Crystals in Urine

[Max123]

My 8 year old Irish Sports Horse has crystals in his urine and a low white blood cell count. The vet put him on Vitamin C and a tonic (5 days ago). He is kicking at his sheath with his hind legs causing small specks of blood to appear on his legs.He is otherwise in good spirits, good appetite etc. Has anyone had a similar experience and how long did it take to cure? Any advice would be helpful. Thanks

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

No experience of this in horses, in fact I'm amazed they get troubled by it as the diameter of the urethra in horses must be fairly large. I'd suspect some sort of kidney problem that might be diet related or might be metabolic. In humans it can lead to kidney stones and gout. If this is what your horse has then I'm not surprised he's kicking at his sheath - every pee may be agony. Don't mean to sound alarmist but is your vet a specialist equine vet? I can't believe a vet would put your horse on a tonic for crystals in the urine and the clear pain associated with this as demonstrated by the kicking at his sheath. I have to say, if it was me I'd have expected something more proactive. Was a urine sample taken? What does your vet say is the reason for the formation of crystals? I'd be looking for an urgent second opinion.

 

[Max123]

I didn't bring him to my usual vet but to an equine hospital which deal a lot with stallions (my fellow is a gelding but thought they would have more experience in that area).My clues that there was something wrong there initially is that he was strange to ride and extending that area in a peculiar way!! I didn't deal with the vet directly but I brought him to a knowledgeable yard with stallions who use him but I will contact him directly this morning as I am concerned and felt too that the treatment seemed light. They did take a urine sample and bloods but he didn't offer much in way of cause. I had been giving him a biotin supplement which I have now stopped as there are a lot of other minerals in it. He wasn't at grass all winter just hay and coarse mix. I did read that rich hay can cause crystals but I think it means alfalfa. His hay is of really good quality but just regular grass. I was advised to put him out at grass during the day and in at night which I have been doing and the kicking of the sheath seems to be aimed more at flies rather than the pain of the crystals. He doesn't do it in the stable. I have covered him with fly repellent this morning.

 

[AmyMay]

I'd want him back at the vets.

 

[Max123]

I went back to the vet and he is now 2 days into a course of antibiotics and he has improved. He has to stay on Vitamin C indefinitely to keep the PH in his urine to normal levels.

 

[ALANNA]

Did your vet inform you that antibiotics are a common cause of crystals in the urine? Have you been told to make sure he drinks lots of water? This is how you prevent it when they're on antibiotics so I would think this would help anyway, you can feed wet sugarbeet, add apple juice/ sugarbeet water to his water etc, obviously if vet agrees, I'm assuming your vet has told you what's wrong/what's causing it now.

 

[moosehunter]

Crystals form rapidly in urine left to stand.

The crystals need speciating.

If you feed any kind of alfalfa- stop- it can form urinary crystals.