No one examines their animal's poo and wee like a horse-owner, and we should, because the qualities of urine and manure can give us valuable information about our horse's health.
Normal wee is pale yellow to amber depending on hydration, it can be a little cloudy and foamy when it is first passed. The pH will be between 7.5 and 8.5. Horses usually produce significant volume.
Examples of Abnormal Horse Urine:
Blood in Urine (Hematuria)
Causes: Urinary tract infections, bladder stones (urolithiasis), kidney damage, or tumors. Poisoning from weeds such as mother of millions.
Symptoms: Red or brownish urine, straining to urinate, and discomfort.
Dark-Colored Urine
Causes: Rhabdomyolysis (tying-up syndrome), which involves muscle breakdown releasing myoglobin into the urine, or severe dehydration.
Symptoms: Very dark urine, muscle stiffness, and pain.
Frequent Urination (Pollakiuria)
Causes: Urinary tract infections, bladder stones, or irritation of the urinary tract.
Symptoms: Frequent, small amounts of urine, straining, and discomfort.
Mares in season will also frequently urinate. Usually associated with vaginal winking and behavioural changes. A season is totally normal and temporary.
Foamy Urine
Causes: High protein diet leading to excess mucus in the urine, or kidney issues. It is normal to be a little foamy.
Symptoms: Bubbly or foamy urine.
Cloudy Urine
Causes: Presence of calcium carbonate crystals, which can be normal, but persistent cloudiness can indicate too high calcium in the diet requiring the horse to excrete excess. It matters because we want to balance calcium against magnesium and phosphorous for optimum bone health. Excess calcium can compete with magnesium for absorption which can result in mag deficiency symptoms like spookiness, shying, girthiness and generalised anxiety.
Urinary tract infections or kidney issues.
Symptoms: Milky or cloudy appearance of urine.
Strong-Smelling Urine
Causes: High protein diet, dehydration, or urinary tract infections.
Symptoms: Strong ammonia smell, especially in concentrated urine.
Normal looking urine, but killing off grass. This is normally too much salt in the diet, or high nitrogen in the urine. High nitrogen can occur on heavily fertilised pastures (amongst other reasons).
Split stream in a gelding.
Causes: this is usually a bean, which is a build-up of waxy substance at the end of the penis blocking the flow. You can learn to quickly remove that with practice. Videos on how to do this are available on YouTube
Common Causes of Unusual Urine in Horses:
1. Dehydration
Lack of sufficient water intake can concentrate the urine, leading to darker color and stronger odor. If your horse is not drinking enough water, make a separate, or even third water source available. Horses might respond to changes in pH or temperature. You can change the pH in your water trough with a small amount of bicarb soda.
We have noticed that in winter our horses are reluctant to drink the water under the shelter that has frozen over the night, and prefer to drink out of a black garbage bin full of water that we put in the sun because the water is warmer. Studies show horses will drink over 30% more if the water is warmer.
Even when we have a dam in the paddock, we will generally have a separate tub with rain water from a tank.
2. Infections
Urinary tract infections are relatively rare. Other bacterial conditions can also cause changes in urine color and consistency. You might see some scalding of the back legs.
3. Diet and Medications
Certain foods, supplements, or medications can impact the horse's urine composition, resulting in variations, particularly in smell. Smelly wee is not necessarily a problem on its own. Look for other symptoms such as fever, going off feed, lethargy and document changes.
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