Persistant Diarrhea in Young Stallion ----> FINAL UPDATE ON 9/24/2009!!!

[Little Wolf Ranch]

UPDATE AS OF 9/24/2009:

After being on Sand Clear since last friday (the 18th) WE NOW HAVE SOLID HARD STOOLS!!!

I want to GIVE A BIG THANK YOU to everyone - his coat looks great, he has already started to gain weight and we are thrilled and he seems so much happier!

PS: I don't know if this is possible but maybe we could put this on the Best Of Horse Forum? Maybe it would help another person with the actual pictures, descriptions and everyone's great suggestions!

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Okay. . .so before I go into detail about the situation, here is some information about the horse I am talking about

• Name: Ranger
• Age: 2007 Model
• Height: 33.5"
• Coat Condition: Shiny and healthy
• Eyes: Clear, moist and bright
• Body Condition: Slightly underweight (part of the current problem)
• Energy: Playful, jumps logs, comes running when called
• Appetite: VERY good - begs for his grain, licks it up and begs for more - eats all his hay as well
• Hydration: Very good - no signs of any dehydration
• Current Amount Of Grain: 4 cups daily (2 cups AM & 2 cups PM)
• History: I am his second owner - breeder reports he has had this "diarrhea" since he was young --- found out he had Strongyles (and had given it to his pasture mate/lover Missy) so we dewormed immediately
• Current Medications Given: wormed with Zymerctrin Gold every 6 weeks (hasn't cleared it up) and now started the 5 day Panacur PowerPack 

My vet says (quote) ". . .he doesn't look wormy. . ." and my vet is really at a loss. He has minimal experience with Miniatures and I am really starting to question his value to me at this time, and I am currently shopping for a new vet. We did run the fecal test on him which found he had strongyles so we dewormed immediately and after 2 weeks post-deworming I am still stuck with a Cremello stallion with his whole but and tail soaked with "brown fecal soup" - which I desperately want to clear up not only because of cosmetic reasons but I am sure this diarrhea is causing some sort of damage to his body. 

My vet suggested a "hay only" diet and that worked for 2 days and then it was back again. . .then we tried Probios. . .gone for a day and then back again. I am VERY frustrated and I can't keep spending money on stuff that isn't working and I definately don't have the money to be paying for exam and tests over and over again. . . especially when it's $80 just to get him out of his chair 

.

If anyone has any ideas - throw them out there - I need help ASAP. 

UPDATE WITH REQUESTED INFORMATION:

I live in the upstate of SC (Spartanburg County to be exact, if you know where that is) and while I wouldn't say we have as much sand as in FL, my horses are on a dirt/sand paddock 24/7 for 5 days out of the week.

I am currently feeding fescue/clover mix hay - was feeding oat hay but the horses didn't care for it much but they are begging for this mixed hay.

IDEAS SO FAR:

Here is the list everyone has come up with that I am going to put on my to-do list with him but how long should I wait inbetween each? Also, can people go into detail about each option listed below such as how often, etc.?

1- Safeguard given for 7 days

2- Metamucil

3- sellenium shot

4- Sand Clear

5- Biosponge

HERE ARE PICTURES TAKEN THIS AM! (sep. 19)

 

[lotsofspots]

I am not sure where you live, but here in Florida we have a problem with sand..and one of the symptoms is wet, runny poop. Some of mine also will chew on the wooden fence which causes wet poop. Have you tried giving Metamucil? Does he have a larger than usual belly?

Barbara

 

[minimule]

I had a mare that was like this but she was picky on what she ate too. She came from a 1500 acre ranch where it was just her and another mini mare with big horses and cows. I brought her here to my little acre with 14 other minis. She didn't like it here. There was too much activity. She lost a lot of weight, down to about a 3. We tried everything. We dewormed, gave Probios, treated for ulcers, added to Pepto her diet. Added yogurt and beet pulp. She wouldn't eat any kind of "fancy" grains only plain oats. She had free choice grass and alfalfa 3 times a day. Nothing stopped the runs. It was nasty. I finally gave up and gave her to someone that had a lot more land and fewer horses. She just couldn't take it here. My vet never could figure it out either. We ran all kinds of tests, floated her teeth, tried different treatments with no success.

It's a little different than your boy 'cause he seems happy and bright. Hopefully someone else can give you some ideas.

 

[maestoso]

A friend who had weanling with this issue, it actually lasted into his yearling year, he had the diarrhea along with other problems. After a lot of frustration and playing with feed and such, she tested his sellenium levels, which were very low/off. He got a sellenium shot and he improved greatly. I am sure the issue could be caused by a number of things, but if you have exhausted other ideas, I think the test is relatively inexpensive.

 

[lovinglife]

I had one with very similar symptoms. We gave pepto and a number of things. Turned out to be sand.....gave Sand Clear within a week the persistent loose stool finally checked up. Hope that helps

.

 

[loveminis]

I agree with the others, try giving him pysllium (sand clear) for 7 days.

 

[sedeh]

I've never had to use it but I've heard Biosponge works great with stopping diarrhea. Maybe someone that has used it can give you more info. I also agree that it wouldn't hurt to give him a course of sand clear. Otherwise you're just gonna have to keep playing with his diet to find out what he'll tolerate. Good luck!

 

[chandab]

What kind of hay is he on? Just another idea, as I have one that is sensitive to alfalfa, if she gets more than about 20% alfalfa hay in her diet she gets a poo-tail. [i prefer to feed straight grass or minimal alfalfa, so she hasn't had this problem since being here, but she came to me from someone who fed a lot of alfalfa and she had a really nasty tail, put her on grass hay and it cleared up. May or may not work for your guy.]

 

[Miniv]

My first thought was also SAND.

You just may have a young fellow who developed a problem in his gut as a youngster and is going to be sensitive to all sorts of things throughout his life. Be alert and aware to changes for him. It sounds as if he's healthy and he's got the best home he could have for his problem.

 

[muffntuf]

If you post where you live, or conditions of the ground he is living on, that would help us out.

I also suggest Sand Clear, if not, try bio-sponge. And I would test for selenium as well. After that - it could be anything. I had a foal last year who had to have bio-sponge for almost a month twice a day, everyday. That was so much fun! But then she improved and didn't need it anymore. What the issue was, we never figured it out.

 

[uwharrie]

I also had a horse that seemed to be sensative to fescue hay.

Pepto can help as can adding psyllum

If you think he was particularly wormy you may want to go on an extended course of safeguard. ( I can't remember if its 3 or 5 days)

 

[Little Wolf Ranch]

UPDATE ON ORIGINAL POST WITH REQUESTED INFORMATION 

 

[Leeana]

I had a young yearling colt a few years back that would get diarrhea randomly pretty often. Was on a normal worming schedule, grass hay and pelleted feed at that time. I found that feeding probio's really made a big difference, i would topdress them daily on his feed. You can buy probio's online but I have no trouble finding them right here at my TSC.

 

[Annabellarose]

I would immediately attempt to administer something to clear out any sand. Can someone tell her how to do the sand test? I don't know how to do it. Do you feed beet pulp? Do you feed a pellet that contains beet pulp? If you feed beet pulp or a pellet that contains beet pulp try switching him to something without beet pulp? Are you feeding a pellet that contains molasses or a grain that is covered with molasses (aka "sweetfeed")?

 

[garyo]

We have a pinto mare who is now three. She had chronic diarrhea as a foal after weaning until she was about a year old. What we have discovered is she must have a high protein feed. We tried to switch from strategy which is about 14% to a 12% at one point because our feed store said it was comparable feed at a cheaper price. The diarrhea came back. We tried switching from orchard/alfalfa to straight orchard grass and the diarrhea came back. She does best on what used to be called Born to Win and is now called Enrich 32 and hay which has crazy high protein.

We also have a gelding who gets diarrhea if we go more than six weeks between Metamucil weeks. We are in Florida and cannot avoid the sand factor so we give metamucil soup to everyone for a solid week every month.

Hope this helps

Ruth

 

[Little Wolf Ranch]

garyo:

What exactly is "metamucil soup"?

Annabellarose:

I do not feed a grain that has ANY beet pulp in it and I am currently feeding a sweet feed - I was feeding Strategy but the diarrhea is the same now as it was when I was on Strategy

Leeana:

I have been giving tubed Probios to him before and seemed to make no difference, do you think that giving it daily would help moreso than monthly?

 

[muffntuf]

Probiotics should be administered more than monthly IMHO. You can get FastTrack or Probios in powder form and top dress that way.

 

[garyo]

garyo:

What exactly is "metamucil soup"?

We buy the large canisters of metamucil or the WalMart equivalent powder and I put about 3/4 of the canister into a 5 gallon bucket. I add water up to about two inches from the top. Each horse gets about 4 cups of this orange koolaid type liquid. It will gel fairly quickly so you can't let it sit. The horses love the orange flavor and will chase me to get it. It is less expensive than sand clear. We have used both products and could discern no difference in fecal samples after them. The other nice thing is that because we keep the metamucil on hand if I see one of ours that seems a little colicky I can give them a dish full of this metamucil soup and it often clears any tummy ache.

You may want to try a bag of the enrich 32 with an alfalfa mix hay. It is a ration balancer not a feed so you need hay with it. It is a little expensive ($26/bag or so here) but you do not feed as much as a typical grain. Good luck.

Ruth

 

[wwminis]

[SIZE=14pt]Hi Katie,[/SIZE]

First, let me say I'm not a vet, but sometime meds and additives can make chronic diarrhea worse! Here's what an old retired vet told me a few years ago when we had 4 yearlings with chronic diarrhea after we had tried everything on the market! He said, take those horses off of all meds and feed you have them on now and go get some Recleaned Rolled Oats and feed them Oats only with good grass hay! ( I thought, well it's worth a shot) He said they won't like it at first, but they will eat it and they will get better! Sure enough the chronic diarrhea stopped in about 4 days and never returned! We kept those 4 horses on Oats for about 4 months and then starting mixing thier regular feed in with the oats and slowly switched them back and they were fine after that!

Hope this helps

Bill

 

[Marty]

Katie this is my 2 cents for whatever its worth:

First off I would STOP just about every single thing you are doing, give it a rest and start all over.

#1. What goes in is coming out in droves so I suspect its your feeding program. I don't know what kind of grain you are feeding, but I would completely over haul it. Certain grains, especially if you are feeding a low grade sweet feed is enough right there to cause these problems.

What feed are you feeding exactly? I feed Purina Strategy and also I like oats for some of mine, but although the oats are lacking in minerals and loaded with starch and sugars and do need a good vitamin or ration balancer with them. Ideally in your case, I would stop all grains and go completely to a ration balancer by a good reputable company such as Purina Enrich 32 and add oats for extra calories.

#2. Fescue with clover......ok clover will produce the slobbers and he will have to keep very well hydrated (which you say he is) but too much hydration could cause this runny poo easily. I would switch to a nice clean high grade hay such as orchard grass and get rid of this fescue.

#3. Sand. Agreed! You must follow the directions of Sand Clear or Sandblast exactly and do not deviate from the except to adjust the amount. I would not mess at all with metimucil. The problem with that is that no one, no one anywhere can determine a correct dosage for that so I would stick to a physillum product that is designed for sand and no guessing games involved.

#4. Ulcers! I would suspect he has chronic ulcers and would begin a regimine of 30 days of ulcerguard.

#5. Sidenote: I have said it a zillion times but a fecal does not reveal all worms. Just because it may come back as clean and clear, it does not mean that others aren't hatching and migrating right now.

Good luck to you Katie. I can only imagine what a poopy pain this is.