Anemia refers to a low volume of blood. This condition can occur in a horse suddenly (acute anemia) or over a long period of time (chronic anemia). It is often a symptom that points to a serious underlying condition. If your horse exibhits feebleness, loss of energy, loss of appetite, pale mucous membranes, a coat that has lost its shine, or heart murmur, the horse might have anemia. If your horse has acute anemia, then the cause is rapid blood loss. This probably means that the horse has suffered a serious injury or has had a blood vessel burst. The cause of chronic anemia can be much more difficult to pinpoint. It could be the result of anything from cancer to serious nutritional issues, or it could stem from chronic kidney disease or stomach ulcers.
To find out if your horse has anemia, all a veterinarian has to do is conduct a blood test to discern the packed cell volume (PCV). To find out what caused the anemia is another matter altogether. Now if the anemia has resulted from a hemorrhage, then this is an urgent condition that has to be remedied as soon as possible. It could take a surgery to stop the blood loss. After the operation, IV fluids can help the horse's circulatory system to recover. Your horse will then need a great deal of rest.
If you need to treat chronic anemia, then you have to find the cause; treating the cause is probably the way to stop the chronic anemia. Your veterinarian may also tell you to feed iron supplements and B12 vitamins to your horse.
Anemia in a newly born foal looks different and requires different treatment. This anemia is a severe blood condition known as neonatal isoerythrolysis (NI). Symptoms can appear within days after birth. The cause of the anemia is incongruity of the mare's blood type with the foal's blood type. This is a rare occurrence, as 1 to 2 percent of horse foals ever have this condition. The foal will have the father's blood type, and the mother will be sensitized to this blood type, meaning that the mare produces antibodies to the foal's blood. When the foal first drinks milk from the mare, the foal will be drinking these antibodies, which eat away at the foal's blood cells, resulting in anemia. A mare could produce these antibodies if she has had a whole blood transfusion before, or if she had a certain problems in an earlier pregnancy.
If a foal has this anemia, then you could see fatigue, a PVC of less than 20 percent, a fast heart rate, yellowed eyes and mucous membranes, as well as dark urine. If it appears that a foal younger than 4 days has this condition, then it is vital to act quickly. Certain tests could take a while. If you are able to discover this condition within the first 24 hours of the foal's birth, then keep it from nursing its mother. The foal will need milk fed through a nasogastric tube. The antibodies in the mother's milk should be mostly gone after a full day has passed, so the foal can nurse after the first 24 hours. The foal may be put on an IV to help the circulatory system and kidneys. The IV fluids may also provide some oxygen as well as antibiotics. In serious cases of anemia, a foal may need a blood transfusion.
Prevention is the best cure in this case. If your mare has had a blood transfusion or given birth to a foal with NI before, then you do not want any subsequent foals to nurse her in the first 24 to 48 hours after birth. Arabians and Thoroughbreds are more likely to have these genetic problems.
It is also important to find a veterinarian that you can trust so you can find the answers you need in an emergency. If you have any questions about your horse's health, then do not hesitate to contact your local veterinarian immediately.