readytorodeo - 2014-05-08 9:23 PM

Diagnosing kidney stones in horses is quite rare and there is not much information about treating options in the internet I learned recently. Most often older geldings are suffering from them but we came across with 5 year old standardbred mare who was diagnosed with kidney stones.
Her treatment was little scoop of methionine on her evening oats. It seemed to us that she was not getting any better so I started asking around and got quite different answers depending on who I asked. This mare did not drink much at all when she came and we treated her for ulcers with a product called Nutrient Buffer and she started drinking better. But problem with blood on a urea existed. Every time after jogging her she would urinate right after taking the harness off and urea was almost totally red. I was very concerned about this.

I have read that only way to treat these stones would be surgical but many people from Finland disagree. Some people said that mares could not have kidney stones and I was told that it was most likely urinary infection. According to the owner this mare was treated with sulfa for a long time but nothing happened.

My friends in Finland all told me to treat her with ammonium chloride, it supposedly dilutes the stones in one week and 10 day treatment should fix the problem. I was told to give her one tablespoon (5 grams) twice a day for ten days. Some said that C-vitamin would we helpful with it.

I was also told that you could make sure that your horse really has kidney stones by collecting some urea into a clear plastic cup and letting it stand over night. If there is noticeable "crystals" in the bottom your horse has them. To be absolutely sure veterinarian can send a sample to a lab to be analyzed.

After searching on the internet I found several places from where you could order ammonium chloride powder but I am not sure if it is exactly the same as the powder sold in Finland. I also found out that ammonium chloride is commonly given to goats to prevent kidney stones. You can even buy them by the bag to last long time.

Ammonium chloride is also available as a tablet with prescription for cats and dogs under the name Uroeze. There is two strength in those tablets, 200mg and 400mg. You can get them from 1800Petmeds.com if you have prescription.

I learned that you can treat cats with a mixture of ammonium chloride, methionine and chalk powder by mixing everything in equal amounts. This is common treatment in Finland for cats.

I was also reading that someone treated Arabian horse with apple cider vinegar and supposedly it did dilute the kidney stones. So you might want to look into that.

This mare went back to her owners and he is getting her some ammonium chloride, I will update my story if I hear how it worked on her case. If anyone has other suggestions or has been treating their horses for kidney stones I'd love to read about your comments!