Digestion Problems

[grumpygroomr22]

i have a nine year old tobiano paint gelding. He is on a preformance feed called Vitality. He gets one "scoop" of this once a day plus 3-4 flakes twice a day. Recently he has been having very "runny" manure. It runs all down his hocks and makes a complete mess. I know this cannot be comfortable for him, the messy hocks and the "runniness". I am considering giving him probios but is there anything that could be causing this? I would love for this to be fixed. My poor man. Thanks for any suggestions guys

[Equinemom]

It could be a number of things !!

Is that a new feed/hay for him ??
Any other horses eating the same thing with the runs ?
Last time he was wormed ?
Fever ?
Is he lethargic ?

I would definatly have had the vet out already if it was me.
Watch for dehydration, that opens a door to bunch more medical issues.

[miss_snickers]

I would take a stool sample to the Vets.
Probios would not hurt.

I am having the same issue with a 24 year old. Some feed he cannot tolerate.
I am also feeding him beat pulp along with 12% sweet pellets, probiotics and grass 24/7.

Let us know what you find out.

[Cuttin74]

Originally Posted by grumpygroomr22

i have a nine year old tobiano paint gelding. He is on a preformance feed called Vitality. He gets one "scoop" of this once a day plus 3-4 flakes twice a day. Recently he has been having very "runny" manure. It runs all down his hocks and makes a complete mess. I know this cannot be comfortable for him, the messy hocks and the "runniness". I am considering giving him probios but is there anything that could be causing this? I would love for this to be fixed. My poor man. Thanks for any suggestions guys

How long have you had him?
3-4 flakes of what?

Several things can cause this,

If this continues more than a day or two, you need to watch him closely for dehydration. Ths first thing I would do is cut his feed to grass hay only. Until it clears up or you know the cause. After it clears start him back slowly to his normal feed.
Anything more than 2 days I would be calling a vet. He could have a virus.

[grumpygroomr22]

3-4 flakes of hay twice a day or so and I gave him a dose of probios which seemed to help. Sorry this post is so late, been very busy. New update. Ok, went out to the barn today, only to find my baby laboring in his breathing. He would breath in and then "push" the air out. Had the vet out immediatly, only to discover he was having a moderatly severe allergy attack! After listening to him breath for a while, he was diagnosed with COPD. I am heartbroken! I was aware of his allergies but I did not know they were this bad. It just reacted unexpectedly. Has anyone had any experiance with this disease?? I would love the information. Also in relation to this thread, the vet said his gut might be sensitive, since he is allergic and maybe his runniness is related. so he is on a temp. steroids and pasture rest. keep him in your prayers please!

[Omega Horse Solutions]

So sorry to hear about your baby. We tested my mare to see what she was allergic to - the ones I remember are oats, pine shavings, palm trees, sycamore trees, penicillium(sp?) bacteria, stable flies - there 19 different things on the list!

I put her on dac Oil 2 oz day, dac Bloom 2 oz day, alfalfa or peanut hay, and Ultium feed (has oat hulls, but there is only so much you can minimize exposure too!). She was never anaphylactic, just itchy. The boost in omega 3 and limiting grain (and omega 6 to an extent) helped enough to keep her from tearing her hide off.

omegahorsesolutions.com for the dac product labels and benefits.

I was going to suggest the dac 911 for your upset tummy guy. May benefit your baby in boosting the immune system. I don't have experience with respritory beyond giving albuteral to heave mare many years ago. I would have tried the omega 3 and 911 on her if I had her today.

[mart]

If the hay is alfalfa many time it does cause diahrrea !! Switch to grass hay and feed it thouroughly wet so no dust to breath !! If there is dust where he stays,, get him out of it and put him in a pasture if possible !! COPD usually does not come on all of a sudden, has he had breathing problems before? Or could his allergy really have been early stages of COPD ?? Not sure the two symptoms are related !!

[grumpygroomr22]

He has had brething issues for a while. Well more like coughing issues. The vet said he coughs to clear out the mucus in his chest. I am thinking the same mart, that his COPD was the underling cause to his brething/coughing. The steroids have done their trick and he is feeling a lot better. His diahrrea is completely gone,praise God! I am so happy. I had given him 2 tubes of probiotics and plus the steroids I think that did it in. Thanks guys for your help! The blood test will come back in a week, so i will repost when that happens.

[mart]

Thank heavens for that news !! Just remember that any horse with a breathing issue needs open air pasture and as little dust as possible !! Many times they are still good horses and only occassionally have a flair up !! Summer is usually harder on them than winter because of the dirt/ dust issue but they can be used and ridden normally !! Yes let us know when tests are back !!

[Omega Horse Solutions]

For my heave mare I would put her hay for the day into a hay net and soak it with water. Helps to minimize the dust and loose flakes so she didn't inhale them.