Winter faecal water syndrome

[Dam1]

My horses FWS is getting worse. I've tried all and everything but at the moment it's worse than ever. She's increasingly girthy when being tacked up (ok when ridden though) and when expelling the faecal water very uncomfortable and tail swishy etc. I've spoken to the vet and am having her scoped for ulcers on Friday as feel I can't go on like this - she needs her tail and bottom washed every single day now and her stable looks like the battle of the somme every morning.
However I'm quite nervous about the scoping and now questioning if it's necessary . Anyone had a scoping for fws ??
Any ideas/opinions welcome as I'm in a bit of a dilemma x

 

[holeymoley]

Mine has been fine for months. Monday he came in very squitty to the point I had to wash his back end. I’ve been soaking some fibre cubes for him and ‘bigging’ up his feeds in the hope he’s maybe just requiring a bit more fibre/bulk.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Mines not great at the moment, he’s been far worse though.
I’ve cut out all chaff. He has just a handful of nuts for a prascend tablet to be hidden in and a handful of speedibeet when the others get a bucket feed in the evening.
New hay is pretty coarse so I’ve purposely kept some older softer stuff back for him which I’m hoping on will see me through a fair time.
It’s no fun is it!

 

[gostelr]

it's worth getting the scope if your vet won't just treat with omeprazole & sucralfate & see if things improve like they seem happy to do here in N. America. My guys fws cleared up after 3 weeks on those & he wasn't showing any of the other typical ulcer symproms.

 

[Dam1]

it's worth getting the scope if your vet won't just treat with omeprazole & sucralfate & see if things improve like they seem happy to do here in N. America. My guys fws cleared up after 3 weeks on those & he wasn't showing any of the other typical ulcer symproms.

Thanks for this.
Encouraging that your horse's FW cleared up with the omaprozole. Unfortunately I don't think my vet will prescribe these without the scope but I'll ask about that on Friday. Would be excellent if she would as its the actual scope procedure I'm wary of. x

 

[Highmileagecob]

I saw a marked improvement after my oldie had extensive dental work. He probably hadn't been chewing properly for a while due to loss of grinding surfaces. He is now losing teeth, and all winter fodder has to be soaked or chopped. Preventing him from absolutely stuffing food down also helps, but with his 'born to eat' attitude, I don't always win that battle. Winter is definitely the worst time; no problem in summer. I have also considered that the routine 3 or 4 times yearly worming routine that we all used to follow, has caused some loss of gut function, but I have no evidence.

 

[Dam1]

Yes - she always used to be worse in winter but this year there's not been much change even though she's now out all day and not on much haylage. She is a good doer and strip grazed but the FW seems worse than ever. She's had her teeth done recently . I'm at a loss now hence going for the scope as a last resort plus she now seems more uncomfortable with it than previously. I'm also going to try her with hay instead of haylage to see if that makes any difference. X

 

[meleeka]

Mine can't tolerate haylage at all. I've proven hers is linked to her chewing ability. If she has anything coarser than fine hay it starts and the more hay she eats, the worse it is, hence why it's been worse in winter. Shes also better on grass, as long as it's not coarse or too green. I've kind of got to the point of just doing my best with the knowledge that it probably bothers me more than it does her.

 

[Dam1]

That's interesting M as that's exactly the same as my mare. I noticed last summer that even courser grass could set her off. Can I ask what/how you feed in the winter for fibre then instead of hay/haylage ?

 

[meleeka]

That's interesting M as that's exactly the same as my mare. I noticed last summer that even courser grass could set her off. Can I ask what/how you feed in the winter for fibre then instead of hay/haylage ?

Last winter she had a big trug of Haycare, Speedibeet and a bit of Happy Hoof overnight and a smaller amount in the morning, which meant she ate less hay. I found small bales better than the big round ones as it seems to be shorter and softer. I can't remove her hay altogether as A) she likes it and B) the ponies she lives with are Shetlands and one of them would eat his own body weight before he'd stop! Shes currently a bit slimmer than I'd like but no FW, so i'll just carry on with the juggling act as best I can so that she gets enough, but still gets time with the others. Luckily I do have grass for most of the year as they are on a track in the summer months.

 

[Dam1]

Thanks for that
If the scoping doesn't throw up anything I'll try that approach. At the moment I'm using a softer haylage but it's not changed anything x

 

[sport horse]

I have a farily high level competition horse that suffers and we had tried everything. Randomly I had Nupafeed BSC Gastro supplement on the yard for another horse so I tried it and within days the mare was clean. It is expensive so I tried to save money by just using the BSC Sea Buckthorn supplement and within a week we were back where we started. Two days back on BS Gastro and all fine again. Maybe other would like to try?

 

[holeymoley]

Mine has been fine since I increased his bulk fibre intake in dinner. I wonder if there just wasn’t enough soaking up stomach liquids.

 

[GrassChop]

Mine often gets this during winter when on haylage. Does anyone have any success with the old school pink powder? Or the haylage balancer by NAF?

 

[Highmileagecob]

All haylage now has to be chopped. Either Silvermoor Veteran haylage, or a standard net chopped by hand using hand sheep shears. All haylage is now second cut, and he cannot chew ryegrass at all. He is bulked out with soaked sugar beet mixed with damp Graze on, Fast Fibre, Pink Mash and Equilibra balancer. Trying to stop him chugging it down in a short time keeps me busy!

 

[gostelr]

Thanks for this.
Encouraging that your horse's FW cleared up with the omaprozole. Unfortunately I don't think my vet will prescribe these without the scope but I'll ask about that on Friday. Would be excellent if she would as its the actual scope procedure I'm wary of. x

My vet was of the opinion that the fecal water was most likely hind gut related & wouldn't show up on a scope which was why he was happy to throw meds at it without a scope. Plus he also thinks most horses have undiagnosed ulcers so medicate and see if things improve. I also was a bit worried about putting pony through a scope. They seem invasive plus I wouldn't want to be handling my horse when he had been fasted overnight so I would have had to haul him to the vets the night before. Hope you get the answers to help your pony.

 

[Dam1]

Thank you
I'm also convinced it's a hind gut problem - another reason I'm not so keen on the scope.
I've had the equibiome test done which said she was low on fibrobacter, which is a fibre digester and this could be helped by feeding a handful of oats to encourage growth of them. This hasn't made a difference either. Can't seem to find anything else that will encourage more of them - and trust me I've tried nearly every supplement on the market.
Gut sponge worked well for a while but now doesn't. Will try the nupafeed depending on scope results. I've still got a lot of equinecter left - that hasn't made any appreciable difference either but she does look well on it x

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Was gonna say its probably a hind gut issue and when Arabi was looking uncomfortable and droppings were not consistent, he also started biting his sides when being ridden or lunged just generally not settled, I put him on 2 sulcrafate a day for about 3 weeks then dropped it down to 1 a day for 3 weeks.

Honestly within about 5 days he was so much better he looked himself again and the biting stopped and his droppings have been normally consistent since this was back in February March I think.

 

[Dam1]

Can you only get sulcrafate from the vet ?

 

[catembi]

For what it’s worth, the chap in the tack shop was recently telling me about a customer whose horse had very persistent FW and had run up a huge vet bill. Apparently EquiNectar sorted it out in a week. It also stopped my old ex racer biting his sides when ridden within 2-3 days.

 

[Dam1]

She's been on equinecter for the past 6 wks - no change unfortunately. Think I've tried nearly everything over the past year Would probably have been cheaper to scope at the beginning but was keen to to avoid it if possible x

 

[gostelr]

I was spending an absolute fortune on gut support remedies, some of which seemed to work, nearly always temporarily but then I wouldn't dare stop in case I made things worse again. Because the vet didn't insist on a scope before treatment, the meds were cheaper than a month of supplements and I wished I done it earlier rather than faffing around with all the other things. The sucralfate was also from the vet with the omeprazole but my guy was on 20 tablets of it a day not 2! The sucralfate can make them a bit colicky if they are prone to that so even if you can buy it over the counter I would have a chat with your vet first.

 

[Dam1]

I was spending an absolute fortune on gut support remedies, some of which seemed to work, nearly always temporarily but then I wouldn't dare stop in case I made things worse again. Because the vet didn't insist on a scope before treatment, the meds were cheaper than a month of supplements and I wished I done it earlier rather than faffing around with all the other things. The sucralfate was also from the vet with the omeprazole but my guy was on 20 tablets of it a day not 2!

Same as me then. It's booked for tomorrow morning so looks as if I'll have to bite the bullet but I will ask if I can just do the drugs without the scope but I'm not holding out much hope. Will report back tomorrow with the outcome.

 

[Jambarissa]

Same as me then. It's booked for tomorrow morning so looks as if I'll have to bite the bullet but I will ask if I can just do the drugs without the scope but I'm not holding out much hope. Will report back tomorrow with the outcome.

Good luck with this, hopefully it'll give you a cause and something to treat.

 

[Jambarissa]

The FWS on all mine only seems to be a winter thing and I'm almost certain it's just an unbalanced diet when in the field with minimal grass - I think they hoover up all the old leaves and fallen seeds and whatnot. This is even with hay supplied. It goes once they've run out of crap to eat.

I have added huge quantities of herbs to their feeds recently and I'm hoping they'll offer a bit more protection for next winter.

I was reading up on how horses eat and there's a theory that if your grass is too short they don't chew enough and form it into a proper fibre ball before swallowing so it ferment more in the gut. I can't do anything with this info tho, our grass is always short.

 

[Highmileagecob]

I had a similar Equibiome result, which tallied with the dentist's opinion that Old Dobbin wasn't chewing properly. Perhaps we are seeing a result of aging, he is rising 30 now and has been like this to some degree since he was 18. I now plait his tail in winter, and roll it up polo style. He is managed on enough chopped fibre and forage to keep his weight and condition steady, and is fully retired and not exercised. Haylage is a prime trigger, but he is COPD and has ro stay away from hay. It still crosses my mind that the enthusiastic worming programmes we all used to follow may have caused some weakness - or maybe a worm burden from before I owned him?

 

[Dam1]

Update: disappointingly the scope was inconclusive due to food in the stomach - no idea how that happened as no food since 9 last night until 10 this morning ???
Plan b - we're going to treat as if she has them for two weeks and see if there's any change then go from there depending on results. The actual procedure was fine so won't be so concerned if I have to have it again. X

 

[gostelr]

Update: disappointingly the scope was inconclusive due to food in the stomach - no idea how that happened as no food since 9 last night until 10 this morning ???
Plan b - we're going to treat as if she has them for two weeks and see if there's any change then go from there depending on results. The actual procedure was fine so won't be so concerned if I have to have it again. X

that's annoying but the results of the treatment will let you know if that's the right direction to head in. Fingers crossed that you see a quick improvement. And I'm glad your worries about the procedure were put to rest.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Update: disappointingly the scope was inconclusive due to food in the stomach - no idea how that happened as no food since 9 last night until 10 this morning ???
Plan b - we're going to treat as if she has them for two weeks and see if there's any change then go from there depending on results. The actual procedure was fine so won't be so concerned if I have to have it again. X

Ah no! Was it bedding maybe? Mine had shavings in his tummy when we a scoped him!
I’d done the no food correctly and taken him off straw to prevent him eating his bed!!

 

[Dam1]

Ah no! Was it bedding maybe? Mine had shavings in his tummy when we a scoped him!
I’d done the no food correctly and taken him off straw to prevent him eating his bed!!

Yes - vet said it prob was. Of all the things to go wrong would never have though of that. Very annoying - blimmin horses. X