# to say runny poop would be an understatement



## Left Hand Percherons (Feb 1, 2011)

You've most likely completely knocked the bacterial flora in her hindgut out of whack with the power pac. Get her on a daily double dose of pre/probiotic for at least a week. Also look at her new feed. She could have a sensitivity to something in it most likely alfalfa.


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## Miloismyboy (Aug 18, 2009)

okay, off the phone with vet... yes, probiotics were advised as well as Bio-Sponge and to completely take her off grain, so... anyone have any experience with Bio-Sponge?


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

The new grass can cause the looseness. The horses shouldn't spend much time on the grass now anyway as the cool nights and warm days are a recipe for founder. Dandelions can do this too and the thistles with the little yellow blossoms at the top of the plant. Watery stool generally calls for electrolytes to be administered such as gator aide.


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## Left Hand Percherons (Feb 1, 2011)

I tried Bio Sponge once on a bad case of diarrhea. I didn't get any improvements with it. It's nothing more than DE which you can pick up in the chicken department of your local feed store for much, much cheaper.


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## Miloismyboy (Aug 18, 2009)

Thankfully I'm blessed with a wonderful vet who goes above and beyond, I drove up to his office today and picked up enough for a week for $10. He said if I don't see an improvement in 48 hours to double the dose...and call him in a week. Absolutely no grain, just probiotics, Bio-Sponge and pasture. I'll be happy to see cow patties at this point.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

This is kind of troubling to me because my 18 yr old mare also has cow patties, ever since I bought her really. Her stool is almost normal with a grass/alfalfa mix and cow patties with straight alfalfa. I have been under the assumption it is a sensitivity to alfalfa, which is practically the only hay I can get. :-(

Anyway, I was just thinking I should do the Power Pack because I have never done that with my horses, although I have dewormed them rotationally very faithfully.

Now I'm not so sure the Power Pack is a good idea!


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## Horse Poor (Aug 20, 2008)

Left Hand Percherons said:


> It's nothing more than DE which you can pick up in the chicken department of your local feed store for much, much cheaper.


Ummm…NO it is not like diatomaceous earth (DE) - Bio Sponge is Di-tri-octahedral smectite, a form of bentonite clay.


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## Eolith (Sep 30, 2007)

I don't know that this is remotely helpful, but my mustang colt was having runny poo issues for a while until I cut alfalfa completely out of his diet. On just grassy hay he's returned to the normal poo consistency you'd expect from a horse.


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## Miloismyboy (Aug 18, 2009)

Well, regarding alfalfa.. the feed she used to be on was just hay stretcher to supplement a lean pasture, alfalfa is the 4th ingredient listed in there. I'm switching her over to a feed where alfalfa is the 5th ingredient down on the list. My gut isn't telling me it's the feed, although my gut has been wrong before apparently! I do see how the PowerPac could possibly have messed up the flora in her hind gut as Left Hand Percherons had mentioned, Vet explained the likelihood of that as well, but it was necessary to do in order to target the strongyles that were causing the problem in the first place, I just really don't like the water hose full of sewage effect that's been displayed ever since and I'm sure the poor girl doesn't like it either! I gave her the first dose of Bio-Sponge and Probios last night, hopefully She'll get some relief soon. 

@Trailhorserider.. I take care of 4 horses, all were given the PowerPac, only this horse is having this issue, the other 3 never got the runs, vet said I should expect to see loose stool towards the 4 and 5 day of dosing, I have weird horses.


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## Left Hand Percherons (Feb 1, 2011)

Horse Poor said:


> Ummm…NO it is not like diatomaceous earth (DE) - Bio Sponge is Di-tri-octahedral smectite, a form of bentonite clay.


And the bag of DE I have says it's Calcium Bentonite.


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## Horse Poor (Aug 20, 2008)

Left Hand Percherons said:


> And the bag of DE I have says it's Calcium Bentonite.


And sodium bentonite is kitty litter, but one is not a substitute, or interchangeable for the other. Neither is bio-sponge. Considering how DE works, I personally, would not use it on any horse that had intestinal or gastric upset. Doing no harm is not the same as doing any good.


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

My 28 year old has a looser poop. He went through about a 2 year stint where he had poop that was so loose that it almost looked like water when it came out and it landed in a big loose flat pile. The vet was out several times, we did blood work and dewormer, we also did sandclear, and yogurt. Then we gave him a five day powder pack of antibiotics. It helped alot so our only geuss was that he had scratched his intestines when he sand coliced the summer before.

I also switched him from equine senior to triple crowne senior and that was a massive difference. He's down to only 4 teeth now so I have him on a tiny pelleted feed that is almost powder. His poop is still a looser than a "normal" horse but it's much better.... He's also a couple hundred pounds heavier now then he was before...


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## CiscoKidd (Dec 5, 2008)

Hi,

I dealt with diarrhea recently with my horse. His diarrhea ranged from "cow patties" to projectile. I had to clean his butt and back legs daily, very tough during the winter! 

He maintained his weight, ate normal, drank normal, just had diarrhea. Everything checked out normal with the vet. I tried BioSponge and it did not help at all. I stopped feeding him alfalfa grass mix hay thinking the alf was causing the loose stools- nothing changed. I tried every probiotic under the sun to no avail. My vet recommended slippery elm, which _finally_ dried him up. Slippery elm turns from a powder to a gel during digestion and coats the hind gut. All winter he got slippery elm twice a day, along with yea-sacc once a day. I recently started giving him slippery elm once a day and he has continued to have normal stools. He does have a bad day once in awhile, but the difference is huge. 

It is such a frustrating problem! I hope your horse starts doing better soon.


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## Ladytrails (Jul 28, 2010)

Cisco, I read your post with interest. I have a 33 year old who occasionally gets runny poop. It's always cleared up with Fastrack probiotics or the equivalent from Brookside. However it's great to know about slippery elm! He's so lean that if he gets runny poop he can drop weight quite fast, so this is a great tip.


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## Miloismyboy (Aug 18, 2009)

Thank you for the info Cisco! I will look into that if what I'm doing now doesn't help. Today begins day 3 of no grain, a dose of Bio-Sponge and Probios. I was with her yesterday and we've improved from liquid projectile green sewage back to cow patties, I'm actually quite happy we are back to cow patties! I definitely know what you mean about having to clean their back end on a daily basis. I'm going to give the Bio-sponge and Probios a full week and if I'm still at the cow pattie stage I'll do the research and ask the vet about Slippery Elm, yea.. I do a ton of research before I put anything into my horses but it sounds like you've had a good result so I'm definitely encouraged!


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## CiscoKidd (Dec 5, 2008)

Miloismyboy said:


> Thank you for the info Cisco! I will look into that if what I'm doing now doesn't help. Today begins day 3 of no grain, a dose of Bio-Sponge and Probios. I was with her yesterday and we've improved from liquid projectile green sewage back to cow patties, I'm actually quite happy we are back to cow patties! I definitely know what you mean about having to clean their back end on a daily basis. I'm going to give the Bio-sponge and Probios a full week and if I'm still at the cow pattie stage I'll do the research and ask the vet about Slippery Elm, yea.. I do a ton of research before I put anything into my horses but it sounds like you've had a good result so I'm definitely encouraged!


Glad you are seeing improvement with your horse! I do a lot of research before giving my horse anything too- defiantly understand that. From my research and my vets advice, it is important to buy the organic slippery elm. I give my horse Starwest Botanicals Slippery Elm. It is USDA organic. I hope you start seeing even more improvement with your horse soon!


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