Help with treatment of nutritional hyperparathyroidism, or Bran disease

[s.penn]

I have a 16yo gelding with possible Bran disease (Big Head, secondary nutritional hyperparathyroidism.) His only real symptom is a bony swelling over the bridge of the nose, between the eyes. Does not seem to be traumatic. He has been mainly on grass pasture and grass hay (during the winter) that we raised. Very minimal grain in the past year. Hasn’t been lame.

My vet suggested Equi-analytical to have the pasture tested, though after reading here about the inconsistencies of pasture testing I’m wondering if it is worth it? Plus, I don’t see that they test for oxalates? Only Calcium and phosphorus.
Still waiting on lab results.

I’m trying to find any good supplements with the right ratio’s of Ca:P, about 3:1. U Guard looks like a good calcium carbonate supplement, but I’m having a hard time finding anything with dicalcium phosphate in enough quantities that would correct a real calcium deficiency. Also, most of the supplements don’t give an exact mg or gram dose, just a percentage.

Has anyone had success correcting this condition with supplementation? Suggestions?
Also, what would be a maintenance or preventative dose once a deficiency is corrected, if the horse must remain on the same pasture?

Thanks!

[Texarkana]

I have never treated this disease, so I can’t comment on treatment procedure or recommended supplements. But I can clear up some misconceptions:

-Even though pasture testing is variable, I would definitely do it in this case if it were me. It’s variable in the sense that there can be seasonal or weather-related changes that can affect nutrient production and storage, but minerals like calcium and phosphorus come from the soil. While the amount stored in the plant might changed depending on environmental conditions, the trend of low calcium or high phosphorus should be fairly consistent. And you need to know if one or the other is going on.

-Call or email Equi-analytical and ask about oxalate testing. It may not be in their standard report, but there’s a good chance they do it.

-You can calculate the amount of Ca and P in a supplement from the percentage. Just multiply the serving size by the given percentage in decimal form (move the decimal over 2 places to the left). For example, UGard advertises a minimum Ca content of 2.5% in a 1oz serving:

1 oz x 0.025 = 0.025 oz calcium per serving

There are 28.3 g in 1 oz, so to convert that to grams:
0.025 oz x 28.3g/1oz = 0.7 g of calcium in one serving.

That’s really not very much in a serving. Just for comparison, a pound of alfalfa at 1.28% calcium offers nearly 6 g with little phosphorus.

I am curious why dicalcium phosphate is recommended, only because it also contains phosphorus. My gut inclination would assume folks would want to stick with sources of calcium without additional phosphorus???

[Ghazzu]

You can buy straight dicalcium phosphate.

[Bluey]

One of our school horses had a deformed head from that condition.
He was a saint of a wonderful, happy horse, none any better with beginners.

Once we had him in our school and with the proper, regular horse nutrition, he was stable and fine otherwise, but had that big, somewhat potato head lumpy look for the rest of his life, that didn’t change back, seemed permanent.

He came in a load of horses from the slaughter plant, no history with him.
We don’t know why he developed that condition, if it was bad nutrition or some metabolic problem.
Our vet diagnosed it.

As a breeding farm in our area with grasses and water too high in calcium, we were always careful to feed the young stock, under two, where the calcium/phosphorus balance was right for them.

If your horse is an active case, guess that you ought to follow vet’s advice or look for a second opinion?

[Brian]

I would think hyperparathyroidism in a 16yr old horse has to be somewhat rare. Is this a horse you’ve had for a long time, or is he a recent arrival? For a diet of grass hay to be a contributor, you’d have to be adding in substantial quantities, other things to the diet such as wheat bran, rice bran, cereal grains, etc…

Unless, you’ve got something in your water (if you have a well) that is inhibiting the absorption of calcium in the diet. If you’re testing your pasture and hay, it may not be a bad idea to test water as well.

Adult horses are pretty good at regulating their own Ca:P. The easiest supplementation would be the addition of alfalfa hay to the diet.

[sascha]

[QUOTE=Ghazzu;8611211]
You can buy straight dicalcium phosphate.[/QUOTE]

Seconding this. And it’s dirt cheap. Ask your feed store for a bag of Di-cal.

[Ghazzu]

PS–I agree w/ Brian that nutritional hyperparathyroidism in a horse getting no grain is a really rare phenomenon.

Especilly if the sole clinical sign is a singular bump.

[sassy45]

Here’s a link about this disease www.mitavite.com/kb/big_head_or_bran_disease_nutritional_secondary_hyperparathyroidism

[Katy_Watts]

In Wyoming, oxalates are more apt to be found in weeds than grass. Like pigweed, lambsquarter, dock and mallow. Oxalates vary greatly with environmental conditions, so even if you could test it would only be one page of a long story. Any kind of stress- drought, cold, fertilizer deficiency increases oxalates in weeds. Get a field botanist from university to ID weeds.
I’m not sure the deformity can be corrected, but further progress can be stopped.
A soil test might be helpful if you get Cation Exchange Capacity and % base saturation. I use Servi- tech. If you need to increase calcium in the soil add either gypsum or lime, depending on soil pH.

[Scribbler]

[QUOTE=s.penn;8611157]
I have a 16yo gelding with possible Bran disease (Big Head, secondary nutritional hyperparathyroidism.) His only real symptom is a bony swelling over the bridge of the nose, between the eyes. Does not seem to be traumatic. He has been mainly on grass pasture and grass hay (during the winter) that we raised. Very minimal grain in the past year. Hasn’t been lame.

My vet suggested Equi-analytical to have the pasture tested, though after reading here about the inconsistencies of pasture testing I’m wondering if it is worth it? Plus, I don’t see that they test for oxalates? Only Calcium and phosphorus.
Still waiting on lab results.

I’m trying to find any good supplements with the right ratio’s of Ca:P, about 3:1. U Guard looks like a good calcium carbonate supplement, but I’m having a hard time finding anything with dicalcium phosphate in enough quantities that would correct a real calcium deficiency. Also, most of the supplements don’t give an exact mg or gram dose, just a percentage.

Has anyone had success correcting this condition with supplementation? Suggestions?
Also, what would be a maintenance or preventative dose once a deficiency is corrected, if the horse must remain on the same pasture?

Thanks![/QUOTE]

How long have you had this horse? Did he arrive with the bump? Or did it appear under your care?

The on-line references for Big Head coming on in mature horses suggests that you will see lameness (bone and tendon damage) before you see cranial changes. And you can test the horse, as well as the pasture. Are there other horses on the pasture who aren’t affected? Is this a known and common problem in your area, and is that why the vet is suggesting it?

A picture might be useful.

Do you have good before and after photos of the horse’s head in profile?

If he came with the swelling when you acquired him, I’d be more likely to guess that it’s just his natural head shape.