Has anyone got any suggestions? Runny bum!

[charlie55]

Shire x cob
had this problem since we bought him at 8 months old, now 2 and a half
Hes poos are sometimes firm, sometimes abit like cow pats
Its normally after hes poo'd he squirts down hes legs with watery poo
We have tried changing hes feed over and over again, hes condition doesnt change at all no matter what hes fed
He is also on pink powder now, no change either
We are on a worming programme with the vets and nothing has ever shown up/hes wormed when he should be/poo is checked, again nothing is showing up.
We really cannot think of what the problem can be, we are going to have bloods done just to see if anything shows up, cant really think of anything else to do!!

Any suggestions/ideas? Thanks for reading, any ideas we will be very grateful! x

 

[pines of rome]

You could try charcoal, "Fine Fettle Feeds Happy Tummy" works for my boy!

 

[PandorasJar]

I'd supply a regular small amount of hay both ends of the day if you aren't already, could be too little/too much food/too rich etc.

Have a listen to your horses stomach too with a stethoscope. Too much or too little noise/flushing can warn of problems. Has he ever munched something poisonous?

Pan

 

[Batgirl]

When you say you have changed feeds over and over again, how long do you leave him to settle with a new feed?

Also is he on hay or haylage at all or is he out to grass, what is the grass like?

xx

 

[Mark Gilbert]

Don't be too over complicated with his feed, if he is in light work a home made mix of bran/sugar beet and conditioning nuts is all he needs. Pre mixed feeds take a week to settle down but a basic home made cheep diet can often surffice breeds who are more hardy.

Another thing is grass is still good in some areas so strip grazing might be in order.

My horses are fed basic feeds and built up as the winter/work load requires.

The other coment was feeding hay, this is good if you have any left from last year, new crop might be too rich. Id feed a slab morning and night along with the basic feed.

 

[maisie2011]

Although you have a worming programme in place it still may be worth asking your vet for a bowel biopsy to check for worm damage and a blood test to check for liver function.

I had a mare who had worm damage in her bowel, probably due to her not being wormed correctly as a foal. I found she scoured worse on hay - she improved on grass. There is no cure as such but the scouring can be solved by giving the horse codeine tablets from the vet.

 

[charlie55]

We have always left him a 3-4 weeks on any new feed, at the moment he is on hi-fi and grass nuts, and pink powder, doesnt have a huge amount as he is a good doer, he also has hay of a night, not anything too green, and he is out on grass during the day, again not too rich or long.

He is bedded on straw which he does munch on abit, we tried changing him on shaving for a couple of months but again, nothing changed.

He has never eaten anything dodgy or poisionous since we have had him, but from birth-8 months we have no idea really.

We have spoken to the vets about this time and time again and they never seemed overly bothered about it, so we are now going to a different vets to get this sorted, we have tried all we can at home and now something needs sorting, poor lad gets attacked by flies in the summer and has a cold bum in the winter due to us having to wash him off all the time!

 

[charlie55]

You could try charcoal, "Fine Fettle Feeds Happy Tummy" works for my boy!

Never heard of this, i will have a read up, thankyou

 

[kirstykate]

Is he a stress head?

 

[PandorasJar]

I'd definitely change if I were you. Gut problems certainly aren't something to not be fussed about!

Perhaps give a vague location and HHers can give some recommendations of good vets in your area

Pan

 

[charlie55]

Defo not a stress head, very sane bless him.

Im going to go with Bell equine now, they are fantastic and ive used them many times in the past with great success. The vet i always use also said it shouldnt have been left for so long and didnt understand the other vets leaving it.

 

[Keenjean]

Try haylage balancer by NAF, sorted my horses tummy out that did that perfectly!

 

[Sparkles]

Get him some natural pro biotic yoghurt to run through his feed, see if it makes a difference.

 

[charlie55]

Get him some natural pro biotic yoghurt to run through his feed, see if it makes a difference.

Weve done that :-/ No difference.

He is on pink powder balancer and nothing changed so im not sure another balancer wouldnt really do anything different? x

 

[here_i_am]

I would second the FF charcoal. Definitely worth a go imo x

 

[Lucyad]

How are his teeth? Our old pony had very runny poos and lost condition when fed hay, but was fine in summer when just on short grass - turns out her back teeth were wobbly and she coulnd't chew the longer tougher fibre well enough so it was just going through her.

 

[asommerville]

mine was like this took him back to basics, hes on fast fibre, mollichaff calmer (keeping sugars down) adlib hay and get aloe vera juice in his feed. the aloe vera has made all the difference

 

[Kallibear]

Try haylege balancer. Kalli was on pink powder but did nothing for her. Haylege balancer worked really well.

 

[LCH611]

I just added a reply to the CR thread to suggest that you try protexin

 

[kirstykate]

I just added a reply to the CR thread to suggest that you try protexin

Just what I was about to put up, use their Quick Fix along with Charcoal and Alfalfa is good for tummies

 

[jjbarney]

I had this problem with a 25 year old companion pony I bought. The previous
owners said he had been like it the whole six years they had owned him.
Needless to say I got the vet to check him over. He is the same, poos are fine but it's the watery finale. (that's the pony, not the vet) The vet
said, there are loads of really expensive stuff I could give you, but just keep it simple. Give him about two tbspns of flour and natural yoghurt and hardly wet his feed at all ( he just has Happy Hoof) He is 100% better and whereas
I still baby wipe and Sudacrem his bum every night (again, the pony, not the vet) it doesn't run down his legs now.
The vet seems to think it was some damage to his hind gut as a youngster and the poo doesn't absorb all the liquid in the hind gut so the flour just helps dry it up.

 

[Spangle]

We had this problem with a Shetland many years ago. Vet had run out of ideas but an old horseman suggested arrowroot blended with milk. We had goats at the time and used to give her arrowroot mixed in warm goats' milk. Gradually she got better and lived a long life without any recurrence of this. No idea whether it was the arrowroot and milk or if she would have got better anyway!

 

[HBM1]

As he is still only a baby but a good doer have you tried him on just a stud balancer and alfa a ? As well as ad lib hay?

 

[myhorsefred]

I had this problem with my shire x cob last year.

Yea-saac was the only thing that sorted him out.