Slightly anemic pony, best meds?

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katymay

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after a recent blood test it seems my pony has a lower than normal red blood cell count, the vet said to get some suppliments for him and suggested Red Cell, any other things I can do to help him?
thanks
 
Copper deficiency can cause anaemia. Check your grazing/hay for copper deficiency or iron/manganese overload (which causes copper deficiency and is very common) If you have either, supplement copper, it's cheap and easy.
 
manganese as in Magnesium? sorry im being a bit dim! he doesnt eat an awful lot of hay, is on good quality grazing all day then in at night with an offer of hay which is rarely touched and a small amount of Dengie hi fi lite with some Naff Magic in it, had to give him a super duper five day dose of wormer last week as he came from somewhere with no worming history and had a bout of colic yesterday I wondering whether the worms got stuck in their passage out which caused the colic and if he was that infested might have made him anemic in the first place? or course I could be completely wrong as ive only had him a month and havent owned a pony for 25 years :)
no sign of expelled worms in his droppings, am I clutching at straw?
 
katymay said:
manganese as in Magnesium? sorry im being a bit dim! he doesnt eat an awful lot of hay, is on good quality grazing all day then in at night with an offer of hay which is rarely touched and a small amount of Dengie hi fi lite with some Naff Magic in it, had to give him a super duper five day dose of wormer last week as he came from somewhere with no worming history and had a bout of colic yesterday I wondering whether the worms got stuck in their passage out which caused the colic and if he was that infested might have made him anemic in the first place? or course I could be completely wrong as ive only had him a month and havent owned a pony for 25 years :)
no sign of expelled worms in his droppings, am I clutching at straw?
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Manganese is another element, just less well known. I would have your grazing tested - iron is generally at high levels in most grazing and hay so as cptrayes says, you are more likely to have a deificeny in something else and it is actually very lazy of your vet to simply tell you to supplement iron - I have a saddle fitting client whose horse has been diagnosed with iron damage to the liver, and she has never supplemented iron. It can do a lot of damage and you should always find out why a horse is anaemic before even considering supplementing iron. The worms may indeed have caused the anaemia but maing sure the whole worming/colic thing is sorted and has caused no lasting damage is your priority, as well as checking the other possible mineral deficiencies. Good luck :)
 
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