# smelly poop



## loveduffy (Dec 22, 2011)

my question is what are you feeding, some feeds do that to horses, I would also have the vet check his teeth some time that could case a smell


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## Oldhorselady (Feb 7, 2012)

That is so funny that you say this....Two days ago, one of my mare's manure was more ploppy and wet than usual and I thought it stunk like a port-o-potty. Everything looked good, mare is fine. Maybe a change in the colder weather spurt around here?


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

He only has four teeth. I'm feeding ADM and he's been on it for a few years now. No change in feed. The poop is always softer like a cow patty, it's been that way for a few years now, it's just an age related type of thing. The smell of the poop is the concern for me. I wonder if it is weather related? We did go from 60/70 to snowing today?


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

Something is amiss in his digestive area. I definitely would not wait for the appointment in three weeks; especially since he is up there in years.

First be sure it isn't a tooth infection. If you smell into his nostrils and you can't smell anything, it most likely is not an infected or abscessed tooth (even though he only has four there could still be problems).

Also, smell his breath. Infection OR a stomach sour smell will be noticeable if something is wrong. The severe sour smell was apparent in my horse with hind gut ulcers right before he colicked. Now that I know better, I am always smelling his breath.

That all being said, your horse can still have something very wrong somewhere in the digestive tract or vital organs (including spleen) and still not have bad breath. Which I why I don't think it prudent to wait three weeks for your normal appointment.

Is his stomach on the bloated side? How about his sheath - does it appear puffier than what is normal for him?

One of my horses had what I refer to as "cow bloat". He also had so much methane gas that, not only could he have blown up the barn, but I could hear him 1,200 feet away, on the ridge:shock::shock:

The vet's best guess was an upset in his liver or spleen. In my case the horse was put on prescription herbs, which fixed him.

Since it turned out that three of my four horses ended up with some sort of digestive problems, I can only conclude the vit/min supplement they were eating had fermented. I keep it in the house and the expiry was 10/13 but nonetheless I noticed it had a strong alcohol smell to it.

Is there a chance your current bag of ADM got damp and fermented? None of us look at the expiry date on feed bags but we should. Maybe it's outdated, especially if you're only feeding one horse and 50 lbs takes a long time to use up?

What about hay? Is it on the musty smelling side? Maybe some clover in a few bales that normally isn't there?

Just anything out of the ordinary, even though you haven't changed anything --- makes ya crazy under those conditions:?

At any rate, the manure has an excessive smell because something's going on internally - I can't believe it's the weather. I might believe change in seasons because grasses do change with the seasons but, weather doesn't change the smell of manure:-(


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

My hay is good and I go through the ADM about a bag per day. (2 feedings / 5 horses). I did start his monthly does of sandclear today - which I think I missed last month.

I'll smell the breath when I get home. Sheeth is fine. I'll have to pull his blanket to check his gut etc. Thanks for the tips. I'll update tonight. I wonder if I should feed probiotics today....?


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## whitney66 (Jan 18, 2013)

I have a mid 20's Arabian Mare which has always had soft cowpie type manure. I have started her on probiotics this week to see if that can correct her softer manure. Someone mentioned to me that it could be the flora I believe that is off in her intestinal tract and that probiotics should help correct that, we will see. It is suppose to take a month to see changes, I will let you know how it turns out.


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

Well... I do feed round bales (I keep them in the barn and peel them) but I started thinking about what everyone said about the hay being a potential issue. I do keep about 10 square bales on hand for emergency's (such as... I run out of round bale and husband doesn't pick up a new one). So last night I started him on his sand clear and I gave him some square flakes. He can't really eat the hay because he doesn't have teeth so he chews it into a cud and then spits it out but I did notice last night the smell was less rank and this morning, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

I'm still going to keep an eye though.


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