Please could you offer some opinions - also in Vet (sorry)

VixieTrix

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Firstly I'm sorry this is so long, but i am very worried
Blue is 22 years and generally healthy. A few days ago he had some diarrhoea, just moderate. I gently cleaned him up every day and applied sudocreme once a day. I phoned the vet and he mentioned the sudden change in temp and frosty grass, so i continued putting him in at night and wrapped him up warmer.
It was not amazingly better but getting there, then today i have just got home, his bum is looking much better, but his poos are so much runnier and runny poo ALL down his back legs!!! I cleaned him up again, changed his rugs (we had rain today) gave him a fuss, and left him, I didn't think there was anything else i could do for the moment. I am going to phone the vet for an appointment for Fri or Mon, but does anyone have any advice at all??
Nothing about his diet had changed at all!! Unfortunately i have not been able to keep him on the same batch of hay due to shortages, but this has been ongoing all winter it is not a recent change at all. He has happy hoof, garlic, equivite, donkey chaff, linseed and a small amount of build up cubes. ALWAYS the same amount as i always make his food. I did begin to lower the build up cubes, but this evening he was VERY tucked up so i think they need to stay the same. I have made sure he has no carrots etc etc. Apart from this awful diarrhoea, he seems happy, eyes bright, coat as normal.
I'm so so sorry for the essay I am just very worried and was wandering if anyone has any advice at all please? Thank you :) x
 

Marydoll

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Firstly I'm sorry this is so long, but i am very worried
Blue is 22 years and generally healthy. A few days ago he had some diarrhoea, just moderate. I gently cleaned him up every day and applied sudocreme once a day. I phoned the vet and he mentioned the sudden change in temp and frosty grass, so i continued putting him in at night and wrapped him up warmer.
It was not amazingly better but getting there, then today i have just got home, his bum is looking much better, but his poos are so much runnier and runny poo ALL down his back legs!!! I cleaned him up again, changed his rugs (we had rain today) gave him a fuss, and left him, I didn't think there was anything else i could do for the moment. I am going to phone the vet for an appointment for Fri or Mon, but does anyone have any advice at all??
Nothing about his diet had changed at all!! Unfortunately i have not been able to keep him on the same batch of hay due to shortages, but this has been ongoing all winter it is not a recent change at all. He has happy hoof, garlic, equivite, donkey chaff, linseed and a small amount of build up cubes. ALWAYS the same amount as i always make his food. I did begin to lower the build up cubes, but this evening he was VERY tucked up so i think they need to stay the same. I have made sure he has no carrots etc etc. Apart from this awful diarrhoea, he seems happy, eyes bright, coat as normal.
I'm so so sorry for the essay I am just very worried and was wandering if anyone has any advice at all please? Thank you :) x

Get your vet to take a sample for c&s and parasites and i wouldnt wait for an routine appointment get the vet out asap as your horse may dehydrate quickly if you dont pick up on it, especially if he's older
 

castleboy

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Hi sorry to hear your boys not 100% , are you on sandy soil by any chance, if so it may be worth doing a dung test with an old jam jar and some water to see if any sand is in his dung.If so you can then take measures to help him clear this ie clearout ,psyllium husks etra linseed etc.They do tend to pick up more sand from the grass when we have has some rain, frost, bad weather ,may also be worth a try if you could to give him ablib fibre and if possible cut out all hard feed to give his guts a rest, maybe he could just have his chaff if there are others being given bucket feeds on the yard so he doesnt get upset at feed times please make sure he has plenty of water to combat dehydration and check how much hes drinking.Then re-introduce very slowly his hard feed and suppliments 1 at a time once he has settled back down, we have found in the past that garlic can upset an horses bowels for no apparent reason, if the horse has been on this for a long time. I have a horse who used to have regular bouts of really bad diarrhoea was checked by a vet on a reg basis who could find nothing wrong, had correct amounts of hay and hard feed for his weight/workload wormed etc etc and by removing all his hard feed he just had a handful of chaff or readigrass dampened with water when the others were fed to keep him happy and giving him ablib hay took him off the garlic permenatley and gave him a pre and pro biotic for 6 mths (still give him pre & pro biotics before and after being wormed , now only worm if needed, use worm counts to check him every 3 mths have always come back as very low, always has had a very low worm count even when he had the diarrhoea as this was the first thing the vet checked) and touch wood have not had a problem with him so far.We are on very sandy soil and this has caused lots of problems for our horses but now have it more or less sorted .If the diarrhoea continues for more than 24 hrs and your horse look unwell you should call the vet immediatley as he may be getting dehydrated. hope some of this info is helpful and good luck hope your boys better soon.
 
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starryeyed

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How is his grazing? I have an elderly boy who suddenly developed diarrhoea last year over winter and it's come back again this year (winter again) - we've had the vets round multiple times but they've never really sussed it (yes we're still trying to figure it out!)
We did find that it's a lot worse when he's running out of grass - we have to be careful with him because he's had lami in the past so he's in when it's frosty but we make sure that he has an hour on "good" grazing and this does help a lot, as hay doesn't seem to stop it but the better quality grass does make everything a lot better.
We're also on very sandy soil, was going to suggest this one too! - we feed him psyllium to help with it, could be worth a try? Hope your vets can find what the problem is and sort him out though, keep us updated.
 

Zebedee

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There are many things that may cause your horse's poos to become very runny, & the suggestions that you have him checked asap are good ones.
However the most likely reason is that the hay he is on at the moment is significantly richer than the stuff he was on previously. If this is the case then the simple answer is to try & source some of the original stuff, & get him started on NAF Pink Powders or something similar. Hope this helps set your mind at rest a bit, but do get him checked out just to be sure.
 

muff747

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An old pony I helped to look after had this problem and our vet said it was a mass emergence of encysted worms. We were advised to give the 5 day Panacur.
Even if you have regularly wormed your horse, it is still possible for him to have a high worm burden.
My horse was ill from spring 2008 and so I had a worm count done before trying out a herbal wormer. I was astounded to find he had a high worm burden(1800 wpg), despite always being regularly wormed and was always done along with the yard programme.
 
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