Chronic diarrhea in Horses - Anybody have a good remedy? Im at a loss!

[snowhorse]

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Horse De-wormers will run you about $20 per tube where I live so most people order from Jeffer's and it works out cheaper even with $ exchange and shipping. There is a rumour the Vets are trying to stop cross border shopping for de-wormers and make it so you can only buy from them.
Some people bought 5 different types of de-wormers, each containing a different ingredient. They gave their horse that instead of the Panacur.
I agree about the fecal counts and I also think horses are being de-wormed too often and it makes the worms resistant, even if you rotate.

It is a frustrating problem trying to pinpoint the problem of diarrhea plus it can be hard on the horse and I wish the poster good luck and quick success.

I appreciate it. I am going to look into the Pancur powerpak....

Out of curiosity if it stops the 2 horses that I have with the diarrhea, think it would be a good idea to do the rest of my herd even though they are not experiencing any symptoms?

Like I said they only get wormed twice a year with Equimax Paste because they are all enrolled in the Preventicare program thru Strongid - which is Colic insurance as long as they are on Strongid 2CX everyday and are wormed twice a year with Equimax (which has changed this year to either Quest or Quest Plus) they can be enrolled in the program, which covers them up to $5000 of Colic surgery if they Colic while on the Strongid. So we only worm them with these products and I don't do any additional wormers, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to do a wider spectrum.

Since I only worm them twice a year I am assuming I can do the Pancur Powerpack whenever?

 

[cafarmgirl]

Has your vet done a fecal test to find out if they are picking up sand or dirt when they graze or pick up fallen hay around the feeders? I had a horse with chronic diarrhea and gut aches and we found out he was full of sand. Irritates the stomach and intestine causing diarrhea. He was a chow hound who would pick up every last bit of hay off the ground around the feeder, ditto for when he was fed in his paddock and it builds up in the gut. Once I had him on a psyllium product he cleared up, we also put rubber mats down around the feeders so he wasn't picking up hay off the ground.

 

[snowhorse]

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No but you do make a good point.

He is a chow hound and does have to recover every last bit off the ground. We don't have a lot of sand my way, mostly mud lol. But I can see where he would ingest dirt.

I'm making a list of things I want checked. I may have to do it in rounds lol, this could get expensive.

 

[BlackBart]

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Yup, whenever.
I would only do those with the problem but the others I would worm them once a month for two months with something you don't usually use.
A horse owners worst nightmare.....colic. Usually happens in the middle of the night, on a weekend, in bad weather.

Good Luck

 

[duckluck]

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No but you do make a good point.

He is a chow hound and does have to recover every last bit off the ground. We don't have a lot of sand my way, mostly mud lol. But I can see where he would ingest dirt.

I'm making a list of things I want checked. I may have to do it in rounds lol, this could get expensive.

I don't know that I would even bother to check for sand, I personally just treat for it routinely. The only time I've had a horse checked for sand was it was done routinely at a horse clinic while trying to diagnose another problem, and my routine worked, she had no sand in her gut despite being on a sand lot. We have a lot of sand here; I used to use SandClear but my vet had me switch to Metamucil for a week at a time when treating. I had a horse that absolutely would not eat the SandClear no matter what but would eat the orange Metamucil. I know what dosage I am using but you might want to check with your vet as to the dosage and size of your horses, I hope they will do that for you without trying to sell you something.

The thing someone said about coarseness of hay made sense too.

 

[verthandi]

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No but you do make a good point.

He is a chow hound and does have to recover every last bit off the ground. We don't have a lot of sand my way, mostly mud lol. But I can see where he would ingest dirt.

I'm making a list of things I want checked. I may have to do it in rounds lol, this could get expensive.

Checking for sand you can do yourself. Take a large clean jar and a couple fresh manure balls and add water 3/4of the way up the jar. Swirl jar to break up manure, and set it somewhere over night to settle. Pick up the jar and examine it from the bottom the next day. The sand will settle to the bottom and be a different color than the manure.

 

[snowhorse]

Just so y'all know and I keep ya updated.

I will be starting Pancur Powerpac on the mare and gelding tonight.

Also have done some research into feed and will be switching them to Purina Equine Senior in a couple weeks, as I really just can to the conclusion that they are Seniors! (20 and 22+) But when you have had them for soo long I think you kind of overlook that.

Going to do the poop test to see if they have a lot sand, and treat for sand colic if needed.

The Gelding will have a blood test for Lyme Disease, and will check liver and kidney function as well.

After this which I will wait probably a month and a half, no progress I will be trying the Biosponge.

Thank you for all of your help! It really has given me a direction to go in.

 

[BlackBart]

Your a good horse owner. More people should be like you.

 

[snowhorse]

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Awww I appreciate it BlackBart- I needed that today

 

[duckluck]

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I have my younger horses on the Purina Senior too...higher fat content, easy to digest especially since I soak it, and there's no nutritional reason not to.