PLEASE CAN ANYONE HELP!!

charlie_D

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my daughter's 4 yr old coloured mare has had chronic diarrhoea since we bought her last year. the previous owners must have had her on some kind of medication as she was ok until we got her home and she hasn't been right since. she is ok on grass but on hay is terrible. rich haylage seems to be ok for her even though we have been told this should make her worse. we have spent a fortune on different remedies. bio-pro, bran, pink powder, benecol yoghurts!!, vitality health plus, changing and cutting out hard feed,experimenting with different types of hay, etc. physically she seems fine - no other signs of distress or ill health. the vet gave her codeine phosphate tablets which slow her gut down to aid digestion but says she cannot be on these long term. does anyone have any suggestions? we are considering feeding her silage, this may be the last resort and are thinking of cutting our losses and selling or giving her away even. we don't think we'll get much for her as although she is a brilliant horse, she is better off on grass all year round, which is impossible in our neck of the woods, and no one would want to buy a horse with such problems. we would tell anyone interested her problems as we wouldn't want her to go to anyone unable to cope - unlike her last owners who didn't seem to care a young girl was going to be her owner. if anyone has experience of this kind of problem please help. thanks
 
hi a friend of ours had the same problem to what you are discribing vets found out he has a liver problem is now on the tablets when hes bad and gradualy reduces the dose to nothing ,at the mo she was told to try a plain yea-sac supplement its about £ 19 for a tub and hes been fine latley tried all the pro biotics before. very strange i wouldnt of thaught yea-sac would help but seems to be doing something x
 
thank you how long had the horse had it for? because we have had her for just over a year and it has not changed the only managable cure for it that we have found at the moment is constant grass please reply.......x would you describe it as the same?
 
yes he is fine when out on grass its when he comes in for winter and a restricted grass supply , hes had it for quite a few years now . when hes in for winter she usualy has to put him on the same tablets but for the last year or so hasnt had to so far x
 
ok thank you it the horse better on rich hayligh? also without the tablets does the horse have really runny poo's where sometimes at its worst it runs down the back legs? kizzys bed is also very very wet all the time we go through A LOT of shavings x
 
Have you contacted the previous owners to determine what medication she was on.?

Has your vet carried out extensive blood tests to determine what the problem is? i.e liver damage worms etc?

Also try Arrow Root available from health shops as this worked on a friends horse.

Most certainly do not feed haylage as it is far to rich for a pony.
 
thank you but we have come to the conclusion that our horse seems to be the opposite to every other horse on the yard for some strange reason hay sends her awful the forige has to be as much like grass as possible dont as me why but it does we have thought the same thing! also we contacted the vet when we first got her over a year ago and he said thet he can take blood samples ect but they said that they will cost a lot of money and could come back as they could'nt find anything, and we also considered worms but she gets the correct worming all year round so i think we have ruled that one out also. we have also contacted our previous owner to find out any other details but they were no help either
 
yes his bed is soaking wet !!!!!!!!! due to the liver problem i do him when shes away must cost a fortune in shavings for her he is on hay he isnt allowed much haylge . when hes off the tabs he has been ok just with the supplement but when hes having a bad time its a mess but touch wood hasnt had to have the tabs for well over a year
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Replied in vets. As PeterNatt says, the horse needs specialist investigation. And please, please don't just give this poor horse away. We all know where and how she will end up.
 
A full blood run up usually costs around £100 mark. This will give the vets a good pointer to any disorders, especially Liver problems. I've got to say, if your vets seriously made the comments you quote - change vets imho!! Excessive urinating could well be an indicator of Liver issues. My old boy (29) has a slightly challenged liver these days, and on the wrong feeds gets very loose. Low protein is key - grass sorts him out in days, but he can survive without it. He has hay, fibre feeds, and no 'hard feed' as such. I also used to have an ID gelding who had a massively compromised digestive system as a youngster. He was on a strict low sugar, high fibre diet, along with live yoghurt once every few days syringed directly into him (he was17.2 = messy!!!
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Bloods have to be worth a look for your pone. good luck.
 
Awww poor thing, we had a horse that had a tendency to sloppy poo but it was worse with fresh grass and better in Winter so that's no help at all to you.
You could give her to me and she can live with my Kizzy on grass and haylage all year round LOL!
 
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