Winter faecal water syndrome

Just an update, he’s not been as bad in the last few days. No change to diet or routine though…

Also a tip for anyone that’s having to wash back ends/tail regularly in the colder months. Buy some no-rinse shampoo, it’s an absolute game changer! Nettex do a citronella and a lavender one and Thelwell have a lavender one. Boil a kettle and squirt some of the shampoo in a bucket. Add some cold water and sponge the back end, then dunk the tail in the remaining water. Much more enjoyable for my guy. I think the Thelwell one that I used may have had a little bit of oil in it too, the tail definitely looks like it’s staying cleaner longer.
 
I'm not sure whether the feed is properly researched, or just packed with psillium and other absorbent stuff. Because FWS appears to be gut related, I would be wary of trying it. I'm slowly increasing the amount of forage given daily, in preparation for him coming in at night. So far, so good, but he is still grazing 24/7. Coming off grass seems to be a trigger.
 
My little coblet has FWS all year round, along with all his other problems 🙈 Nothing we have tried works, although I give Protexin whenever we change fields which settles the sloppy poo down quickly. So its keep an eye on his bum to make sure he's not sore, and keep on washing through tail when it gets too disgusting. He's a happy little soul, and in a lot better shape than when he arrived - think riddled with lice, mites, bleeding mallenders and sallenders, moderate CPL etc. I guess a dirty tail is nothing compared to that lot☺️ - and none of the youngsters in the herd fancy nibbling his tail🤣
 
My pony is doing well at the moment, she had a brief upset when I moved her into a different paddock which had long fibrous grass in it and then had to give her some hay as there was really no grass. It has shown me that long fibre is the problem though. Luckily the cows have now come in and I have been able to open up their paddock into the adjoining cow field until the end of January - it's old pasture and pretty well eaten down but has more than enough for the ponies without being too rich and I can cut their food and chaff right down and just give a token to keep them coming in. I have also managed to get hold of an old small bale chopper - it has a small petrol engine, you drop a small bale of hay or straw into it and it chops it - they are traditionally used for bedding down cow cubicles as it is on wheels. The engine, which is just like a lawnmower engine, needs some TLC but it does work and I am just waiting to get it serviced and then think it will really help.

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I tried to reduce the amount of different feed I was mixing together. The FW started again. Offered the original mix and it stopped, and he has stayed dry. The big bale haylage I am sharing appears to be a mix of short meadow grass and timothy. The timothy is on the floor under his nets every morning, but he is putting away two nets per night plus half a trug of soaked feed mix. Condition wise, he isn't looking bad. New issue now is a swollen sheath, which makes me wonder whether there is some protein leakage going on.
 
holeymoley said:
Just a little update on mine, his gut went a bit awry after a dose of NSAIDS. I bought the Aviform and it's fantastic, it's really dried him up. It's mainly bentonite clay but it's really worked.
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So this only lasted 2 days… back to squirts. I’ve upped it so we’ll see if that helps.

I wonder if others suffering from this wear a grazing muzzle/have ems/underlying conditions. I’m beginning to think he’s not got enough going through the stomach and gut throughout the day. If he’s kept in, I think he’s slightly firmer.
 
That was one of my observations, but related to having ten teeth missing, and reduced chewing ability. Once a good supply of chopped forage was introduced, things quickly improved. It's a roller coaster though. The slightest change in diet and I'm back to bottom washing. He's just been wormed, and we had a messy couple of days.
 
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