Getting diarrhea under control-

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on November 13, 2009 at 7:21pm

Your mare is so pretty... she matches your coffee cup. I am so proud of you for taking a sample to the vet..... I was thinking a tumor or a blockage that was causing the poop to be runny. I only have ever seen diarrhia when Oliver, my colt was a wee baby..... ugh, but I'm at a loss now.... My horse other had a loose stool, not diarhia, maybe an ulcer, and I gave him Neighlox... it worked really good.... he also gets probiotics and psyllium... I hope she is okay....

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Grant on November 13, 2009 at 7:43pm

Thanks so much Jennifer! I've tried giving her the FastTrack probiotics as well, but that hasn't helped either. In my research, I read of horses who've had diarrhea for years! ugh! I would never let it go that long--how awful!

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Permalink Reply by Geoffrey Pannell on November 13, 2009 at 11:13pm

Hi Jen, Why dont you try getting her off the green grass for a couple of days, and just feeding her chaff and bran during that time. Looks like the grass is pretty lush. Cheers Geoffrey

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Permalink Reply by Lois Keays on November 14, 2009 at 7:59am

Hello Jennifer
Often times a horse who exhibits periodic diarrhia is suffering from ulcers. A horse can ulcer in a very short time under stress...feeding, environmental, training changes. Try ranitidine first. This is the active ingredient in Zantac, but a liquid form is available for horses. The next and most effective treatment is omeprazole. This is more costly, but very, very effective. As a thoroughbred breeder and owner, we are now much more enlightened as to the prevelance of ulcers in horses. Try not to change feed programs too much. Changing a feed causes the gut flora to be completely flushed and then rebuilt...particularly difficult on a horse with a tendency to ulcer. Though commonly considered a 'treat', feeding bran periodically is very harsh on the hind gut of a horse.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Jollymour on November 14, 2009 at 10:25am

Hi, Jennifer:

This can be a difficult issue to resolve. I have a mare who has this problem from time to time, but now I usually can sort out what cauasd it (BTW, I've known geldings to have the problem too). When I first got this mare she had this problem, and I tried all kinds of wormers, antibiotics, probiiotics, and feed management changes to try to deal with it. Nothing worked. I had extensive discussions with my equine specialist vets about it, who felt that some horses just seem to have it (ideopathic) and that extensive testing does not usually result in any kind of positive findings (I've now heard that from a number of experts).

When you say that your mare has more trouble when she is "fed too hot" I'm unsure of what you mean. Could you expand on that? Clearly she has a touchy gut, and that's your first clue.

My mare does best on plain hay, which can be grass, alfalfa, or grass alfalfa mix (ironically, she often does best on staright alfalfa), BUT, and this is a big BUT, I hve to ensure that (a) the fields have not eben fertilized with either cow manure or poultry manure; and (b) that the fields are not used post-season by geese! If there is contamination with with either bovine or bird manure I will have endless problems. I once had her colic and develop projectile diarrhea at a regional champoinship because I made the mistake of grazing her in the infield at the venue. Unknown to me the field was used extensively by Canada geese during their migrations, and I had a problem within hours of the grazing. I figured it out by the end of the first day, kept her on hay through the rest of the competition, and she was back to normal by the middle of day 2. Besides hay she receives ONLY Total Equine, a stand-alone vitamin/mineral pre-mix designed by Shannon Dueck.

While I agree with Lois that horses with periodic diarrhea can be ulcer candidates, that usually does not occur spontaneously in pastured pleasure horses with the exception of those who are fed a predominance of concentrates and insufficient roughage. It can happen, but treating your horse with omeprazole in the absence of other indications is likely unnecesary and very expensive. However, Lois comments about changing feed etc. are right on the money, and should be taken to heart.

Some mares will develop diarrhea during estrus, but it doesn't sound like your horse has a hard time with that. Regumate can mitigate those issues, but again, it's a very expensive proposition for something which is not likely the problem.

When you say you've wormed carefully I wonder, again, exactly what you mean. I think you should start by taking a stool sample to your vet for analysis, as I have seen horses who have been "regularly" wormed and who are just loaded with parasites, and they have had difficulties with diarrhea. I had a client whose horse had this problem - she shipped the horse to a veterinary hospital 15 hours away, had a total workup done, and the diagnosis was strongyle infestation. They used the Panacur Powerpak for a week (yes, 7 days of contiunous de-worming with Panacur) and the problem was resolved. You may need to consider this as well..

Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Grant on November 15, 2009 at 1:21pm

Thank you so much for all the great advice and ideas.

I should also mention that she is in a small 2 acre field that isn't changed or harboring anything abnormal. Its more like a really large turn out.

Also--sometimes her diarrhea is projectile and I can actually hear the rumblings in her gut when standing next to her.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Jollymour on November 15, 2009 at 3:07pm

Hi, Jennifer:

Do you pick up the manure in her field? If not, I really would suspect parasite infestation first and foremost. If that's the case you will need the help of your veterinarian to de-worm her properly without subjecting her to an overdose. She will likely need de-worming at full adult horse strength for several days in a row.

What kind of hay do you feed, what's the protein content, how often does the hay change, what cutting is it from, etc...?

If she is a pleasure horse (and I include competition horses for most adult amateurs in the definition) she does not need concentrates at all if the hay is reasonably good quality. Most pleasure riders and A/A's overfeed concentrates to an alarming degree, when they should feed free-choice roughage instead. She does not look overweight in the picture you provided, but if she's getting many of her calories from concentrates rather than from roughage that's the first thing you should change. Not only is it wasteful, both financially and in terms of what her body can/should use, it's harder on her digestive system. Horses evolved eating roughage, and if at all possible you should try to meet her caloric needs with roughage alone.

I hope this helps!

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Grant on November 15, 2009 at 9:34pm

Thank you everyone for your time and advice here. I greatly appreciate it.

I'm crossing my fingers because when I checked today, she has gone without a spell for at least the last 24-48 hours. And I didn't hear any rumbling in her belly either!

I wormed her with the proper wormer about 2-3 weeks ago, so maybe that's how long it took to rid her of any parasites? (i'm crossing my fingers)

I have learned that I should be removing her manure from her field--out of all the possible sources, it makes the most sense. Guess my 2 sons and I have our chores lined up for next weekend. :)

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Permalink Reply by Deitra Bardon on November 16, 2009 at 4:31pm

I live in Florida and my gelding gets diarrhea. here i is usually sand in his intestines. 1 cup metamucil and 1 cup oil added to his feed 2 time a day until resolved. Usually a week.
Good luck.

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