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  Discussion on "Forbid" for coprophagic horses?
Author Message
Member:
Wolfydoc

Posted on Tuesday, Dec 7, 2004 - 12:12 am:

HI there,

There is a product called "Forbid" that can be given to coprophagic dogs in their food to make their feces taste awful. Is there any such product for horses?

I ask because I have a 3-year-old gelding, an extremely easy keeper Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse, who has been coprophagic since I got him last August. He was very overweight when I purchased him and I had him on a strict diet. He came from Kentucky and had been on pasture. We don't have pasture here in the high desert of Nevada so he has been on the same orchard grass/alfalfa (~5%) mix, vitamin mineral mix with alfalfa cubes, salt block, trace mineral block, and access to a 6-acre sage field like my other 3 horses. He also got out for at least 3-4 trail rides per week, although each ride was only about an hour and at a walk due to his age. I figured he was coprophagic then due to the diet he was on. One of our other horses, also on a diet, was also coprophagic.

Well on November 2 he underwent colic surgery for a twisted and entrapped small intestine, and had 18 feet of his small intestine removed. He did very well and continues to do so. I do not have him on a diet as he lost quite a bit of weight immediately after surgery, and I even increased his alfalfa intake to about 20-25% of his total intake. He gained weight very quickly as soon as he was allowed to eat his first molecules of food, and is now as heavy as I feel he should be. So regardless of the actual numbers, he is obviously getting enough calories to stay in very good body condition!

When he first came home from the hospital, he could still only eat about a pound and a half of hay at a time, several times a day, plus Purina Senior, and he was not eating his manure at all. He started up again about a week ago, despite the fact that I have been steadily increasing the amount of food he gets at each of his 5 daily feedings, and also I've increased the percent of alfalfa. He is getting more food now than he ever has since I've owned him, and again, he is at a perfect weight in my honest opinion. Of course he is in a stall with only 10-minute hand walks allowed 3 or 4 times a day until this Friday, when he can have access to a paddock. No additional exercise until his incision is rechecked at 2 months post discharge. He is in an open "stall" made of pipe panels under our loafing shed next to another "stalled" horse, and our other 2 horses, free to roam the field, keep him company constantly.

I can understand several potential causes of his coprophagia both pre- (strict diet) and post-surgery (colic surgery, boredom), and the fact is that this horse will never be able to eat free choice hay, or even the amount that the "average" 900 lb. horse eats. Is there something that can be given to horses to make their manure unpalatable so he stops this nasty habit? I'm also concerned about the associate intake of bedding material when he consumes his manure.

Thanks for putting up with this long post, and any advice!!

Cindy
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