Ridecamp: Re: [RC] ulcers symptoms/endoscopy

. I used to feed psyllium, but
> doesn't the beet pulp remove the sand? (Susan?)

No one's looked at it as a clinical study, but IMO, it does, at least as
well as psyllium does.  Both are soluble fibers, the gel-that-picks-up-sand
theory doesn't work for either, and beet pulp can be fed in larger amounts
for less money, anyway.  Pretty much any mechanism that encourages colonic
peristalsis will move sand, so forage, exercise and water all fall under
that category.

Do I also wondered
> about enteroliths, and how to check for them.

Sometimes a vet can feel them via palpation, or you'll find them in the poop
(heart attack time).  Abdominal radiographs can usually pick them up, but
the little mobile units most vets carry aren't powerful enough to penetrate
the abdomen---you have to take them in to a referral practice for a larger
unit.  However, especially if the enteroliths are fairly small, you can also
get false negatives---nothing showing up when they really are in there, the
gut just happened to be lying funny or masked by something else.  If
enteroliths are strongly suspected, they usually wait a bit and then take
another look.

Susan G



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