Hard Feed for a pony with Cushings and loose droppings

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Marmi452

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I am so sorry of this has already been discussed but I am at my wits end :-( . Misty is 25 yrs old, in very light work as my daughters LR pony, she is fantastic and can not fault her. We brought her in June, by September was diagnosed with Cushings. We have this under control and on a re test was well within normal levels. A side effect of Cushings and Prescend (I am told) is loose droppings, now most days these soft but not chronic diahrrera but does leave scouring which is an issue as cleaning in this weather is not to nice for her or me! I am thinking of clipping her legs and shorten her tail to minimise it but wanting to stop the lose droppings if i can, Vet thinks it more digestive than liver problems as he has been out 3 times! I have some Pro Biotic to add in to her feed which worked for a bit not has stopped. I am tinkering with hay/haylege to see if that has any effect but just wanted to ask what would you give as in hard feed. Currently a scoup of Copra Cool Stance and a scoup of Happy Hoof Lite, but have seen info with regards to fast fibre being the feed to give... I am finding this feed thing a minefield.. anyone with any suggestions ??? I want to maintain her weight at the minute as she is about right but it is the loose droppings I am struggling with.

Again sorry if a repeat post
 
My old cushingoid mare has unmollassed beet pulp plus grass pellets, all soaked because she s dentally challenged lol, and a balancer, with maybe some Fast Fibre etc for added vits/minerals. It does her fine but is high fibre, if you change yours it will need to be very gradual otherwise it might make the scouring worse.

What is her condition like? If she is cushingoid she may also be insulin resistant so low sugar/starch (i.e. cereals) is quite important. TBH I think I would try and isolate each food she is getting, starting with the copra - leave it out for a day or two and see what effect it has, then reintroduce it and ditto.

What dose Prascend is she on? If her ACTH levels are back to normal and the scouring is due to the Prascend can you reduce the dose?
 
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We've had two cushingoid ponies and to be honest I haven't been aware of Prascend causing loose droppings....but one of the ponies did scour badly at the slightest mention of sugar. Soaked hay was a no no as well. I think that your Happy Hoof Lite will have molasses in...most of these chaffs do, even thought they are sold for laminitic types. I changed to Dengie unmolassed Hifi with a small handful of balancer and stayed on dry old hay and problem sorted. Unmolassed beet pulp sounds like a good idea to help with weight maintenance.
 
I have a warmblood with cushings and EMS she controls the cushings at the moment so no medication for that, I feed her hifi molasses free unmolassed sugar beet and about 50g micronised linseed, I would change the happy hoof unless its the molasses free version, I also cant give her haylage it goes straight through her so she gets soaked hay mainly, I would also drop the copra its got a high oil content and is quite rich, I feed copra to my Arab who does a fair bit of ridden work and he doesnt need much of it to keep his condition.

Also wanted to say the protexin stuff for loose droppings I think its called that its in a blue and white tub does work I used it last year as I had the same problem for a while.
 
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Thanks for the info, will send the other half out to get some HiFi tomorrow and take her off the other feed, it is a minefield, was recommended the copra by the feed store - any thoughts on fast fibre as that seems to come up a lot?
 
Fast Fibre is fine, if you look on the Allen and Page website it gives you an analysis, it has low sugar but added vits and minerals. Mine get a small amount from time to time instead of basic fibre + balancer. Check the HiFi as well, for sugar levels, that might be molassed (you are looking for less than 5% sugar in the analysis, most chaffs do have molasses it's the main way to make them palatable).
 
I would just say that haylage causes loose droppings for my cushings mare so I feed meadow hay and don't have a problem, I also fed fast fibre last winter and that did a good job of keeping her the right weight with out any side effects.. if she is still scouring and getting sore maybe wash her and use a squirt of baby bath in the water as its very gentle. then dry her off and put baby lotion where she scours, this will soothe any soreness and the poo shouldn't stick to her so she will be easier to clean up next time. good luck..
 
I had exactly the same problem with my cushings pony who was also 25. He always had loose droppings and got a sore bum from it. I was feeding fast fibre but when he stopped eating hay I really had trouble with what to feed him.

I rang Simple Systems and they were great. We put him on ad lib soaked Pura beet and Lucie Fibre nuts mixed together and metaslim. He was like a different pony on this feed, droppings perfect, no liquid after a poo and all his fat pads disappeared.
 
Thanks for all the advice, OH is off with a shopping list today, so we are going to try Fast Fibre and tho we are using haylege at the min we still have some meadow hay left so will give her this soaked(she isn't keen on it tho) and we are going to try Protexin to see if that helps, I will solve this issue for her sake and mine, so it will be trial and error over the next few days... I love her to death and will get her sorted ...
 
My old boy also had loose/watery dropping making a mess of his rear despite a fairly high fibre diet. I change his senior mix to Dobson & Horrell's new Cush Care & although he's only been on it 2 weeks his droppings have changed & we haven't got a dirty bottom any more.
 
Thanks everyone, I have just started to change her to fast fibre along with reducing her previous feed. I have also brought Protexin and the quick fix as recommended and hopefully by the weekend I will see a difference. She has wolfed down the FF and seemed to be enjoying it.. In herself she seems to be fine and the meds are all under control so it is just the dirty bum and legs issue. her droppings are not loose as in cow pat style, more like watery if that makes sense. I have only had her since June as a LR for my 2 year old daughter but really wanted to make her semi retirement(as in reality this is what she is) the best it can be as i think she has paid her dues (25yrs) in her riding life so just making sure I try everything before we do some more invasive tests with the vet.
 
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