Clear Labels for Monensin Use

Today my beloved little Welsh pony RE Song of the South (aka Alice) was laid to rest. I'd like to explain what happened.

Yesterday and today I had two of my ponies grazing my extensive driveway area. Late this afternoon I vaguely remembered my FIFO OH complaining that the ponies were on the lawn (in the house paddock). Remembering his whinge brought us to the diagnosis of my sick little pony.

Alice had been "missing" for a couple of hours today. That is, I hadn't visually seen her in that time. I had seen her little grazing-friend. They're very independent of each other, so I hadn't been alarmed. As I had been tossing up whether to show Alice this coming Sunday, I figured I'd find her and see if I could put in the effort to wash her (it being very warm and all).

I found her in my lean-to shed standing in the shade. She looked very lethargic and photo-sensitive. Her eyes looked like she was suffering from sinusitis. She was sweating around the muzzle and had tear tracts. Almost like she'd had an allergic reaction to something..... or, as I thought..... been bitten by a snake. She also looked slightly tipsy.

I took her to my tie up bay, and offered her some fresh water which she obsessively started to drink. I have not seen anything like that before. I rang the Vet and they headed out. At no time did I think she had colic.

I rang the lovely lady who was to be plaiting up my 2yo for tomorrow's show and cancelled. I explained what was happening, and she said it reminded her of someone. I rang them for their symptoms....all while I was waiting for the Vet. Alice kept drinking.

The Vet arrived and we did a few stats. Heartrate was doubled, Temp up 1.5 from "usual". Sweating was increasing and she was lifting each hoof in succession....like laminitis. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot, she was unco-ordinated, had stiff hocks and was wobbly in the hindquarters. The Vet didn't think snakebite, but perhaps virus + laminitis at the same time. Bloods were taken, pain relief administered, and off they went to get blood results and were coming back in 3 hours to check stats again.

I remembered what the OH had said about the ponies being in the house paddock. I checked my yard (for any weed-toxic thingies/snakes). I then checked my chookyard (gate was open). Alice had eaten anywhere between 10-15kilos of premium layer pellets All the water we'd let her drink had actually hastened her problem BUT I'd thought snakebite, and the Vet thought Virus (or perhaps snakebite) + laminitis.

I rang the Vet and explained about the chook pellets.

I got onto Google.

Chook pellets contain high amounts of chemicals toxic to horses. Especially MONENSIN. This is a cardiotoxin to horses. Alice had a pre-existing heart murmur from birth. The pellets caused an immediate onset of laminitis. She was "cooking" from the Inside, outwards.

Until we allowed her that access to the water (thinking snakebite), she had shown no colic signs. The 8ish litres of water she drank, swelled the chook pellets and made her violently colic.

She had a reaction to the toxins and I had to have her put to sleep.

I know this could so very simply have been avoided by keeping my chooks confined, or limiting my chooks self-feeder style feeding, or not allowing that front house-paddock gate to be open. I know all that.

WHY do domestically raised chickens need Monensin in their feed? How many Vets are diagnosing Monensin poisoning as "colic"? Are Stockfeed Manufacturers cleaning their factories between making Chicken Feed/Cattle Feed (also contains Monensin) and then making Horse Feeds? Why are feeds containing Monensin not tagged with a POISONS stamp/label?

Please help, by signing this petition, to stop this happening to any other horses/ponies.

I thank everyone for their thoughts and comments.