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James Hart
| | Posted on Friday, Jun 11, 1999 - 5:32 am: |   |
I am on the trail of two mysterious deaths and would appreciate any help anyone can give.
Two apparantly healthy horses died about a week apart. They were in different paddocks. Both areas had been used for horses for a long time so the chance of any poisonous plants being present is low. Both were out of work and both were introduced to feed less than a week before they died.
The feed given to them both was from the same sack. It was made by a manufacturer who also makes calf feed and the peak demand time for calf feed is within 6 weeks. ie there is a strong chance that calf feed manufacture has started. Last year a few calf feed customers of the same manufacturer complained that they got horse feed in bags labelled calf feed.
One avenue of investigation is that somehow the horse feed became contaminated with rumen development enzymes (here is is called Rumansin). We have been unable to find anyone who can describe the signs and symptoms of such poisoning. We have blood tests, urine tests and muscle biopsy results.
If anyone can help please post what you can. If you would rather reply in confidence please email us direct on herbs@hn.pl.net
Thsnks
James Hart |
Emily French
| | Posted on Friday, Jun 11, 1999 - 12:11 pm: | |
James- I have heard of this happening here where a
friend bought a place and allowed his horse into a
barn that had claves in it before, The horse nosed
around in the feeder for "toaster levins" and
boom, dead horse. I don't know any more specifics
but I would say SAVE THAT BAG!!! Personally I
would be having a discussion with the feed
supplier, It's hard enough to keep your horse
healthy without that type of cavet emptor (sp?) |
James Hart
| | Posted on Friday, Jun 11, 1999 - 3:44 pm: | |
Thanks Emily. We have kept a sample of the feed, and had a discussion with the feed supplier, who as one would expect says that any contamination of his feed is impossible. |
Emily French
| | Posted on Saturday, Jun 12, 1999 - 9:27 pm: | |
James-
Ofcourse contamination would have been
impossible,... ther is a dead horse!
AS far as contamination impossible well that is
BS! A friend of mine has worked in a feed mill for
the last 15 years, mixing feeds is not a science.
He flips a lever for so many seconds, then another
lever for another type of grain. Then he goes out
and dumps a few bags of this and that an loads it
into a railroad car and sweeps the loading dock
leavin's on top and sends it on its way. There,
they would mix cattle, hog, and horse feed in the
same hopper and auger one after the other. If
there are any spare blobs of adiditive on the
auger deck he just kicks it back into the auger.
We used to go take the loading dock sweepings to
feed our cows and would watch him. He would laugh
about the "mistakes" he would make and not tell
his boss because it ment waisting $10K worth of
feed, he wasn't about to own up to that kind of
mistake.
I would have the bag anilized and talk to a
lawyer. Did the tests show the growth enzime
present? |
The Advisor Vet, RN Oglesby DVM
| | Posted on Monday, Jun 14, 1999 - 6:22 am: | |
What were the symptoms prior to death?
DrO |
James Hart
| | Posted on Friday, Jun 25, 1999 - 11:00 pm: | |
Emily,
Thanks for your posting. We have not had the feed analysed for the enzyme yet. I am trying to find out whether the symptoms are at all consistent. That seems to be very hard.
Dr O
Sorry for the late reply. the first horse has no symptoms. He was fine in the evening and dead next morning. No PM was done.
The second horse was sick before he died. We found him in the corner of the field in the morning. He was lethargic, his temperature was down, his respiration rate was down and there were no gut sounds. The vet at this stage diagnosed shock. He was given an anti-inflammatory. He was eating, but not very enthusiastically. We put a second cover on him and by mid afternoon he seemed better. then he deteriorated again and was dead next morning.
Blood samples were taken. The results were all consistent with dehdration except for CK at 40450 and AST at 12280. Our vet said that those levels were consistent with muscle damage, but there was no physical sign of tying up and there was nothing significant found in the histological examination. There was no evidence of renal damage.
Hope this helps! Look forward to your comments
James |
The Advisor Vet, RN Oglesby DVM
| | Posted on Monday, Jun 28, 1999 - 12:58 am: | |
The history, clinical signs, and lab work are all consistant but not proof of acute inophore [monensin (Rumensin name brand), lasalocid, or salinomycin] poisoning. The lack of histological findings is a little troubling but on first glance of the literature does not rule this out. The poison works at the level of the mitochondria and if the dose is high enough significant cellular lesions may not have time to develop before death.
Be sure the stomach contents are preserved as there is rarely enough in the tissues to detect.
DrO |
James Hart
| | Posted on Thursday, Jul 1, 1999 - 3:09 pm: | |
Dr O
Thank you very much. Now you have confirmed that our symptoms are consistent with the type of poisoning we suspected we will continue to have the feed sample analysed.
If you have any references available that would be great.
I'll keep you informed of progress.
James |
Maria Miller
Member
Username: Ccet
Post Number: 5
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, Nov 14, 2003 - 12:11 pm: | |
What are the signs and symptoms of rumensin poisioning in horses - what tests can your vet do to determine wether that is indeed the case? Wouldn't it show up in liver kidney blood as well as being able to detect it in the heart muscle itself.
Maria |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 9473
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Saturday, Nov 15, 2003 - 4:14 am: | |
We have an article on this Maria at » Equine Diseases » Nervous System » Livestock Growth Promoters Poisoning.
DrO |
