Clinical Equine Nutrition 2 Flashcards
(36 cards)
Will energy requirements for a horse increase or decrease in severe weather, hot and cold?
Increase
Minimum of ____ % of feed should still be good quality roughage
35-40%
Omega 6 is pro _________
inflammatory
*in large amounts
How long does it typically take to see results after adding oil to a horses diet?
2 - 3 months
Want to start adding in oil slowly as well
Besides water, what is lost in sweat?
Electrolytes
T/F: Age is a disease
False
but with age, comes disease
What are common health concerns for aged horses?
Dental issues
parasitism
arthritic conditions
T/F: Protein, fiber, and phosphorus digestion and absorption decrease with age
TRUE
What kind of diet is recommended for geriatric horses?
(whatever they’ll eat!)
Needs to be palatable and easily digested - often cubed or pelleted feeds with the addition of a fat supplements as needed
Why should you avoid immediately starting a starving horse on a high quality diet?
Refeeding syndrome
can have a fatal increase in blood insulin
Cardiac and respiratory failure
**will be noted 3-5 days after new diet has begun
What diet should you start a starved horse on?
Start on a low glycemic indez diet Roughage only (alfalfa is ideal) introduce 50-75% of maintenance and gradually build up over 10 days to maintenance
Can increase to 125% maintenance
Besides being malnourished, what other concerns should you have when dealing with a starved horse?
Parasites - most likely the horse also was not getting dewormed
Dental issues
hoof care
underlying dz
What is equine metabolic dz? It what patients do you see it in?
It is a metabolic dysregulation: These horses are considered “easy keepers” bc they continue to put on weight, they are obese and often have intermittent laminitis
Can have persistent hyperinsulinemia –> leading to insulin resistance
*often in adults less than 15 years old who are obese: body score 7 or greater on a 9 scale
How do you treat equine metabolic syndrome?
Low glycemic indes diet: avoid green lush pastures
Exercise
*somtimes levothyroxine sodium
T/F: Equine metabolic syndrome patients will typically have PPID (equine Cushing’s)
FALSE
What is hyperlipemia?
A life threatening condition that often affects ponies, donkeys, and miniature horses: it is a sudden severe breakdown of body fat stores
What is the survival rate of hyperlipemia?
56%
What are the predisposing factors of hyperlipemia?
Obesity
Insulin resistance
Females>males (especially if they are pregnant or lactating)
What are some precipitating factors to hyperlipemia?
Inadequate feed intake
stress - from feed change, transport, etc
pain
disease
What clinical signs will you see in a patient with hyperlipemia?
May present like colic Anorexia dysphagia pyrexia encephalopathy depression weakness abortion ****rapid weight loss
How do you treat hyperlipemia?
First, you need to get the patient to eat - feeding tube if necessary. Want to use fresh palatable feeds or liquefied pelleted complete feeds for tube feeding
Terminate stress, fluid therapy, tx hypoglycemia
What are some key factors thought to be involved in developmental orthopedic diseases in horses?
Rapid growth
Diet imbalance (too much energy, poor calcium to phos ratio, copper and since deficiencies)
Biomechanical stress or trauma (too much exercise)
Hormonal factors
Genetic predisposition *
Epiphysitis is most common in what horses? What is it?
Most common in the thoroughbred race horse
Inflammation of the physis
Where is the most common location of epiphysitis?
Distal radius and distal metacarpal III/Metatarsal III
