FOF Hind Gur acidosis thread

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LCH611

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I wish I had made a note of what pages 2 particular comments were on as I can't find them now.....

1) Shiny droppings can be an indicator of a laminitis episode brewing - has anyone else noticed this? My cushingsoid pony periodically produces shiny poo and it would be helpful to know if it is another early warning signal to be on the alert for laminitis.

2) There was also another comment about poos being well-formed with no excess of liquid afterwards. One of mine is prone to being a bit squitty, but even when his poos are well-formed there is often projectile fluid coming out of his bottom. Could this be a sign of ulcers or hind gut acidosis? He is an exceptionally polite and kind pony to handle and ride, so never shows any irritable behaviour, but can light up quite quickly. I don't think I am imagining it but when I have him on protexin his behaviour in potentially exciting situations also seems to be calmer, so perhaps there is an underlying gut issue? He has lots of turn out, as much forage as he can scoff and has amazing rock-crunching bare feet

Thanks
 
It was me. :). I have noticed over the years that shiny poo and excess water after a firm enough poo are both early signs of a gut disturbance which of not corrected may continue into laminitis.
 
Thanks CPT I was going to PM you! What do you recommend in terms of correcting the gut disturbance? I currently feed pure feed easy, mag ox, brewers yeast and as much 3rd cut haylage as they can eat. I always get it analysed and current batch is low enough in sugar at 8% to feed to the elderly lammi prone one with cushings (who sadly can't cope barefoot), and the PH value is 6, so shouldn't be too acidic for the one with the loose droppings?
 
Fat_Pony said:
How do you correct it though? Mine has this liquid after his droppings and I can't get rid of it.
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Ours sometimes lifts his tail and just squirts without pooing - not very frequently but enough for it to be a major problem if you are in the vicinity and he lifts his tail. I don't think I have every heard him fart as he isn't a flatulent pony, but he always has a minging tail, and is of course grey!
 
Correction, oh my that would take all night :)

With the first one I noticed it with I had to get him off the grass immediately. It was a long time later that I discovered that because my land and water are so high in iron, it was suppressing copper absorption, which interferes with insulin regulation, which causes laminitis. What he needed was copper, but I did not know.

With the one I have now, I have soaked my haylage to remove acid which I think is upsetting his gut, but I am also feeding bicarb in oil. He also can't manage without yeast, as I found out two years ago when I got a batch he would not eat.

Lots of horses need additional magnesium in spring or all year round, and I have heard good things of cinnamon for some.
 
CPT, I have to ask, is there a shininess scale? :D All mine have very slightly shiny poos, I use the form and liquid content as a guide but perhaps I need to look closer? ;)
 
Yes I knew l was going to have to explain shiny at some point :). All I can say is that it's a very noticeable change. Like a thick coat of a really brilliant varnish. Very shiny indeed. I've no idea what it is, though I might guess at mucous produced in a desperate attempt to protect the gut lining from the toxins.
 
cptrayes said:
Yes I knew l was going to have to explain shiny at some point :). All I can say is that it's a very noticeable change. Like a thick coat of a really brilliant varnish. Very shiny indeed. I've no idea what it is, though I might guess at mucous produced in a desperate attempt to protect the gut lining from the toxins.
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Thanks for clarifying. Your mucous theory makes sense. :)
 
Fat_Pony said:
How do you correct it though? Mine has this liquid after his droppings and I can't get rid of it.
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My horse had this, she was on AdLib hay, Timothy chop, linseed and minerals. She was very uncomfortable when the liquid came out as she pooped, and would kick at her tummy. I tried yeasac, made her worse, tried bicarb, made her worse, stopped all feed except hay and got much worse! I decided it must be the hay as she was eating nothing else-we don't have any grazing. I managed to get a few bales of Timothy hay to test my theory. Within 24hrs the horse was fine. Unfortunately I couldn't get any more of that hay and had to use local hay. She started to get upset tum within 3 days. All the local hay is predominantly ryegrass so despite trying from 3 different farms she didn't really improve. I finally managed to find some meadow hay from an untouched meadow 60miles away and she's been fine since. I'm convinced it's the fact that rye is a grain and as were on hay only, she gets a significant amount.

Sorry for the essay, but it took months to sort this out and it may be the answer for others.
 
cptrayes said:
Wow, how interesting. Effectively your horse is allergic to rye then?
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Yes, it looks that way. It's a shame I have to go 120 mile round trip to collect hay when I could get the local stuff delivered from 7miles away, but that's horses, some are easily catered for and some aren't.
 
Old lady said:
I'm convinced it's the fact that rye is a grain and as were on hay only, she gets a significant amount.
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I don't doubt your observations for one minute but is rye grass the same as rye grain? I may well be wrong but I thought they were completely different species.
 
Any epithelium that is irritated in any way will increase mucus production, so it would make sense to act on it. I keep a close eye on any poo, both horsey and kitty! Mucous by the way describes anything apertaining to mucus, i.e. mucous cells produce mucus. Confused the heck out of me at the start of my PhD! ;)
 
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