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  Discussion on Chronic Foal Diarrhea
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Posted on Thursday, Dec 9, 1999 - 1:50 pm:

I have a 7 month old filly that was orphaned at 9 weeks. From 2 weeks of age she developed "cowpie" manure, was treated with probiotics but never improved. She continued excellent growth and high energy levels so I did not worry about her unusual manure. At 12 weeks she went off her feed and developed cholic symptoms including profuse watery diarrhea. I took her to MSU and they diagnosed her with mild gastric ulcers. I also worked with a local veterinarian during this time but she continued to loose weight. She was treated with sucralfate for 3 weeks. Her manure continued to range from watery diarrhea (not profuse) to heavy cowpie. She was also treated with metronidazole for 1 month. During this time her weight had diminished to extremely thin with her ribs, backbone, and croup very visible. I didn't think she would survive another bout with diarrhea. At 5 months I began working with a veterinarian group that has been fantastic!! For the first time since this all started they have convinced me that there is hope for her. She has been gradually brought up to a diet of 5# crimped oats, 2 cups rice bran, 1 oz. mineral supplement, 1 cup corn oil, 1 oz. Fastrack, and 1 1/2 cups albumin. This mixture is divided and fed 4x daily with freechoice grass hay. With this mix she has gained 76# in 61 days and is finally within 25# of where her weight should be! But the cronic diarrhea continues. I have used pepto bismal which seemed to help firm her up but when stopped the diarrhea returned. I have also used immodium-AD which also helped. When stopped her manure improved to cowpie and stayed consistant for 10 ddays. At that time I added Amino pac (L-Lysine & DL-Methionine) to her diet but had to stop the same day because the watery diarrhea came back. It has now been 10 days of pepto (every 3-6 hours) daily with Immonium_AD given every 8 hours for 3 days. Her diarrhea (wet pancake consistency) has not improved by much this time but she has still gained weight this week. She is eating her grain mix well and her high energy has returned. I am looking for advice on how to proceed with this condition and improve her manure..stop the diarrhea..posssibly get to normal horse manure consistancy? One treatment that the doctors are considering is steroids but they have held off because of possible side effects. The doctors say that she should grow out of this when her digestive track matures but the constant care, worrying when I have to rely on others when I am gone for more than a day, and canceling family activities for lack of a responsible person to care for her is becoming increasingly difficult. We are taking her with us for the 3 day Christmas holiday. Fortunately my sister-in-law has an extra stall in her barn! If you have any advice for her condition I would greatly appreciate the help!

Posted on Friday, Dec 10, 1999 - 7:37 am:

Hello Lisa,
I agree with your doctors opinion to quit worrying about the diarrhea: the diarrhea per-se is not going to harm your filly, and your constant attempts at treating the symptom may do more harm than good. As long as no signs of infection or weight loss remain the best thing to do is leave the bowel alone and let it settle down. Your filly may have loose stools for a long time and a few horses I know have produced cow patty stools their whole life.

I am a little concerned about the diet, it seems deficient in calcium and out of balance with respect to Ca and Phos. What is in your supplements and at what concentration? They may be correcting for this.
DrO

Posted on Friday, Dec 10, 1999 - 9:09 am:

Thank you so much for your response! It is fantastic to know there is help and you agree with my Doctor's opinion. As for the ca/phos balance this was also a concern of our doctor but I have followed his advice and am feeding the MoorMan's GroStrong Mineral that complements the Natural Glo Rice Bran. The Ca min 15.2%/ max 18.2% and the Phos not less than 7.5%. I was sure this was a per pound analysis but it only refers to that under the Vitamin content. I am assuming that you have the information for MoorMan feed and supplements available to you but, if not, I can get this to you.

Also, as for treating the wet pancake diarrhea with immodium-AD and Pepto, are you suggesting that I stop this treatment? What about the possible use of steriods? Should this be left alone also?

Thank you again!

Lisa

Posted on Saturday, Dec 11, 1999 - 8:20 am:

Hello Lisa,
The mineral suppliment does not allay my fears. It states the phosphorous is NOT LESS than 7.5% so it could be as much or more than the appx 16% calcium further exacerbating, rather than helping the problem.

Yes I would probably stop these but you need to discuss this with your vet. If you have been using for some time I would stop them slowly. Perhaps spending about 1/2 the time they have been on it to wean them off it. Steroids....no I do not think I would at this time unless I had a clear history or clinincal signs of noninfectious inflammation.
DrO
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