Elevated kidney function

[AmyGrace]

Hi!

I would be interested in other’s advice as to if your horse has gone through this?

I recently had my mare’s bloodwork tested, her farm vet tested it a year ago to see what the kidney function is because she was debating trying Osphos. I remember her clearly saying that my mare’s kidney function was at the high end of normal so we decided against it. I never got the lab results so I followed up and finally received them.

When my horse was at a larger hospital for RenoVo injections recently, I asked the internal vet there to run her labs. He also said that her kidney function is at the high end of normal. He did some more comprehensive labs and emphasized that she drinks enough water. In the earlier labs, she may have been dehydrated.

I emailed the internal vet at the hospital after our visit, he suggested that my mare get a red mineral salt lick, which she hasn’t shown much interest in. He seemed to think that the red one was better than the white salt or the Himalayan. He also suggested that we moisten her food as a mash, to add water, we do that twice a day and she loves it! He was pleased with her weight. He didn’t think that we need to change her hay, and I had read that omega oils can help with chronic kidney disease, which she does not have yet, but he didn’t think supplementing that would be necessary, she does get flax seed oil with some omegas in it.

Making sure that her water doesn’t freeze over this winter in outside turnout will be the biggest challenge, because she has full time turnout. I have been investigating trying to get a water bucket where I could add insulation around it. We don’t have access to electricity outside so I think it would most likely be either- an insulated water bucket, putting plastic bottles with salt in the water to break up the ice, I have looked into trying to find a solar heater, hard to find. We can use stalls if necessary, but the most likely option that way would be self care or partial care, full care stall board really isn’t an option here.

I’d be interested in knowing how you have dealt with elevated kidney issues… what did you do to manage it? I have had my mare for almost 2 years and while I don’t know all of her history, she does have knees that are injured from some type of use, sad to say but I can’t help but wonder if the kidney issues came about if previous owners were giving medication to try to get her to be more sound. Not sure… but a thought.

Many thanks

[2tempe]

google how to keep horse buckets from freezing. There are some interesting things - like a tennis ball in the water. A water bottle filled with salt water…dig them a few inches into the ground. Etc:

cut and pasted from somewhere…

• Add several tightly-closed two-liter bottles of salt water to the water trough (the same principle as the salt-water bottle in the chickens’ waterer). Even if the water freezes, the bottles will float, and the horses will push the bottles around which will break the ice.
• Insulate the outside of the trough. Place the water tub inside a larger tub and fill the empty space in between with straw to insulate it.
• Cover half of the trough with a strong piece of plexiglass. This works like a greenhouse while allowing the livestock to drink out of the uncovered half. A smaller opening keeps exposure to cold air at a minimum.

[Warmblood1]

As far as salt goes, I would feed loose mineral salt in the feed. That way you know for sure your horse is getting their adequate salt intake.

What is your horse being fed? Do you have your hay tested for protein levels? Excessive protein should be avoided in horses with kidney issues (or merging on kidney issues) - IIRC, a protein level of about 10-12 percent or less is ideal for hay.

[candyappy]

I wouldn’t add salt to the water source. There are plenty of ways you can insulate the water trough without electric ( google for ideas) . When we were in MN I remember reading about a guy there who did just that. We had electric so I didn’t go farther than reading.

As long as you don’t get arctic cold they can work well.

[2tempe]

The idea isnt to add salt directly to the water. You put salty water in a bottle, with top on ( or 2 or 3 depending on size of trough) and somehow those bottles (which wont freeze) keep the water in the trough from freezing.

[candyappy]

@2tempe

The idea isnt to add salt directly to the water. You put salty water in a bottle, with top on ( or 2 or 3 depending on size of trough) and somehow those bottles (which wont freeze) keep the water in the trough from freezing.

Well my trough would be full of salty water because my gelding would immediately grab and destroy them. If the horses aren’t continually moving the bottles wouldn’t the water just freeze around them if it got cold enough?

I ask because we have " freeze proof" auto waterers for our cattle and they have a float ball in there and under the right cold conditions it freezes solid around the float ball. It is easily broken with a hammer but it still freezes unless the animals drink often enough.

I could see this working the same way.

[2tempe]

didn’t think about the search and destroy tactic!!! I’m not sure of any of this, just a list of things I found online. And then there is freezing temps and FREEZING temps depending on where your winter is.

[Warmblood1]

FWIW, I’ve tried the water bottle trick without success. The trough still froze over anyways. Maybe in less severe conditions it would have worked but I’m doubtful. The bottles sink and don’t move enough to stop ice from forming. I still haven’t found a sure fire way to prevent freezing without using water trough heaters.

[Bluey]

@Warmblood1

FWIW, I’ve tried the water bottle trick without success. The trough still froze over anyways. Maybe in less severe conditions it would have worked but I’m doubtful. The bottles sink and don’t move enough to stop ice from forming. I still haven’t found a sure fire way to prevent freezing without using water trough heaters.

Try inflated larger tractor inner tubes, they cover a large surface and cattle or horses can nose them away when stuck in ice and under them is open water, at least down to seriously hard freezing.
Is also easier to break ice with them in there.
In some pens, we had to tie them down, especially horses would pull them out of the water.

There was also a company in NM that sold shade black balls you put in troughs and also helped keep water from freezing.
They were initially used to keep water from evaporating, but some started using them in the winters so tanks would not freeze so easily:

Throwing curveballs at Mother Nature