Horse and the mystery diarrhea - opinions please

[Smith123]

Horse is looking the best he has ever looked at the start of winter -

He is on low protien haylage due to dust allergy, alfa A and has been on spillers maintenace mix (he is 16)

the last two mornings he has had diarrhea all down his legs - all the droppings in his stable are normal - i can't see where the diarrhea is so it cant be much or must be very watery.

I got a tiny taster bag of Baileys endurance mix - he is back in work ready for next season so i felt he needed a little extra in his feed. Would this tiny bag mixed into his normal mix really make him have diarrhea?

Why would he have normal droppings then once pile some diarrhea - if he had an upset stomach would it not all be diarrhea?

It has happened the last two nights - will see if it happens again tonight.

He is bright, still naughty and certainly doesn't look off colour. Drinking more i guess as a result of the diarrhea.

Any ideas or suggestions? It has certainly put me off Baileys Endurance mix! I just don't see how a tiny tiny bit could upset his stomach so much?

 

[pansymouse]

I keep a tub of NAF Haylage Balancer in for just such occasions; a few days dosing on that gets my mare back on track. She doesn't have haylage it's just a good product for sorting out cow pat pooing.

 

[khalswitz]

With watery diarrhoea, don't mess around, ask a vet. Cow pat type stuff is different, but if watery, ask a vet. It can be a first sign of so many problems that it's not worth messing around. normally, a tiny change in feed like that will not cause a problem unless there is perhaps an allergy or something involved, and since so many serious problems can be heralded by diarrhoea I would get a vet, even if he does still look bright - dehydration will follow watery diarrhoea as the water uptake in the gut will be reduced due to increased gut motility, so even higher drinking rates won't necessarily stop dehydration.

If only cow patty, then try some kind of pre/pro biotic. NAF Haylage balancer is good, I used to use that for my lad, but now have him on a (much cheaper!) plain live yeast supplement year round, and up the dose when he gets squitty. This helps keep the hind gut better settled. Things like Baileys Digest Plus or NAF Pink Powder are also good.

Mild runs can be symptomatic of things like ulcers, so if any girthiness accompanies then worth considering scoping.

 

[Bambi.]

My horse always goes loose in winter and the only thing that works is pure feeds, it has probiotics, brewers yeast etc in it and that must be what sorts it. Last year I also gave protexin with it but to be honest I don't think that's what made the difference.
You could always take the endurance mix out and see if it stops then you'll know for sure

 

[Red-1]

My horse seems to get loose if he is cold. Wrap him up warm and it resolves. Co-incidentally we have also started on Pure Feeds, and it seems to be making him a happier chappie with no loss of energy.