Hi all!!! Does anyone here have any experience with recurring bladder stones in your horse? My beloved 10 year old gelding was just diagnosed with his second bladder stone in less than a year! Just last summer he spent 2 weeks in the hospital having a calcium carbonate stone removed… it was quite an ordeal and very traumatic.
Now, we have yet another stone! This one is very small and he is not showing any real symptoms yet… but I noticed a slight change in his urinary habits, so I decided to have him checked out.
This is very disheartening as now I obviously have a chronic recurring issue. I have him on a low calcium diet and even installed a water softener and filtration system for his drinking water.
The only thing I have not done is try and acidify his urine.
I have read there is a dairy supplement called soychlor that some have had some success with.
Does anyone have any experience with this???
Thank you so much!!!
once they have them,they are prone to having more episodes. I had a lovely quarter gelding that we ended up putting down 2 years ago.He was only 8,but he was very uncomfortable and there were no guarantees that surgery would work long term.I still miss him,he was so dam cute.Looked like a mini warmblood and was doing well in his dressage training.
I’m sorry you lost your boy Myrna! What were his symptoms of discomfort?
A friend of mine told me about a horse she had years ago with bladder stones. She fed him lemon juice regularly to help control them. She said that he loved the taste, and it was easy to get him to drink it. Maybe ask your vet about this. I don’t know the science but this one horse was successfully managed. Good luck!
MAy I ask what water softener/filter you use? My horse is having surgery tomorrow to remove a bladder stone. This is his second one in 8 years. His diet doesn’t consist of much calcium so I am wondering if it is the water as it is just well water.
I would also be interested in the water filter used. With my horse, he had his first stone removed in May of 2015, and his second stone removed in November 2016… It’s so frustrating because I feel as though there are no real “right” answers here since there are so many unknowns.
After the first stone, we took my gelding off of Ugard and i asked that he not get any alfalfa either.
After the 2nd stone, I tested the hay at the boarding facility and it was very high in calcium, so I moved him to a new barn, and Cornell did a feed analysis for me. They had me quarter his grain and put him on a Wheat Bran that does not have added calcium (has added phosphorus). They scoped him again at the end of January, no stone forming at that point. I will probably have him scoped again this fall, but it’s so hard to find piece of mine. I’d love to hear other experiences.
Hi all! Any updates on how your horse is doing? Minnow, how were the stones removed? Did they do a perineal urethrostomy?
The water softener is delivered by service and comes once a month. It’s a large metal tank. I couldn’t explain exactly how it works… the service costs about $25 a month.
I am working on getting the hay my horse eats tested. He just gets free-choice orchard. He is a very easy keeper so only getting some timothy pellets mixed with the high point vitamin, with a sprinkle of electrolytes. I am putting him through a tub of probios and vitamin c and then taking him off both of those.
My boy came out of the surgery like a champ and is doing awesome. Our well water already runs through a softener, but I had my dad hook up another filter in the barn. I plan to get a blood test on him at the end of the month and also check his selenium. Now that the stones are out and he is healed I want to see if his blood reads differently. Once I get the hay tested, I may revamp his diet accordingly but doing what I can to keep unnecessary calcium from the diet.
I am trying to get him to drink more, but all the tricks I have tried aren’t doing much so I won’t keep messing with his water. I am going to start adding Apple cider vinegar to his feed, as I have read this helps to acidify the urine.
He also gets free access to his Himalayan salt lick that he adores (doesn’t demolish it, but licks a few times after meals), I am wondering about switching it out to just the white one instead? Not sure if this has any effect on him or not.
I am so glad your guy is doing well. Your situation sounds like mine… there are no obvious reasons for the stones! No alfalfa, softened water, etc.
What did your vet say? How was the surgery done? Did they do a standing procedure under sedation or did they lay him down under general anesthesia? My guys first surgery was a standing procedure - they break up the stone and try to take it out in pieces. I went to a small local hospital in which the surgeon had limited experience (maybe only goats) . When he tried to remove the stone in disintegrated and basically left a huge pile of sand in his bladder… so they had to flush him daily for 2 weeks to remove all of the debris. It ended up being very expensive and hard on my horse. I am devastated that now, only 12 months later we have to do this again. I am taking him to a really great hospital this time… hoping that will make a difference.
Regarding prevention… I have done a lot of research. One thing I have learned is that you have to acidify their urine sufficiently in order to dissolve the calcium crystals to prevent the stones from forming. I think their urine PH has to be around 6.5 for that… That is hard to do and Apple Cider vinegar does not work. I am going to be putting my horse on a product called Soychlor… If you google it you can get a tiny bit on info, but not much. It seems like not much is known about bladder stones in horses. University of Florida did a small study.
[QUOTE=Minnow;n9763417]
I would also be interested in the water filter used. With my horse, he had his first stone removed in May of 2015, and his second stone removed in November 2016… It’s so frustrating because I feel as though there are no real “right” answers here since there are so many unknowns.
After the first stone, we took my gelding off of Ugard and i asked that he not get any alfalfa either.
After the 2nd stone, I tested the hay at the boarding facility and it was very high in calcium, so I moved him to a new barn, and Cornell did a feed analysis for me. They had me quarter his grain and put him on a Wheat Bran that does not have added calcium (has added phosphorus). They scoped him again at the end of January, no stone forming at that point. I will probably have him scoped again this fall, but it’s so hard to find piece of mine. I’d love to hear other experiences. [/QUOTE
Just curious about the added phosphorous… Why did they want you to add that? Also, did your horse blood work show low phosphorous? my horse was low. I am wondering if there is a connection?
Thanks for the tidbit on the ACV.
My horse the first time around they tried the standing but he didn’t take, so the next day they put him under. This time around I chose to go straight to putting him under. The great thing about this surgery is there really is minimum down time or change for the horse. They can continue their normal routine and it heals very quickly. The vet didn’t have much to offer that I didn’t already know from my online research. They said it could be genetically predisposed or the fact that he had it once, now twice, he is just more easily prone to getting. But darned if I let this happen for a 3rd time, so I am doing everything I can to prevent it. All we can do is hope that what we do is enough!
Thanks BP for sharing your experience. What was the cost difference in surgery between standing & general anesthesia? My insurance is not paying this time so it’s out of pocket. Timing could not be worse financially!
Another thing to mention; I reached out to a gal via Facebook whose horse has also suffered from recurring stones… he had 2 15 months apart. After the second they decided to start flushing the bladder every 3-6 months to remove excess debris. That was over 2 years ago and so far no stones are forming
I will have to ask the vet about flushing bladder. That is an interesting tidbit. I wonder if that’s invasive or painful??
i know from when he had his surgery 8 years ago it was an $1000 increase. From the time we checked in where they did a rectal exam, then scoped him, had the surgery the next day, recovery day (so was there only 2 nights), plus the antibiotics…it was a total of $2440 this time around, and I’m paying out of pocket too. Honestly for everything they did I feel it was pretty reasonable and they took great care of him.
My vet also suggested flushing; she said it was simply running a catheter up the urethra into the bladder and then flushing with sterile solution. That shouldn’t be painful or invasive.
If I can get my horse done for even close to that price I will be delighted! The first surgery ended up costing $6500! But my insurance covered it. He was in the hospital for 2 weeks and they had to go back in 12 times! It was just awful. My poor guy came home a wreck… He coliced 5 times in the following 4 weeks. It was such an ordeal.I am going to see if I can opt for the general anesthesia and have the darn thing taken out in 1 session! I
I really hope it is much cheaper than before! Hopefully the process will run much smoother for your guy! I really love this forum to communicate ideas and support for our poor bladder stone prone horses. But here’s hoping we can stay ahead of it now and never have our horses go through this again.
Has anyone had their soil tested?? If I may ask where people are from who have had horses with bladder stones…curious if there is any connection in location.
I am in Florida and my guy has been living here for 15 years.
Yes!!! I hope this will be the last time!
I am in Southern California. My horse eats orchard grass hay that’s grown in Nevada. We don’t have pasture here .
Above is a photo of the actual stone inside His bladder. They ran and endoscope up his urethra into his bladder and there it can be seen, clear as day. It’s about the size of a golf ball. It’s going to be removed Monday. The vet called him a " stone maker" and didn’t sound very optimistic that he would get another stone right away
