DefinitelyDressage.com

The vet and I were discussing options for treating Maia with an immune system booster. She only knows of one for equines — an injectable, and the name escapes me — but was going to look into what's available for small animals.

I have her on a probiotic, and her gut health is good — no problems with the in or out functions She's just prone to infections (pneumonia, mastitis 3x, etc) requiring loads of antibiotics.

Has anyone else encountered anything similar?

There are several immune system support supplements on the market--though I doubt most of them have any scientific backing--mostly just a mix of vitamins, herbs, and pro/pre-biotics. I have used smartk pack's immune supplement before. I don't know that it DID anything, but it also definitely didn't do anything bad and was easy to feed. Could be worth trying one.

Have you had her vitamin E level checked?

I used vitamin E on my horse with Cushings, it is touted that it boost the immune system.

I keep my non Cushings mare on it year round for preventative purposes. She was low when I bought her and I gave her Nano-E for many months to get her I the recommended range

Vitamin E and vitamin C and B6 which is usually injected. So C is the only vitamin with scientific evidence to back it up as an immune boost although its difficult to truly study because genetics is variable. Vitamin E is rich in antioxidants and helps the body fight early infection. B⁶ is usually given with B¹² because it helps the body absorb it. This supports red blood cell production which is an integral part of health. Erythrocytes are the cellular part of immune response forming little oxygen armed warriors to attack invading hemolytic infections . In other words the fighters in the trenches against inflammation.

So C, E and B⁶/B ¹² have actual science. All the herbal echinacea et al may or may not help.

If your horse has had repeated infections she might need a bit more than they get throughout normal feed.

Back in the Freeway days when I was working with UCD the internal medicine vet told me that there was no way to "boost the immune system" then added, "that said, I like flax". So Freeway got flax seed oil, the fancy kind that you store in the fridge.

To echo Hayburner, I've had great luck with Nano E. I gave it to Jet when I was showing him, gave me a bigger gas tank without making him hot. Again, this is a few years back but at the time I think NanoE was the only one proven to raise blood levels of Vit E, for what that's worth.

I wish I had a suggestion for you.

Thanks! I'll ask the vet about vitamin E and Nano E. She was talking about injecting [something] weekly while stripping Maia's teats, but immediately dismissed the idea, so I didn't ask for clarification.

OTOH, we do NOT need a bigger gas tank

QueIah' I am surprised that knowing Freeway came from a nutrition desert before you had him that your vet would not have at least considered lack of certain nutrients .

Perhaps the vet knew you were addressing nutrition already and meant the " herbal stuff" was not a boost

Chisamba wrote:QueIah' I am surprised that knowing Freeway came from a nutrition desert before you had him that your vet would not have at least considered lack of certain nutrients .

Perhaps the vet knew you were addressing nutrition already and meant the " herbal stuff" was not a boost

Sorry, I should clarify. By the time I took him to UCD he was tipping the scales at over 1200 lbs (getting the weight back was the easy part) and had the coat of a 6 year old stallion. Inspite of that, he was still snorting out copious amounts of snot. It was the diagnosis by UCD of the encysted abscesses in his lungs that put us on the very very long path to recovery. He was on metronidazole for 14 months total!

Heddylamar, when I bought my mare I had her Vit E level tested and she was low based on the recommendations of Cornell.

I initially used high doses of the Nano E to get her numbers up, after a good 9 months on Nano E and having her retested her numbers were up so I switched to an easier to administer Vit E from Smartpak.

Vets can inject Vit E in extremely low cases, luckily we were not that low. If you buy a supplement just make sure it is a natural form of Vit E.