Horses and Bladder Infections

Horses rarely get urinary tract infections when compared to other animals. Bladder infections are a form of urinary tract infections, which is when bacteria cause painful urination in horses. These infections can be dangerous if left untreated as they can travel up the tract to the kidneys and cause kidney infections. Kidney infections can be life threatening to horses. These infections are rare in horses, and often indicate other health problems.

  1. Infection Type

    • The most common form of bacteria found to cause an infection of the lower urinary tract in horses is E. coli. Several others that can be found are Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella sp., Staphylococcus sp., Enterobacter sp., Corynebacterium sp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Also, a fungus called Candida sp is known to cause bladder infection in young horses that have been treated with intense antibiotics. While rare, parasitic infestation has also occurred in the bladder of horses.

    Affected Animals

    • Female horses and younger horses are more likely to get a bladder infection than older male horses. This is due the fact that female and young horses have a shorter distance from the skin to the bladder. Normally, a bladder infection in a horse is a secondary infection and either the skin or intestinal tract has been infected prior to it moving to the urinary tract.

    Symptoms and Diagnosis

    • The symptoms of a bladder infection in a horse will be similar to those experienced by a human. If experiencing pain, a horse may hump its back. There also may be changes to urination, such as dripping and irritated skin from dripping, squirting and more frequent attempts to urinate. Blood in the urine is also a cause for concern. A veterinarian should be the one to diagnosis a bladder infection. The test that will be most likely used is a culture of urine obtained from a catheter, to avoid any possible contamination of a skin infection. If an infection is found the bacteria can be identified microscopically.

    Treatment

    • Antibiotics are used to treat bladder infection. Penicillin has been shown to be slightly less effective against common infection types so another type of antibiotic may be prescribed by a doctor.

    Related Issues

    • There may be stones in the urinary tract; these may be the cause or result of infection. Also, a paralyzed bladder may produce similar symptoms as a bladder infection. This condition often causes infections as the urine is not forced from the bladder due to a loss of muscular control. This condition is often caused by a disease of the nervous system.