Re: RC: Re: Starved horses

[Tivers@aol.com]

In a message dated 3/29/99 9:49:45 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
suendavid@worldnet.att.net writes:

<< That's what makes me wonder what was different about the two starvation
 cases I saw in which the cartilage was totally gone, and I mean gone.  No
 integrity left there at all.  I think both of these were horses that had
 been on a essentially-straw ration for months, maybe years before they got
 to this point.  It's certainly a different response from horses like Lari's
 that had total lack of energy, protein and everything else for a relatively
 short period of time (though I'm sure it didn't seem that way to the horse),
 but then were able to totally repair the system to its former condition.
 
 One thing I remember from human nutrition courses---when humans reach
 extreme starvation, the body no longer has sufficient protein enzymes to be
 able to digest a sudden meal, and the food goes right on through undigested.
 I can't remember for sure, but I think the body requires small amounts of
 simple carbs for awhile to supply the fuel to rebuild enzymes to start true
 digestion again.  Don't think anyone has looked at that in horses yet.
 
 Susan G >>


Right. In humans, you start with chicken soup--and IV glucose/vit/min/salts.
Fluids, energy, and the basics. The body requires glucose to stay alive. It
has to come from somewhere, so protein is catablized after all the avaiable
glucose fuels are gone--sometimes before the stored fat is gone. It is
interesting that bone strength is an early victim of catabolism--studies of
bulemic gymnasts. 

But cartilage loss, aside from fluids and lubricants, has to be at the tail
end of the cycle--not enough circulation there to get much done, especially in
joints with no fluid. 

By the way, on another subject, a piece by Denise Steffanus just appeared in
the Thoroughbred Times concerning a study by Robert Bowker et al that says,
"Leave the frog alone." Says there is a reason the frog grows back quickly
after a shoer cuts it away--it cushions hoof impact and spares the navicular
bone, among other important organs. He says the lip that grows along the frog
is meant to catch dirt and provide a mechanical hemodynamic "squish".  I find
this interesting in the extreme.

ti


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