Poss pre renal failure in youngster?!?

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bambigirl

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Morning everyone :P , Just a quickie to get your brains in gear
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My friend has an 18 month old colt.. he's having a few weeing issues
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hes drinking 18 gallons of water a day and his bed has been soaking so its going straight through him, shes a bit confused as has been getting advice from everywher and nothings helping she had the vet ( a diff one to our normal vet) out on Monday and she took bloods they have come back as all bloods indicate stress and anxiety, high white blood cell's indicate infection

Now another vet we usually use after speaking to him on the phone has said if he had come out he wouldn't have done a normal blood screening he would have checked for pre renal now this colt isnt dehydrated he doesn't seem ill in himself just excessive urine, my friend thinks its boredom? no turn out for 4 weeks, the only time they get out is to go on walker or walked out in hand although the last few days he has been getting a burn out on a small strip of land

Any one else had this prob??


Galaxy choc muffffins for this one
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Personally I dont think this is a boredom thing? Its a tad extreme! Does the owner work? If not youngsters get bored anyway let alone being in, is there anyone that can give him a groom and play with him as well as horse walker etc if he's stressed he needs more attention and if hes not being turned out due to weather can you not boot him up for the day and let him out, thats what Ive done I dont see it as fair really but obviosuly if its impossible. But weeing that much? Is there not anymore tests a vet can do because thats a lot.
 
So let me get this right. Blood tests indicate high white cells thus indicating an infection? my guess is that he's got an infection!! like us, urinary infections can be painful and encourage excessive drinking and weeing... which I can imagine could cause stress and anxiety.
 
I agree with you. Infection highly likely it is what I would have thought even without the blood test. I would get vet back pdq.
 
He has been put on a course of anti b's only thing im worried about is if it is renal.. is it worth gettin it checked or waiting to see if anti's work?
 
I'd see how he goes on the antibiotics but he may need more than one course of them as it sounds pretty bad so don't be supprised if you end up ringing your vet for more... I'm guessing he's on Norodine?

Is he on any anti-inflamitories or painkillers? i.e. bute?

There are also herbal supplements out there for this sort of thing so it may be worth looking in to those...
 
If he has an infection then yes treat the infection, that goes with out question.

However some horses are very wet, and do drink a lot. If they are in and eating a lot or dry hay then they are going to drink more becasue of this. Charles is a very wet boy, there is nothign wrong with him thats just the way he is. Some times when the hayledge is wetter he will drink less but is still a very wet boy.
 
Iam a renal diaysis nurse and in renal failure, people pass LESS urine, not more. Would have thought it was the same for horses???
 
Normal water intake is 50ml/kg per day (so about 20 litres for a 400kg horse) so the colt is drinking way more than this.

Excessive drinking/urinating (polyuria/polydipsia) can be a sign of this but on the whole renal failure is rare. Renal failure can be diagnosed when a horses is azotaemic (blood kidney parameters raised) and has dilute urine. However, if horses are drinking a stack of water then they are flushing there kidneys so may not have raised kidney parameters and will have dilute urine anyway. This makes diagnosis tricky, although if he isn't dehydrated that's a good sign. Did your vet take a urine sample?

I suspect that your friend may be right; psychogenic polydipsia can occur in bored horses. Assuming the horses isn't azotaemic, isn't dehydrated and his glucose levels are normal then your vet might choose to do a water deprivation test to check that the kidneys are able to respond to a reduced water intake by making more concentrated urine. This can be tricky/risky to do at home due to the monitoring required, but based on what you've said, this is the test that will get you a diagnosis. I'd have a chat to the vet about it; he might be happier referring the horses to have this done or, if this has started recently and your vet is happy that the horse isn't in renal failure then it might be worth waiting to see if it resolves when he is able to go out.

Hope that helps a bit and isn't too nonsensical.

DivaRossa, in acute renal failure quite often the kidneys will shut up shop and animals become anuric for a time, but in chronic renal failure horses will pee out whatever they drink, even in the face of dehydration due to the kidneys inability to conserve water.
 
Interesting. I have always kept Burmese cats who are prone to kidney problems. The first sign is always drinking loads.

I lost one cat (not young though) with another cat I recognised the symptoms and he lived for many many years with medication.
 
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