Horse ate Rumensin

[Anonymous]

I know this isn't the "Horse board",but I thought I might get better info here.My son's 1200# Quarter horse has been suffering with the heaves for the past week and we have been treatig with penicillin,antihistamine powder,and aueromycin crumbs.To make a long story short-for the last 3 days my son has been dipping what he thought was aureomycin out of a bag of cattle r1500 top dress we use for the cows.Anyone know what we should do?I had heard once what kills the horse is the fact what they eat after ingesting rumensin doesn't come back out.Is that true?

 

[Anonymous]

If you haven't already done so, call your vet right away. The vet can take blood samples and run lab tests, as well as treat the horse with activated charcoal & other meds. Speed is of the essence!

Rumensin damages muscle tissue. The heart is a muscle and can be permanently damaged if the horse survives the toxin. What kills the horse is muscle & tissure damage and heart failure.

The signs and symptoms of poisoning depend on the dose consumed. Some horses show symptoms and die within 24 hours, while others can go as long as 2 weeks before symptoms show up, depending on the dose and whether it was fed all at once or over several feedings.

"The clinical signs of toxicity included partial to complete anorexia, colicky pain, sweating and tachycardia, uneasiness, polyuria, progressive ataxia, recumbency with frequent attempts to rise and thrashing of the limbs followed by death."

The above information is to give you a rough idea of what you are dealing with & was taken from online information I skimmed. I do not have any experience with this subject.

It looks like approx. 3.0 mg/kg of rumensin is about where the toxic level begins. So, a 1,200# horse, for example, weighs about 544 kilograms. So if your horse has consumed around 1600 milligrams of rumensin, it is probably a lethal dose. That is not to say that a horse that has ingested a smaller amount of rumensin doesn't need veterinary care. Any horse that has consumed rumensin needs a vet immediately.

I hope your horse is ok, and I do feel so sorry for your son. What a terrible lesson for a child.

> I know this isn't the "Horse
> board",but I thought I might
> get better info here.My son's
> 1200# Quarter horse has been
> suffering with the heaves for the
> past week and we have been treatig
> with penicillin,antihistamine
> powder,and aueromycin crumbs.To
> make a long story short-for the
> last 3 days my son has been
> dipping what he thought was
> aureomycin out of a bag of cattle
> r1500 top dress we use for the
> cows.Anyone know what we should
> do?I had heard once what kills the
> horse is the fact what they eat
> after ingesting rumensin doesn't
> come back out.Is that true?

 

[Anonymous]

In further reading, it looks like the lethal dose for a horse starts at about 1.3 mg/kg., not 3.0 mg/kg as I stated above - about 700 mg for a 1200# horse. This information was taken from one published study.

> If you haven't already done so,
> call your vet right away. The vet
> can take blood samples and run lab
> tests, as well as treat the horse
> with activated charcoal &
> other meds. Speed is of the
> essence!

> Rumensin damages muscle tissue.
> The heart is a muscle and can be
> permanently damaged if the horse
> survives the toxin. What kills the
> horse is muscle & tissure
> damage and heart failure.

> The signs and symptoms of
> poisoning depend on the dose
> consumed. Some horses show
> symptoms and die within 24 hours,
> while others can go as long as 2
> weeks before symptoms show up,
> depending on the dose and whether
> it was fed all at once or over
> several feedings.

> "The clinical signs of
> toxicity included partial to
> complete anorexia, colicky pain,
> sweating and tachycardia,
> uneasiness, polyuria, progressive
> ataxia, recumbency with frequent
> attempts to rise and thrashing of
> the limbs followed by death."

> The above information is to give
> you a rough idea of what you are
> dealing with & was taken from
> online information I skimmed. I do
> not have any experience with this
> subject.

> It looks like approx. 3.0 mg/kg of
> rumensin is about where the toxic
> level begins. So, a 1,200# horse,
> for example, weighs about 544
> kilograms. So if your horse has
> consumed around 1600 milligrams of
> rumensin, it is probably a lethal
> dose. That is not to say that a
> horse that has ingested a smaller
> amount of rumensin doesn't need
> veterinary care. Any horse that
> has consumed rumensin needs a vet
> immediately.

> I hope your horse is ok, and I do
> feel so sorry for your son. What a
> terrible lesson for a child.