Chronic diarhhoea help!

[mezereon]

Hi, hoping for inspiration. My 18 yr old ISH has had chronic diarrhoea (cow pats are good for him!) since early March. He's had several blood tests - initially had a protein losing enteropathy but now OK, still slightly anaemic. Had some infection markers too so he had a course of antibiotics and he's had a 10 week course of steroids - slight improvement on a high dose but back to diarrhoea after tapering off. Now also has gastric ulcers (although not scoped, clinical signs only from vet) from the steroids. He's bright enough in himself and is managing to hold weight on what I'm feeding him (soaked grass nuts, science supplements GastroKind, ForagePlus balancer and oatbran) but I'm at my wits end how to help him. I've tried (aswell as the above) Happy Tummy Charcoal, Protexin Quick Fix, Protexin Gut Bind, Hilton Herbs GastriX, Trinity Consultants (L94 and Lactoferm), taken him off his soaked sugar beet, stopped / started his linseed, Science supplements Gut Balancer / Balancer Express. He's had a negative Cushings test - did have high tapeworm count but he's been wormed for that and a lab blood test says he's OK, regularly do FEC and he's not got worms, was wormed with moxidectin for encysted redworm in January. Is there anything else I can try? Products have been given a good period of time to show effect I think (tried each one for 2 or 3 weeks minimum). I thought about EquiShure but have pH tested his poo and it's neutral. Does anyone have any other ideas please?

 

[chaps89]

My vet gave me biosponge (a sort of powdered clay) after my mare had an upset tummy that refused to shift with over the counter remedies recently. Maybe worth asking the vet about?
The other things my vet suggested if that hadn't of worked were tummy taps (sounds like you must have had that if you have a PLE diagnosis though) and ultrasound.

 

[mezereon]

Thanks Chaps89, the PLE diagnosis came from the blood test and resolved after steroid treatment. I will ask about Biosponge although Gut Bind had no effect. Did it work for your girl?

 

[chaps89]

It did.
I'd used gut bind effectively but as soon as I stopped it, the diarrhoea came back.
The biosponge was about £50, you're supposed to only use it for up to a week and stop once symptons have cleared up- for her it worked within 3 days, although hers sounds much less worse than yours.
I'd chat to the vet about whether a tummy tap would be worth doing then/if it would show anything the blood test wouldn't.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Have you tried Aloe Vera juice?

 

[mezereon]

Have you tried Aloe Vera juice?

No not yet! I'll add that to the list, thank you

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I put my horse on Easi gut from natural horse supplies after loose dropping and colic and it really helped, I also think haylage is to rich for him and switched to hay and his been fine, so if you haylage I would swap to hay.

 

[mezereon]

I put my horse on Easi gut from natural horse supplies after loose dropping and colic and it really helped, I also think haylage is to rich for him and switched to hay and his been fine, so if you haylage I would swap to hay.

Thanks Pinkvboots I think that's similar to the Hilton Herbs Gastrix he was on. It did help a little, but didn't stop it. Also should have said, he lives out 24/7 on a fairly decent 10 acre field. He's fed soaked grass nuts and grass chaff as a supplementary forage feed as he's got very few back teeth, bless him, so can't manage hay or haylage! I did keep him in overnight in the February as he just wasn't getting enough food - he went back out beginning of March with supplementary feeds and this started about 10 days later.

 

[meleeka]

I feed Protexin Acid Ease to my mare. It puts a lining on the stomach so things that upset her before, don’t now.

 

[horselover11]

have you tried doing an adult faecal analysis panel to rule out any diseases?

I know its a long shot but some causes of diarrhea in adult horses include ECoV (equine coronavirus), Salmonella spp; Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens, Potomac horse fever, parasitism; antibiotic use; sand impactions; dietary imbalances; inflammatory bowel disease etc

a faecal analysis sent to a lab will rule out salmonella, ECoV and clostridia and parasites

 

[mezereon]

have you tried doing an adult faecal analysis panel to rule out any diseases?

I know its a long shot but some causes of diarrhea in adult horses include ECoV (equine coronavirus), Salmonella spp; Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens, Potomac horse fever, parasitism; antibiotic use; sand impactions; dietary imbalances; inflammatory bowel disease etc

a faecal analysis sent to a lab will rule out salmonella, ECoV and clostridia and parasites

He's had some faecal analysis done, and infection markers were found in the bloods but I think it was general not specific. He has had a course of antibiotics though. I need to check with my vet and see whether he was tested for specific bacteria spp, thank you.

 

[Regandal]

Once you’ve ruled out infections, boswellia may be worth a try. It soothes the gut and firms droppings.
Fenugreek also soothes and protects the gut. Good luck.