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  Discussion on Diarrhea in a 1 1/2 year old filly
Author Message
Member:
Gemtwist

Posted on Sunday, Sep 19, 2004 - 11:54 am:

Hi Dr. O and all,
I just got a 1 1/2 year old filly in my barn. The owner says she has always had diarrhea. She is undersize and underweight (say a 3 1/2-4) on the condition scale. No problems with colicing. The owner has not had any testing done to see if there are intestinal problems. She has been wormed quarterly since birth. She has always gotten her 5 way shot in the spring and booster in the fall as well as WNV. During the last few months, the filly has been fed a medium quality hay to eat.
I have started reading through the diarrhea articles and want to start her on beet pulp and grain. I was thinking about a senior grain since I have used that in the past for some of my older horses who started to get a little loose with their stool and it seemed to work well. My grain supplier has beet pulp in a pelleted form, but not in a loose form.
My questions are:
1) Any opinions on putting her on a senior grain rather than a junior grain?
2) Do beet pulp pellets need to be soaked like the loose beet pulp does?
3) Does anyone know if the pellets have the same effect as the loose pulp?
4) If I grind the pellets into a powder do I lose the fiber benefits (considering the fact that the pulp was already ground to get it into pelleted form)?

Thanks everyone!
Nancy
Member:
Albionsh

Posted on Sunday, Sep 19, 2004 - 12:31 pm:

I have been using the beet pellets for a number of years on hard-to-keep mares, and have recently been adding it to all my horses' diets as a bulker and extender for the grain and equine pellets. It also seems to keep them from gulping down the grain.

I soak the beet pulp the night before,then stir in the oil/grain/pellet/minerals rations right before serving. The first time you soak them, you will see the great difference between pellets and shreds. I think it is about a four or five-fold increase in volume between dry and soaked beet pellets, so only put that percentage in the bottom of the pail you will be using, and leave the water level about an inch and a half below the rim. I have been feeding an amount of grain mixture equal to the amount of soaked pellets, and it seems to be working well.

I tried the shreds, but they did not expand to the same degree as the pellets (which are finely ground during production) and I did not like the final results of soaked shreds, though the horses did eat them. According to a local mentor of mine, beet pulp is great for loose stools, and will put weight on the top line when added to the diet.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Sep 20, 2004 - 6:44 am:

I don't see a problem with the use of a senior feed over a junior feed in this case.

I have not used pelleted beet pulp personally so do not know if you will have the same effect as loose or if regrinding would further impare the ability of beet pulp to tighten up a stool so if you do not see an improvement I would try the loose product.

Though popular to do, it is not necessary to soak loose beet pulp. I am concerned about calcium balance in a growing horse however, for more on using beet pulp as a foodstuff see, Care for Horses » Nutrition » Forages for Horses, an Overview.
DrO
Member:
Gemtwist

Posted on Monday, Sep 20, 2004 - 9:47 pm:

Thank you both for your posts. Dr. O, regarding your comment about the phosphorus to calcium ratio with the beet pulp, I see that bran is a recommended addition to the diet to help balance the ratio, but since I'm trying to fix a problem with diarrhea it seems that feeding bran would be counterproductive since it acts as a laxative. I looked through another article (Nutritional Content of Popular Feedstuffs for the Adult and Older Horse) and it looks like flax(linseed) might be a good alternative. I know I can get plain ole flax seed, but the article talked about a "flax meal". Is that the same thing? Also, I'm assuming that the article was comparing apples to apples in respect to weight ... so if I fed 1 lb of flax and 1 lb of beet pulp, I would balance out. Is that assumption correct?

Thanks!
Nancy
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 21, 2004 - 7:35 am:

Though I know this is equine folklore heresey studies on bran looking for its laxative properties have not found any. In the same vein flax meal also is considered a mild laxative, but this is unproven.

Bran has a very high level of phosphorous and the the fact it has very little Ca (10 times as much P as Ca) so very little is required. On the other hand flax has 1/2 the P and a significant amount of calcium so much larger quanities would be needed.

I am uncertain what is in ole flax seed. Meal has been processed: crushed, heated, and extracted.
DrO
Member:
Gemtwist

Posted on Friday, Oct 15, 2004 - 11:47 pm:

Just thought I'd give everyone an update on the filly with diarrhea. I took her off hay completely and put her on beet pulp and Omolene 200. Within 3 days she had normal manure for the first time in her life. I have over the past 2 weeks switched her from Omolene 200 to Equine Jr and kept her on the beet pulp. She continued to have normal manure. We tried her for 1 hour out on pasture 3 days ago and her manure was significantly softer again ... not the squirting diarrhea she had before, but the balls were no longer as distinguishable as before. After 3 days of the beep pulp/grain diet she seems to be back to normal manure. I'm going to try a little hay in her diet to see if she can tolerate any grass at all. I thought I'd start with 1/2 a flake and then go from there depending on how she reacts.

Since getting her regular, her coat has shined up, she's put on weight and lost that "wormy" look she had.

Thanks everyone for all the help!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 - 1:08 pm:

I think the slow introduction of other feedstuffs the way to do, delighted to here this has helped.
DrO
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