Knottenbelt: Fecal Blood Test Opening Diagnostic Doors

Learn how one veterinarian believes the simple test can help improve diagnostics for a number of horse health conditions.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Horse owners and veterinarians can already garner substantial information from a horse’s poop—ranging from whether he’s dehydrated to if he needs his teeth floated. But one researcher says veterinarians can get even more diagnostic cues from manure and even detect potentially serious ailments using a tool that alerts the user to the presence of blood in the feces.

At the 2014 Italian Society for Equine Veterinarians International Congress, held in Milan, Italy, in February, Derek Knottenbelt, OBE, BVM &S, DVM, Dipl. ECEIM, MRCVS, delivered two presentations: one focused on diagnosing intestinal disease in horses and the other on gastrointestinal neoplasia (tumors). During those lectures, he introduced attendees to his and his colleagues' experience using a commercially available fecal blood test (made by SUCCEED). He later caught up with The Horse to discuss what he learned.

Knottenbelt, a professor of equine medicine at the University of Liverpool, England, and large animal clinical sciences and public health at the University of Glasgow, in Scotland, said the stall-side test quickly and simply identifies the presence of blood in a fresh pile of horse feces.

"But I think, much more importantly, it does indicate to us that there are issues that we, so far, do not diagnose clinically; this mostly involves the area of the gut that we can't get at by any other satisfactory means," he explained

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Erica Larson, former news editor for The Horse, holds a degree in journalism with an external specialty in equine science from Michigan State University in East Lansing. A Massachusetts native, she grew up in the saddle and has dabbled in a variety of disciplines including foxhunting, saddle seat, and mounted games. Currently, Erica competes in eventing with her OTTB, Dorado.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

How much time do you usually spend grooming your horse?
439 votes · 439 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!