What Would Be Good for All Veterinarians to Know About Equine Nutrition

Nutrition and management have enabling and supporting roles to play in the health, welfare, and performance of equines. Poor or inappropriate nutrition may therefore impose limits on an animal's ability to perform and adversely affect health and welfare. Understanding the gastrointestinal tract from a nutrition perspective can help to reduce the risk of certain clinical problems. This article outlines key factors with respect to the equine digestive tract and discusses relevant aspects of ration formation. Forage is highlighted, because inappropriate forage provision is one of the key limitations in many horse diets.

Intragastric pH of foals admitted to the intensive care unit

Background

Intragastric pH profiles of neonatal foals admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) remain poorly characterized.

Hypothesis/Objectives

To determine intragastric pH profiles and clinical parameters associated with intragastric pH in foals admitted to the ICU.

Animals

Forty‐two neonatal foals admitted to the ICU and requiring placement of an indwelling nasogastric tube for nutritional management were included.

Methods

Intragastric pH was measured for 24 hours from the time of admission. Mean pH, % time pH <4, and % time pH >4 were determined for each foal. History, clinical findings, and clinicopathological data recorded at the time of presentation were collected.

Results

The mean pH of included foals was 5.5 ± 1.8. The median % time pH <4 was 6.3% (range: 0‐99). A history of placentitis was associated with greater mean pH (median 5.3 (range: 0.9‐7.8) versus median 7.2 (5.9‐11.3); P = .002) and less % time pH <4 (median 13 (0‐99.6) versus median 0.1 (0‐7.2); P = .01). Foals with diarrhea had a greater % time pH <4 (median 4.6% (0‐99) versus median 28.8% (1.4‐57.48); P = .02). Foals with a pH >4 for >50% recording time had a lower PaO₂ (mean difference 25.0 mm Hg; 95% confidence interval [CI], 14.4‐35.6; P = .03) and higher PaCO₂ (mean difference 14.9 mm Hg; 95% CI, 4.7‐25.2; P = .02). Surviving foals had a lower mean median hourly pH (P = .02).

Conclusions and Clinical Importance

Intragastric pH profiles were unpredictable and mostly >4 for >80% of the recording time. This study does not support the indiscriminate administration of acid suppressive treatment.

Equine faecal microbiota transplant: Current knowledge, proposed guidelines and future directions

While certainly not a novel concept, faecal microbiota transplant (FMT) has recently garnered renewed interest in veterinary medicine due to its remarkable success in treating recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in man. There is a dearth of information on indications and efficacy of FMT for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders in the horse; however, based on evidence in man and other veterinary species, and anecdotal reports in horses, FMT may be a useful treatment for selected cases of acute and chronic diarrhoea and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the horse. In the absence of evidence, expert opinion is offered on case selection and FMT procedure. More research is needed to explore the efficacy, indications and optimal preparation, storage and delivery of FMT to horses.

Efficacy of omeprazole paste in the prevention of gastric ulcers in 2 years old Thoroughbreds

Prevalence of equine gastric ulcer syndrome in 85 young Thoroughbreds was investigated. The presence of gastric ulcers was confirmed in 27.1% (23/85) of the horses by endoscopic examination. Sixty-two horses without gastric ulcers were allocated randomly to either the treated group (31 horses) or sham-dosed control group (31 horses) in order to investigate the efficacy of omeprazole oral paste in the prevention of gastric ulcers. At the second endoscopic examination conducted after 28 days of administration, only 1 horse in the treated group developed gastric ulcers, while 12 horses developed gastric ulcers in the control group. Based on these data, the efficacy of omeprazole in prevention of equine gastric ulcers in young Thoroughbreds during the training period was confirmed.