What is slaframine poisoning in horses?
Mechanical or chemical irritation results from horses grazing on plants that have sharp awns, spines, burs or substances that cause irritation (1). The irritation can lead to excessive salivation with drooling or frothy saliva, or oral ulcers.
What is r leguminicola?
R. leguminicola is a common fungal pathogen of red clover (Trifolium pratense) and causes a syndrome known as black patch disease in the plant. Ingestion of clover hay containing slaframine causes salivary episodes that last from several hours to over 3 days in ruminants and horses.
What causes a cow to slobber?
Animals that ingest pasture or hay contaminated with slaframine often develop excessive saliva production, or “slobbering.” Clinical signs can appear as soon as one hour after eating affected forage and can include frequent urination, diarrhea, tear shed- ding, and feed refusal. Cattle may bloat.
Why do horses drool when they eat clover?
The fungus produces a toxin called slaframine that stimulates the salivary glands of horses causing them to drool – sometimes in alarming quantities. If the fungus is growing on red clover that is baled for hay, it will persist and can cause horses to drool when they consume the hay.
Why do horses foam at the mouth?
Horses produce a lot of saliva when eating or drinking. The saliva helps their food to digest, but it can also result in foam around the mouth. This foam is normal and harmless; a sign that your horse is functioning properly.
How do you treat drooling in horses?
Are there solutions for eliminating the “slobbers?” To remedy the situation, you can attempt to reduce the clover concentration in the pasture by overseeding with grasses and practicing good management practices, including fertilizing, resting, and rotating your pastures.
What is timber tongue?
Timber tongue (actinobacillosis) is a common disease of cattle caused by bacteria that leads to the tongue becoming swollen, rigid and tough like a piece of wood.
What happens if a horse eats too much clover?
Symptoms of liver failure due to alsike clover consumption include loss of appetite, weight loss, depression, jaundice, colic and death. It goes without saying that if you observe any of these changes in your horse, contact a veterinarian immediately because liver failure is often fatal.
How long do horse slobbers last?
The fungus produces the mycotoxin slaframine which causes the slobbers. It can be present on both pasture and in stored dry hay. The fungus persists on infected fields from year to year. Slaframine will persist in stored hay for 10 months or more; though its biological activity decreases.
Can you ride a horse without a bit?
Yes, it is entirely possible to train a horse to be ridden without a bit right from the early days of its training. If you ride your horse at home, out on the trail, or at very small shows where there are no rules regarding bits, and you feel safe with your horse in a bitless bridle, you don’t need a bit.
How does slaframine work in the cholinergic nervous system?
Slaframine is a parasympathomimetic and acts on the cholinergic nervous system. Bioactivation of slaframine in the liver to an active metabolite results in clinical symptoms, most notably salivation. The action of active metabolite involves muscarinic receptors.
What happens to your body when you take slaframine?
Slaframine affects the salivary and pancreas exocrine glands, causing viscous salivation and an increase in digestive enzymes, respectively. Reduced feed intake, decreased milk production, and decreased body weight are probably linked to loss of fluids.
What happens if you eat clover with slaframine?
R. leguminicola is a common fungal pathogen of red clover (Trifolium pratense) and causes a syndrome known as black patch disease in the plant. Ingestion of clover hay containing slaframine causes salivary episodes that last from several hours to over 3 days in ruminants and horses.
How can slaframine be harmful to a horse?
Slaframine toxicity in horses is recognized mainly by excessive salivation after they have consumed hay, silage or forage containing clover infected by Rhizoctonia leguminicola.