Yeah, we're going to talk about horses peeing for a hot minute. This blog dives down into the deep, gritty underworld of horse stuff. It's just who I am.
 |
| possibly the most judgmental creature on the face of the earth |
For the past week or two, the stall cleaners and myself have noticed an increase in the amount of WET in Opie's stall. He's always been a piglet, but it's been more along the lines of a gross gelding that likes to weave a lot so everything gets walked around.
That alone didn't really make me raise any eyebrows, but when I unloaded him at our show over the weekend the second he cleared the ramp he parked and started peeing.
And peeing.
And peeing.
It was like that part in the first Austin Powers movie:
 |
| you're welcome for this |
The pee was almost clear colored, and once he was done he went about his life normally. Except during the time we were there--from around nine in the morning to maybe two in the afternoon--he must have peed at least six or seven times. Only one of those times was a normal length pee. The rest of the time he'd pee just a short stream while he was eating his hay and not seem to think twice about it.
It certainly explained the wet stall, but I'm not sure why he's peeing so much. Obviously as I was sitting there twiddling my thumbs thinking up worst case scenario (My horse has Pee Cancer!), I went to
My options were as follows:
- Pee Cancer. Duh.
- Kidney failure.
- Diabetes. Probably from the large amount of candy he gets fed on the daily.
- An ulcer that gets triggered by life itself and the pain can only be released by peeing.
- Eating too much high moisture grass, which there is zero possibility of because it hasn't rained here in ten thousand years.
- He's in heat. Okay...I can probably rule this one out pretty quickly.
- Boys are gross and pee a lot.
Now you all know I love throwing money at vets for my horses weird ailments. Nothing normal is ever wrong with them after all. But before I put the call in for the vet to draw blood and examine Opie's man bits, have any of you ever experienced this?
The pee doesn't have a funky smell to it, and it's not a weird color. He drinks solidly, but he's not sucking down bucket after bucket. No temp, and nothing else seems the least bit off with him. Tomorrow I'm going to snap on the latex and go digging with Castile soap to see if maybe he's just got a giant bean in there?
The pee doesn't have a funky smell to it, and it's not a weird color. He drinks solidly, but he's not sucking down bucket after bucket. No temp, and nothing else seems the least bit off with him. Tomorrow I'm going to snap on the latex and go digging with Castile soap to see if maybe he's just got a giant bean in there?
Is he getting more electrolytes suddenly, or had a salt block or new mineral supplement recently?
ReplyDeleteHmm, the BM did put one of those Himalayan salt licks out in the paddock right about the time this started...
DeleteI have heard of the himalayan salt doing strange things to some horses, may be it.
DeleteInteresting! She put that out there right around the same time he was almost done with the plain mineral block in his stall (which is now gone) so maybe he's been going to town on that since the one in his stall hasn't been replaced yet.
DeleteI used to take care of a gelding who started to go to town on his mineral blocks, like crazy fast consumption - finished a whole one by himself in days. Then came the excessive urination - quantity and duration of peeing. In his case it was the early signs of metabolic issues... not Cushings but IR / diabetic. This ECIR group is a great resource for veterinarian sourced info if you feel like venturing down that rabbit hole.
DeleteThat's interesting! Does any particular surface (like shavings etc) cue the peeing? This is maybe a TMI from Apollo's life, but he has pink skin on his...sheath... etc and he gets huge beans all the time. Henry barely gets a bean for his yearly cleaning. So maybe if Opie has pink skin he might have bean issues too? As long as he seems healthy otherwise I wouldn't think it would be a bit concern... but maybe worth a (hopefully cheaper) vet phone call. Silver lining - if you ever need a urine sample... easy peasy!
ReplyDeleteHe's a free wheeling peer! ;) He doesn't seem to care if he's in his stall or on the grass. He's got dark grey man bits so no pink to worry about there.
DeleteHuh, that is definitely weird. Having owned mare all my life, I am of zero help. My barn kitty started peeing a lot once but those were crystals in his urine (easily cleared with meds) and that's a feline thing obviously. My old mare started peeing a lot when she was diagnosed with Cushings.
ReplyDelete...
See, I am no help. Fingers crossed for a bean (this is why I own mares hahaha!) and I am ruling out Pee Cancer for you.
I saw Cushings in my search as well but it seems like he'd be too young for it? And he's not really showing any signs. I'll add it to my possibilities list anyway.
DeleteYeah, I highly doubt it, but who knows?? It is a simple blood test. And generally you are going to see the long hair that won't shed along with it.
DeletePee Cancer 😂
ReplyDeleteFor real though, my first thought would be sales or electrolytes also. But it's also hot and he should be sweating a lot.
Is there a nearby water trough filled with apple juice perhaps? And he's doing keg stands with his pasture bros daily?
Oh he sweats plenty! No electrolytes because he refuses to eat them. Keg stands 10/10 a plausible reason.
DeleteI'm no help, but I can comiserate. Levi has recently decided peeing is a thing he should do whenever he's upset. Like normal horses sh*t themselves when scared. Levi has decided peeing is a better stress reliever. I went on a 2 hour trail ride and he peed 6 times. Eugene leaves him? Pee time. We're at a scary new arena standing next to the poor ring steward who was not expecting this? Pee time. Everything is pee time. But I'm not calling the vet because I cannot imagine how they could diagnose anything. I think I'd just get charged a farm call for crazy horse owneritis.
ReplyDeleteThis is so funny because not that long ago my farrier was telling me how one of her horses does the same thing! I was like, I've never heard of such insanity in my life, but apparently there's more than one pee tweaker out there. :P
DeleteDoc did this recently, but we attributed it to the horses switching to night turnout and eating more/getting more moisture in their grass. Seems to have stopped now.. Maybe wait it out a few weeks and see?
ReplyDeleteI don't think there's an ounce of moisture in our grass right now unless it's coming from the ten trillion percent humidity. His stall seemed less wet this morning after I posted this (of course!) so I'm going to just keep an eye on it for now.
DeleteWait! Ulcers and pee? This makes so much sense... Bast used to pee ALL THE TIME.
ReplyDeleteHopefully it's just great? Clover? He's taken up drinking? Have you added electrolytes?
I found the ulcer theory on COTH as I never would have thought of it on my own!
DeleteDidn't you know ulcers cause every ailment in horsey history?! lol
DeleteJustice would just pee wherever he was standing when he needed to go, which we all chalked up to Gross Gelding. (As did the rest of the horses in his herd. You could SEE the side-eye when they were all chowing down at the trough and he let loose.) But it was never an abnormal amount that I recall.
ReplyDeleteBoys are seriously the worst sometimes.
DeleteI have a friend that had an OTTB that did all those short little pees when his ulcers were bothering him. As soon as those were under control it stopped
ReplyDeleteI'm going to give him a round of meds for two weeks and see if it does anything. It certainly isn't going to hurt him any to try.
DeleteHe could have a slight metabolic thing happening. Badger was taking excessively long pee breaks too, and it turned out that he had some kind of metabolic thing going on. But he was also very overweight, so that made sense. I doubt that's what's happening with your horse since he's an appropriate weight and all. I would bet that most likely he's just drinking a bit more since it's been so hot, and peeing accordingly. Or maybe he's a nervous peer?
ReplyDeleteIt really probably is nothing more exciting than drinking more than usual. That would be so nice lol
DeleteI have nothing fruitful to add, but do have to say the manner you listed the options made me giggle a whole lot. Hopefully it's nothing significant and he's just got the most efficient filtration system ever?
ReplyDeleteTo be fair to him, I guess I pee about a thousand times a day when I drink more during the heat too. ;)
Deleteim amazed ive been in horses my whole life and theres still shit that i've just straight up never heard of
ReplyDeletenothing helpful to add. the ulcer idea is interesting.
I honestly thought the ulcer thing was a little strange, but I guess I can see where that could be a thing.
Deleteugh charlie's right there with opie on the pee train (nasty...). fun fact: i can't even untack him in the aisle bc he will without a doubt just pee everywhere. on everything. immediately. and the barn staff kinda hate me and insist that i keep them stocked with stall dry and pine pellets to bolster his stall's bedding.... it's a thing, i guess...
ReplyDeleteBobby was all about the aisle pee, and then he'd stand there and look super offended that someone had peed in his personal space. Spoiler alert, dude: it was you!
DeleteI have nothing useful to add, except this all made me giggle. Horses are ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteCan't we go just a few months without there being SOMETHING?!
DeleteMikey did that a couple times... We kind of chocked it up as a UTI and gave him some SMZs. He was fine I guess?
ReplyDeleteNow I need to go consult Dr Google about that because that wasn't on my original list. Although a UTI is basically Pee Cancer by another name.
DeleteDude. Horses are so weird. That is all.
ReplyDeleteNo greater truth has ever been spoken.
DeleteApp was a super wet stall keeper too, he never had pee cancer. I think he is testing your resolve and dedication. Horses, just another way to make us crazy.
ReplyDeleteLOL that's honestly probably all that's going on here.
DeleteI also have an excessive pee-er! I think part of it for Opie is probably nerves. He is young, and isn't quite experienced at life yet. As long as the pee is clear, I wouldn't worry too much. A blood panel might give you peace of mind but it's likely just that he pees ... a lot.
ReplyDeleteIt just seemed weird that it come on in the past couple of weeks when he's been showing steadily since May. But it was another brand new place for him and a longer trailer ride than he's used to so that might have set him off over the weekend.
DeleteConnor is a champion pee-er too. My BO made me buy extra bags of pellets when we weren't buying in bulk. We had all the panels and bloodwork on the planet done at the vet, and he was declared totally normal. FWIW, the other Castleberry Cob I've had was the same way, the BM of the college's barn actually banned him from being stalled it was so bad. And second, it's a LOT worse in the summer when he's drinking a lot. His stall is fairly normal in winter.
ReplyDeleteI think the poor stall cleaners might start a petition soon to get out of cleaning his stall. :P
DeleteUgh hopes its nothing serious, hope dude is just super hydrated
ReplyDelete