Supplements/herbs that have proven bad for horses?

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Permalink Reply by laura day on July 13, 2009 at 3:51pm

I have heard from a gentleman, commissioned to test the active ingredients in probiotics, that less that 50% of those tested contained the amount of bacteria claimed on the label. We dont use them, but interesting none the less!

Permalink Reply by Patti at OMEGA ALPHA on July 28, 2009 at 11:24pm

I work for Omega Alpha Pharmaceuticals and we are the makers of Biotic 8.
We have taken some brands of probiotics and sent them to independant labs to be rated and find the amounts of viable bacteria poor, often shelf life must be taken into consideration, how many times the jar is open and exposed to oxygen and moisture. When this happens numbers can be reduced.
We try our best to educate product users to read labels and understand what are acceptable amounts of ingredients to make any difference to a horses health.
My only take away message here is never buy any probiotic in a liquid state as the bacteria will die off very quickly as soon as they consume their food source or they die off in their own waste.
Biotic 8 is in a suspended state to come to life in the body and we have carriers to navigate through the acids in the stomach to get the bacteria to the hind gut in tact and populate. Many time if you see our product on a store shelf you will see the container sucked in on the sides. This is because we put in oxygen scavengers and these go to work once the induction seal is done causing the sides to indent like a vacume seal to protect the bacteria and enzymes. I don't think companies really set out to intentionally make inferior products it often comes down to lack of knowledge. Always research a company and their longevity in the industry. At Omega Alpha we try to be a no BS company, We have a whole educational divison whose sole purpose is to educate consumers of our human, equine and pet .lines. Please take the time to visit our site at www.OmegaAlpha.ca We try to be helpful and have a biomedical engineer as the owner and fomulator for the company. We are all about the science.
I will check back to this group from time to time.

Permalink Reply by Ann Hatfield on July 17, 2009 at 1:29am

Does anyone know what the compounded medication was that was given to the polo ponies who died? It evidently had way more selinium in it than was called for, but what was it and why were so many ponies on it?