How to live with damaged Guts through worm burden

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antongoodwin

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* PLEASE HELP!!!*
I have a 15 yo Shire Mare, that I have owned since March 07, have had constant battles to keep her stools solid and get weight on her. When I got her, she was wormed and did pass adult worms. She has been kept up-to-date since on a worming program.

Have had the Vet out a few times and she is just coming to the end of a 6 week course of steroids - with little/no effect.

The vets general thought is that there is damage to the wall of the Large intestine, due to the previous worm burden.

Has anybody got any experience of managing this condition?

Things are not looking good for her and I am desperate to try and help her get some weight on.

Also forgot to mention she cannot handle even a blade of grass as it goes straight through her.

Her stools are currently like cow pats - although I have had them like Mole Hills in the past


Thanks in advance to anyone taking the time to read this post

Anton
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Hi, Im sorry to hear you are struggling with your mare.

Although not damaged, I have a cob who has similar problems (to a lesser degree) - the vet/hospital seem to think the honeycomb structure of his gut is not pronounced enough to give the good bacteria somewhere to live.

Anyway, things I have tried with varying degress of success :

Hay not haylage. Haylage contains too much water and can be too acidic for him.
If he gets really wet, I put bran in his feed for a couple of days to dry him up - OK it takes bacteria out of the gut but there isnt enough in there anyway so I have nothing to lose - and it does help.
Slippery elm and aloe vera (not together) can both help soothe irritated guts.
Plenty of turnout - if yours cant have grass, do you have any area where you can turn out and feed hay ? stress at being confined may not help.
A good probiotic - Ive used one that you can only get through the vet (name escapes me) - its expensive but it did help.

Ad-lib fibre available - he gets too porky if he has hay available all the time so I bulk it out with nice clean barley straw, but it doesnt sound like you will have the same problem.

Please dont try any of the above without advice from your vet
as your shires problem may be completely different to mine.

Good luck, hope you find something that works - and welcome to the forum
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What are you feeding her. If any garlic stop it immediately as that causes loose droppings. Add a probiotoc - I would recommend Naf pink powders initially - then I maintain it with Brewers Yeast. Agree - Hay not haylage as haylage can be too rich. Don't feed any mixes, if you can feed Lucerne nuts then do so - but don't feed mollassed feeds as they can cause loose droppings too.
 
My old chap had terrible redworm when I bought him 30 years ago. So bad his poo was completely scarlet when wormed. He doesnt suffer from runny poo but doesnt put weight on easily. I have had him for 30 years and he has been the hardest to manage weight and diet wise but it really comes down to trial and error.

The best thing I find is a high fibre cube, such as build up cubes. There are lots of others available which may be better for your horse. He also gets sugarbeet and alfa-a. Mixes dont work for him at all. They just come out the other end undigested!

He is always rugged in winter as he loses weight easily.

He isnt stabled but on year round good grazing. (He loses weight when stabled)

When he was younger he also had boiled barley and cooked linseed in his winterfeeds and this again helped to maintain weight.
I have also tried bluechip, equilibra, pink powder, veg oil etc but they made little or no difference to my horse. But you could try these and see as they may help your horse to gain weight.

He has also always done much better on good grass than lots of shortfeed. I have always put this down to the redworm damage even though it was a long time ago.

With my old boy, we have to worm according to his needs.According to the vet he has a low worm tolerance. Sometimes this means worming more frequently than normal. It is easy for me as I keep him at home so dont have to fit in with the rest of the yards worming programme.

As for the runny poo, I wonder if there is something else going on which has been obscured by the worm problem. Maybe an infection or something. I would keep an eye on it and maybe talk to the vet again.

Why dont you try ringing a feed company for some advice?

Like I said, it really is trial and error but I would definitely say try a "pony nut" over a mix.

Good luck. Hope you get it sorted.
 
bio equus from the vet is fabulous for hardening up the stools. One of my horses (although not worm burden) goes runny the minute we go onto grass each year and bio equus sorts him out within days. It's a prebiotic forumulae from the vet which says "A specialist product containing probiotics, prebiotics, electrolytes and vitamins to help restore the gut microflora and normalise body fluid hydration in horses and ponies."

protexin bio equus

Best of luck hope you can help her.
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stick to hay and high fibre cubes fibre beet and alfa a oil that should put weight on. get a good pre pro boitoic and some aloe vera juice. get a poo sample done so you no what worms you are working with!
 
Some kaolin powder in his feed will help solidify his droppings, natural live yoghurt for the bacteria and no sudden changes to his feed as they will only make the problem worse. Give bucket feeds more frequently with smaller portions so that the gut bugs do not die off between feeds. We have to do this with one with clapped out guts from botulism. Dry hay definately no haylage or any feeds with molasses. Good luck.
 
Thanks for your response, can you tell me more about Kaolin Powder - where to buy it and what sort of quantitities to use, have looked on google but cant seem to find any info.

Thanks Anton
 
Hi all
Many thanks to you all for your quick responses, to answer a few questions, she has had Naf Pink Powder, Dengie yeast product (name escapes me) and protexin (?) again cant remember. Have spoken to the Vet about Pro/Pre biotics and he feels that they will not help.

I have had Bloods done and her Liver and Kidneys showed no signs of any problems, vet dosent think Cancer as the siuation has been going on too long, and 6 weeks of Steroids as good as counts out Inflammatory Bowl Disease.

So by a reasonable process of ilimination we are left with "Knackered Guts" to quote the Vets - there have been 2 both saying the same thing.

So I am left thinking that I will try to manage the situation for as long as she is still comfortable, and who knows?

Feed wise: she is getting sugar beet, rolled barley, flaked Maize, Chaff 2 cups of veg oil and Broad spectrum vit & min supplement.

any more thoughts please continue to post.

From Penny & me many thanks
 
Kaolin is a clay and used in the kaolin and morphine remedies purchased for people at the chemists. Any pharmacy should have kaolin powder and a lot of big agricultural feed merchants can get it for you in greater quantities. Even vets will have it for sale, especially those who mix up the winchester white medicine, which is just the kaolin and morphine one without the peppermint flavour
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hi we have a pony that was neglected and nearly died ,most of the herd did and she is very similar in that pooh was like water and hard to keep weight on.the best combination for her is alfa a oil ,maximum amount daily pink powder and ad lib hay. haylage or change in grass upsets her but we have managed to get it quite firm so persvere.however no matter how hard we try she doesnt gain weight.
 
My mare sounds pretty similar. I keep her going on Hay, Lucie Stalks (from Simple Systems), NAF Pink Powders, Mint and 30mls/day Aloe Vera Juice (I use the one from Forever Living). I can also feed Badminton Horse Feeds Easy Rider as that has no molasses in it.

I found I have to avoid, Haylage, Sugarbeet, Most cereals, Mollasses and Apples. She seems to manage O.K. with winter grass, but summer grass tips her over the edge (she goes liquid), but have found I can get away with grazing her in a muzzle.
 
yes aloe vera juice is great i would cut at all your food bar your pink powder it is very high in sugar and starches. try to put eeight on through fibre and oils something like allen page calm and condition and fibre beet or alfa pellets alfa a oil that sort of thing!
 
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