# The dreaded poop-butt, solutions??



## Reiningcatsanddogs (Oct 9, 2014)

To keep it off his tail and make cleaning a bit easier, put his tail in a bread bag and wrap the upper portion. If he swishes flies the tail might beat the fly to death but it does stay clean. As for the butt and legs I just hose a couple of times a day and use liberal amounts of mineral oil, the poop-water just slides right off.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

Probiotics are not all created equal. Some of them have worthless fillers and do little to help a horse, unless the horse doesn't need much help in the first place:icon_rolleyes:

My Arab was similar to what you describe and always worse during the grass season. I put him on Probios and the watery bum disappeared just as soon as the Probios got into his system. He stayed on it daily for the rest of his life and right to the end never had a watery bum.

I put my other horses on it, and the two surviving horses are still on it until their end times.

I don't get the philosophy of just putting a horse on probiotics for a few days after worming. If they are showing a reason to need a probiotic, IMHO they need to be on it daily the rest of their lives.

This is one thing that the best quality should be bought for the horse.

Probios is not that expensive. It can be bought as TSC but Valley Vet has the big containers a lot cheaper than the price of the equal amt. in the little containers at TSC .

I would buy a small container to see how it works, first

Your weather has been pretty wonky lately; yes we've heard about it on the Nashville stations, plus I watch Al Roker, lollol.

It is most likely playing a huge role in the chemistry of your grasses and affecting this horse's digestive tract ----- even if other horses are not affected


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## GreySorrel (Mar 5, 2012)

Not sure how picky your boy is OP but could you incorporate some plain or vanilla flavored yogurt into his grain and have him try that? Sometimes the culture in the yogurt helps coat and sooth an upset G.I. system, the horses usually like the taste and will scarf it up. 

Have you spoken to the vet about this? Asked if there is something he could take to firm up his feces? Here is an interesting article:

Lignocellulose combats watery stools in horses


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## Cmck (Aug 3, 2014)

Went through this with my guy last summer. No reason vet could determine. Had none all fall/winter/spring...but as soon as it got hot, he started poop squirts again, so I am attributing it to the heat. He has been on a probiotic (Smartpack) for almost a year. I finally tried bio sponge about 8 days ago. The powder is like cornstarch so it does not mix well into grain dry, so I stir some water in, and coat the grain up (needs 4oz. 2x/day) and he eats it right up. Fingers crossed-it has been much better, and his poop is firm.


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## Dapples123 (Jan 9, 2015)

Sometimes, the irritation in the bowel that would have started with the grass in the Spring gets into a bit of an evil circle - even though the grass is dead, his insides might be just keeping the problem going.

My guy had this. A round of anti-biotics and biosponge and it stopped and hasn't returned. You need to interrupt the cycle of irritation.


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

I'll look into Biosponge!
He is on Slippery Elm Bark powder for [previously solved, I continued the SEB as a preventative] ulcer issues, but I'll definitely look into BioSponge.


Walkin - the probiotics he was on were Probios brand probiotics.  I continued them for probably 2 months, the dose split over two feedings, before I noticed that the problem seemed to be getting worse. I took him off the Probios and his poop became somewhat firmer [mounds vs cow patties] - leading me to wonder if he's sensitive to something in the Probios...

GreySorrel - I do have some fancy-pants plain yogurt in my fridge that I'm not planning on eating, maybe he'd be into that. 
He is picky, but weird-picky. He had to be on antibiotics last September and he loved eating the pills from my hands like they were treats. But HEAVEN FORBID I try to feed him his ration balancer without making it into "soup." :rofl: :rofl:

Good point, Dapples and Cmck! I'll look into that BioSponge stuff for sure.



And yes, I did talk to the vet about it back in....May when he had a biopsy done and she wasn't too concerned. At that point, she said she had been seeing a lot of loose-poop-stuff and, as long as he wasn't losing weight [I wish he would lose weight!!], she wasn't overly concerned. But I have not re-checked-in about it recently. 

After I posted this, his poop has seemed a bit firmer - OF COURSE. Our weather has taken a dramatic turn for cooler temperatures [who knows how long that'll last!] so maybe there's a correlation?

In any case, I will definitely look into getting some BioSponge.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

Well so much for Probios being the gold standard for everyone but me:cowboy:

I have read somewhere aboutt some horses being sensitive to this weather. It makes me sick to my stomach when I have be outside working, for too long. It's reasonable to think some horses would get upset tummies, lol

I am glad things have turned around, I hope it stays that way


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## Ryle (Jul 13, 2007)

Have you talked to your vet since May to let him/her know that it is still going on? If not, that is what you should do next. Your vet may want to get a sample and send it in for a culture to see if there are bacteria or protozoa causing the issue.


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## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

Chief had the runny poos for almost a year before we got it cleared up. We gave his sand rid one week per month to get the sand out, as that was the last thing the vet could think of: sand irritation in the bowel. Like you, we tried probios and it made it worse.
Ask your vet if they think that is an acceptable route, of course. You can take some of the manure and put it in a jar or clear plastic glove and cover with water. A few hours later you can see how much sand settles out of it.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Subbing


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