Enteroliths & Bezoars
Having just dealt with Urinary Calculi in buck goats…….
…….I got to thinking…….(always dangerous)…
Professor Dillamond’s experience reminded me of other mineralized build-ups in the various mammals I’ve known…
I fondly refer to them as gut-rocks.
Apparently there are an entire assortment of types and locations in animals (the people-kind too).
Florida seems to be an important culprit…
Maybe it’s the heat with the resulting sweating leading to chronic/constant semi-dehydration…
Or maybe it’s the minerals in the water…
Or maybe it’s because everybody eats more seafood on this sand-spit of a peninsula-state?
I don’t know.
Urinary tract stones usually affect the male mammals I have known much more dramatically than the female mammals………………..it’s a plumbing-thing…
You have to be careful not to over-mineralize a horse’s food.
(And then—historically Florida has left animals (and people too) deficient in selenium.)
They need minerals.
But don’t over-do it with horses………………because if you do, they can develop sizable enteroliths.
*****Photos Of Enteroliths*****
Because we feed alfalfa, I’m trying to circumvent the development of these horse-gut-rocks by giving them each a cup of apple cider vinegar a day with their feed in the morning………….(they get beer in their afternoon feed—also good for horses).
*****Maybe Apple Cider Vinegar Helps?*****
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As we’ve covered before, goats develop Bezoars in their digestive tract (I’ve started collecting them).
*****Bezoars Not Enteroliths(?)*****
Remember the remedial properties of a Bezoar from your Harry Potter lore?
They’re always good to keep on hand…………you just never know when you might need one.
*****Bezoar’s In Ancient Medicine(?)*****
Where chickens are concerned………….they need small rocks for their gizzards to work properly…….
But, here’s a list of the gut-rocks I’ve discovered…………………(I thought you’d never ask)…
~~Regurgitalith
~~Gastrolith
~~Bezoar
~~Gorochana
~~Enterolith
~~Urolith
Mammals can be a veritable internal rock quarry!!
I never knew………………….
Pascal…now we both know…
…….you can rest easy now…….
BTW—here’s a fun treatment for Gastric Phytobezoars………….(something I will probably never develop)
*****Coke~~~Not Just A Mixer For Mediocre Bourbon?*****
8 thoughts on “Enteroliths & Bezoars”
My kidney stones, hence my actual empathy for the Prof., which fortunately I passed because they were small, occurred when I was living in the Hernando Mtn. Range. Gall stones aren’t mineral, but they call them stones, so for this post they count. Have them too, again Fla.. Interesting that the Dr called them bird gravel. I have morphed into the human version of your animals maladies. I know I can count on you to throw me a massive pity party.
I’m up for any kind of party as long as there’s a keg involved. What is it about Florida and gut-rocks? Doc, I’m sure you’ve done your research, but I’ve never seen ANY mountains ANYWHERE in Florida.
(She says awaiting his response with bated breath.)
Err,uh, hyperbole. Anything that is part of the Central Fla. Ridge counts as a mountain in my book. It’s all there is. My house sat on a spur of the CFR. Hence, the Hernando Mtn. Range . Just like the Grand Tetons are part of the Rockies.
I don’t count a six inch step-up of mounded sand a mountain range.
Have you checked out your clarification/definition on the Glossary page yet?
I was 38-42 ft. above sea level. Also safe if that volcano in the Azores finally collapses and sends a massive tsunami at Fla. South of Tampa will be covered, you are probably protected by the Ridge. I should write my own encyclopedia and dictionary, so my definitions are accurate. Besides you and I both know that in the “getting in the last word contest”, we would both be found dead over the keyboard while fighting an even battle.
I think we are thirty-two miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico. I think we are also thirty-five feet above sea level. It depends on the height of the tsunami if we would be okay. We are keeping our eye on the west coast of Africa right now, watching for any hurricane development………sigh.
My bad. Poor research and reading comprehension on my part. My house was roughly 150 ft above sea level. Here is a Fla. mountain,”Sugarloaf Mountain is the fifth-highest named point in the U.S. state of Florida”. It’s by Clermont.
Word…