Ask a Vet!

[Karen]

No, as we are doing another "Ask a Vet" show next Wednesday! Ask away!

[zippy-kat]

My question, in reference to my horses:

How accurate is hair analysis for mineral deficiency/toxicity?

[Karen]

I will put that at the top of the list!

Any more questions, folks?

[Randi]

Karen, I'm disappointed you never sent me that audio file with the vet's answers, you said you would. Of course, it's too late now - Fister has gone. I had taken some time to think about and write those questions, and express myself the best I could, and I really would have liked to hear what the vets said. Well, I guess some are more important than others.

[Karen]

Karen, I'm disappointed you never sent me that audio file with the vet's answers, you said you would. Of course, it's too late now - Fister has gone. I had taken some time to think about and write those questions, and express myself the best I could, and I really would have liked to hear what the vets said. Well, I guess some are more important than others.

Sorry, Randi, I thought I had - the engineer* is sometimes tardy getting the files back to us after the show, and that one took far too long to get back to me. I could still dig it out and send it to you if you want ....




*nice person but ....

[Karen]

My question, in reference to my horses:

How accurate is hair analysis for mineral deficiency/toxicity?

Both vets agreed - hair analysis is excellent and accurate, best taken from the mane or tail, somewhere where it grows continually, and they can give you the history of any deficiency or toxicity as well. It is best to have a vet do the collection both to make sure they get the root ball, and so, say Princess Pony will hate the vet instead of you, who has to deal with her on a daily basis (think of how annoying it is if someone yanks a piece of hair from your head!) but this is often the best way to tell with horses, especially if there are not other gross symptoms. It depends what part of the country you are in what they need to test for, of course. Does that help? I'll email you the audio files when I get them, but wanted to tell you that part, in any case!

[zippy-kat]

Both vets agreed - hair analysis is excellent and accurate, best taken from the mane or tail, somewhere where it grows continually, and they can give you the history of any deficiency or toxicity as well. It is best to have a vet do the collection both to make sure they get the root ball, and so, say Princess Pony will hate the vet instead of you, who has to deal with her on a daily basis (think of how annoying it is if someone yanks a piece of hair from your head!) but this is often the best way to tell with horses, especially if there are not other gross symptoms. It depends what part of the country you are in what they need to test for, of course. Does that help? I'll email you the audio files when I get them, but wanted to tell you that part, in any case!

Awesome, thanks and I look forward to the audio files! Out of curiosity were these the holistic vets or the traditional vets?

Does it help? Sort of! lol It was more out of curiosity than anything. Summer went through a REALLY rough patch 2-3 years ago (issues with ulcers and a few other things) and while she is 200x better, she's still not quite right. The traditional equine vets I've had her to agree something's not quite right but, even through various tests, can't diagnosis anything concrete. Her chiropractor and message therapist brought her further along but I still feel like we're missing a piece of the puzzle. A friend recently mentioned hair analysis (none of my vets have mentioned it) and I was just curious how accurate it might be. It's a fairly cheap test so it might be worth a look.

I'm interested to hear if they mentioned anything about the process. I thought the hair was cleaned, incinerated, then tested. Apparently not if they are able to give a history! Interesting!

Thanks, Karen!

[Karen]

Awesome, thanks and I look forward to the audio files! Out of curiosity were these the holistic vets or the traditional vets?

Thanks, Karen!

Dr. Carol is very much a holistic vet, and Dr. Cathy is as well. I'll email you the audio files in a minute, see what you think, and if you have any follow-up questions, I can give you email addresses for them!

And for everyone else, we are doing "Ask the Vets" again next week, but at a new time, and this show will be live so if you are at a computer you can listen next Thursday at 3 .p.m. Eastern as we record the show!

[Moesha]

Unfortunately, I'll be working at that time and unable to listen, but I would like to know what the vets say regarding Oscar's problem mentioned in this thread: http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...LEX-any-advice. I haven't found anything on the Internet that mentions removal of all teeth to stop the problem once it progresses past the steroid treatment stage. My vet didn't think it was caused by a food allergy but rather an allergy to bacteria in the mouth. So, I guess I'd like to know if that is common or if there is a way to determine what is causing Oscar's allergy and if any of them have heard of or tried for themselves removing all of the teeth. I hope that makes sense. If you have any questions, let me know, and I'll try to be more clear.

[Karen]

Unfortunately, I'll be working at that time and unable to listen, but I would like to know what the vets say regarding Oscar's problem mentioned in this thread: http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...LEX-any-advice. I haven't found anything on the Internet that mentions removal of all teeth to stop the problem once it progresses past the steroid treatment stage. My vet didn't think it was caused by a food allergy but rather an allergy to bacteria in the mouth. So, I guess I'd like to know if that is common or if there is a way to determine what is causing Oscar's allergy and if any of them have heard of or tried for themselves removing all of the teeth. I hope that makes sense. If you have any questions, let me know, and I'll try to be more clear.

Got it!

[Karen]

Unfortunately, I'll be working at that time and unable to listen, but I would like to know what the vets say regarding Oscar's problem mentioned in this thread: http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...LEX-any-advice. I haven't found anything on the Internet that mentions removal of all teeth to stop the problem once it progresses past the steroid treatment stage. My vet didn't think it was caused by a food allergy but rather an allergy to bacteria in the mouth. So, I guess I'd like to know if that is common or if there is a way to determine what is causing Oscar's allergy and if any of them have heard of or tried for themselves removing all of the teeth. I hope that makes sense. If you have any questions, let me know, and I'll try to be more clear.

They were both aghast at the mention of removing all Oscar's teeth, and would never recommend that. This is a very common condition, and the first thing to do is change his diet. It is nearly always caused by food allergies, so start with a simple one-ingredient food - cooked chicken is a good place to start, then you can try adding in other things, but getting his diet under control and figuring out the allergies is tedious, but WAY preferable to removing his teeth, in both vet's opinions. There's more, but that's what I remember off the top of my head. Will email you audio file when I get it!

[Karen]

Bumpity!

[Moesha]

I thought of a question. Let me know the next time you'll be doing the show so I can ask it.

[Karen]

Okay, I will!

[Karen]

By the way, this week we are doing the show on Thursday, at 3 EST, so I can still take questions up to that point!