DAN: "Should I give my horse mineral oil
to keep her from getting colic?"
DR LYDIA GRAY: You look shocked.
I was shocked.
The short answer is no.
DAN: That's what I figured you were going to say.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yep, yep, and I'll tell you why.
So first, though, let me read a definition
I found of mineral oil, which is also
known as liquid petrolatum.
I mean, the name just sounds awful, right?
DAN: Mhm.
DR LYDIA GRAY: "A purified mixture
of semisolid hydrocarbons obtained
from petroleum, used as a base for ointments,
protective dressings, and soothing applications
to the skin.
Called also petroleum jelly."
DAN: Doesn't sound like something you really want to--
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
So there's no evidence that daily--
I don't know if she was intending daily-- regular,
let's call it, administration of mineral oil to horses orally,
having them ingest it, prevents colic.
And there's actually not a ton of evidence--
when your horse colics and the vet
comes out and administers mineral oil
by nasal, gastric, or stomach tube,
we're getting away from that.
And now we're still putting the tube in,
because the tube itself is diagnostic.
Is there fluid in there that needs to come out?
Because you know horses can't vomit.
DAN: Yes.
DR LYDIA GRAY: But we're putting water
in, we're putting saline in, electrolytes,
and we find that those agents, or just
water, softens impactions and gets things moving again much
better than mineral oil did.
DAN: OK, because I was going to say, I know commonly,
we've had horses colic.
That's usually used to be the standard protocol.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
We're moving away from that.
DAN: Learned something new.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah, yeah.
And it's a slow thing because it's been very traditional
for many years, but there's research now that says,
you know what?
There's better outcomes when we just put
water, or electrolyte--
salt water.
So there's a reason-- there's some bad things that happen
when you give them mineral oil.
Because it doesn't get digested or absorbed,
and it has no nutritive value.
It can actually prevent the absorption
of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, K.
So long-term daily or regular use
would prevent nutrient absorption.
It can also prevent absorption of medications.
DAN: So it would have an impact in another way.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Absolutely, and it makes sense
because it's used for certain fat-soluble toxins.
It can be given to block their absorption.
So it blocks the absorption of things, good and bad.
DAN: So if the horse has that through their digestive system,
not good.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
So and the other thing is there's more important, more
appropriate diet and management strategies that we can use,
because we know the proven risk factors for colic, like hay
changes, grain changes, abrupt changes in exercise
like stalling when they were used to being out,
or exercised a lot.
It's much better to focus on those
that we know that work than things
that are old wives' tales, or rumors,
or there's no proof behind.
And then the final thing I want to say
is that you never force mineral oil down a horse.
And they're not going to eat enough in their pan
to make a difference, and some people do get tempted-- well,
I'm going to take a big oral dosing syringe and put some in.
And that's a problem because if they aspirate it or get it
down the wrong pathway, they get it into their lungs,
it could be really serious, even fatal.
So never, never orally syringe your horse with mineral oil.
DAN: Let's not do that.
Well, we've done lots of episodes about colic before.
Like you said, there's also all these risk factors
and other ways we can help support them.
So we'll definitely put the links
in the description for you guys for those
so you can check all out-- all those resources for you.