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constance d. sandlass
New Member
Username: Turksma
Post Number: 1
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 7, 2003 - 10:35 pm: |   |
All of my horses have purple tongues, are losing weight and have bad coats. There are no shrubs, berries, leaves, etc. in or around the pasture - have checked thoroughly. These horses are well fed, vaccinated, wormed and vet checked on a regular basis. I have been at the same place for years and this is the first time I have experienced this. My vet is as stumped as I am. The only thing different is that our part of the country (Northern Illinois) experienced (until very recently) drought conditions. Is it possible the water table has fallen and some mineral is leeching into the well water? The horses are all cleaning up their feed and have lots of energy, but they look awful. Has anyone else ever experienced this? Any help would be most appreciated!
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Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 8332
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Thursday, May 8, 2003 - 6:03 am: | |
Welcome to The Advisor Constance,
The poisonous mineral scenerio strikes me as unlikely as a isolated event, so unless others in your area are experiencing a similar problem or there is a hisory of such problems put it at the bottom of the list of possibilities. You are wrong when you say this is the only thing different in your horses lives: dozens of things are different every single day.
Let me make a few suggestions:
1) Fill out the information in your profile completely on management and that will help us evaluate your problem better. Be sure to let us know when you are done by posting here.
2) Concerning the poor doing, study carefully the article » Equine Diseases » Colic and GI Diseases » Weight Loss in Horses » Diagnosing Chronic Weight Loss. Consider each possibility carefully.
3) If the tongues are purple appearing but the gum color is normal and all laboratory values and physical exam findings normal, I think this is of little signficance to the rest of your problems.
DrO |
