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White Muscle Disease, Vitamin E, Selenium Deficiency, Nutritional Myopathy in Foals

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White Muscle Disease associated with vitamin e/selenium deficiency is most common in foals under a month of age. Weakness and/or dysphagia are the major presenting symptoms in subacute disease; acute and fulminant disease can result in cardiovascular collapse and death within hours or days. Urine tests for hemoglobin might test positive due cross-reaction to myoglobin in the urine. Muscle enzymes are elevated.

Species affected: Equine

Symptoms: Anorexia (complete, partial); Arrhythmia; Ataxia (incoordination, staggering, falling); Back pain; Cyanosis; Diarrhoea; Difficulty in prehending or chewing food; Dullness, depression, lethargy, depressed, lethargic, listless; Dysmetria (hypermetria, hypometria); Dysphagia; Dyspnoea; Hypersalivation, frothing at the mouth; Fever; Forelimb lameness, stiffness; Forelimb pain; Generalized lameness, stiffness; Generalized weakness (paresis, paralysis); Swelling (mass) of head, face, ears, jaw, nose, nasal; Heart murmur; Haemoglobinuria or myoglobinuria; Hindlimb lameness, stiffness; Hindlimb pain; Hypothermia; Inability to open and or close jaw; Inability to stand, prostration; Hyperpnoea; Ingesta in nasal passage; Pain in chest, thorax, ribs, sternum; Pain in neck, cervical, throat; Paraparesis (weakness, paralysis) in both hind limbs; Proteinuria; Red, brown, pink urine; Reluctant to move; Stiffness or extended neck; Sudden death, found dead; Tachycardia; Tetraparesis (weakness, paralysis); Tongue weakness (paresis, paralysis); Trembling, shivering; Underweight (poor condition, thin, emaciated, unthriftiness, ill thrift); Weight loss;

Public health importance: Not applicable.

References

  1. Carr E.A., 2014, “Field Triage of the Neonatal Foal,” Veterinary Clinics of North America: Equine Practice; 30:283-300 [Web Reference]
  2. Naylor R., 2014, “Managing muscle disease in horses,” In Practice; 36:418-423 [Web Reference]
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