaction of the cerebral white matter.
When do you see this mycotoxin grown in corn?
when the moisture content is greater than 15%
What are some CS of moldy corn poisoning?
incoordination, depression, blindness, sweating, head pressing, seizures, coma, and death.
How much of feed wt. should be good quality roughage?
35-40%
___ cups of oil replace ____ cups of concentrate.
1 cup; 3-4 cups.
What is the weaning on schedule for adding a fat supplement to a horse diet?
start at 30mL bid and increase over 2 weeks.
How long can it take a horse to adapt to using fat as an energy source?
2-3 months.
performance horses should have what kind of diets and how frequently?
high grain:low roughage diets, 3-4 meals/day.
The digestion and absorption of what decreases with age?
protein, fiber, and phosphorous.
If you’ve got an emaciated horse, how should you reintroduce food? Why?
Slowly*** if too fast, you can cause a fatal increase in blood insulin and cardiac and respiratory failure.
What do you initially introduce to a starved horse?
roughage. Want to start on a low glycemic index diet.
With starved horses, you want to introduce feed at ______ percent of maintenance based on current body weight.
50-75%
How long should you wait before increasing the food by 125% in starved horses?
10 days.
What is equine metabolic syndrome?
leads to obesity in horses. Frequently seen with intermittent laminitis. These horses have persistent hyperinsulinemia and are PPID negative.
How do you treat equine metabolic syndrome?
low glycemic index diet (no grass, late cut hay), exercise, and levothyroxine sodium.
What is hyperlipemia and who does it affect?
sudden and severe breakdown of body fat stores, seen in ponies, donkeys, and mini horses.
What are some predisposing factors to hyperlipemia?
obesity, insulin resistance, and a pregnant or lactating female.
What are some precipitating factors for hyperlipemia?
inadequate feed intake, stress, pain, and disease.
What is the main clinical sign of hyperlipemia?
rapid weight loss. Will see it within a few days.
How do you treat hyperlipemia?
tx identifiable precipitating factors and secondary problems, reduce LDLs (offer fresh, palatable feed or tube feed).
What is the most common developmental orthopedic disease in thoroughbreds?
physitis/epiphysitis.
T/F: physitis can lead to angular limb deformities.
True.
How do you treat physitis?
decrease nutritional plane to roughage only, rest, give NSAIDs if necessary.
What is osteochondrosis?
disturbances in endochondral differentiation, proliferation, maturation, and ossification of fast growing animals.
Who is osteochondrosis most commonly seen in?
standardbred and warmblood breeds.
What are some clinical signs of osteochondrosis?
joint effusion and potentially lameness.
What are some common sites where oseochondrosis is seen?
distal intermediate ridge of the tibia, lateral trochlear ridge of the femur, and the medial femoral condyle.
If you’ve got an orphan foal and don’t have a nurse mare available, what milk can you use instead?
Goat milk (can lead to constipation), cow’s milk (less fat, more sugar), or you can use mare’s milk replacement.
When do you discontinue the milk replacement in an orphan foal?
at 3 months.
