Chronic "runny butt" liquid gas

[SugarCubes]

My 16 year old gelding has been having this issue for the past year and a half or so. He dribbles liquid down his hind legs, bad enough that it requires a daily butt bath. I’ve tried different probiotics, gut health supplements, and he is currently on Digest More - none have made any difference. My vet pretty much blew off the issue and just said sometimes it’s common in older horses.

His manure is loosely formed, not cow patty-like, but also not formed into solid balls. He has runny liquid accompany his manure, and also when he has gas you can expect a large dribble of liquid.

He hates being groomed, especially around his belly and flanks and will make evil faces and threaten to kick. He’s been scoped for ulcers and was all clear, but what about hind gut ulcers? Could this point to something going on in his hindgut?

He gets regular FECs and is wormed accordingly. His diet and turnout regimen is consistant. He is a REALLY good drinker - so maybe that is all that it is?

Any ideas?

[Jo]

I could’ve written this post. My mare had the same thing on and off for a while. We tried her on daily Succeed and it got better but over the winter developed into major poop butt. We pulled a fecal, bloodwork, etc. and she was diagnosed with inflammatory lower bowel disease. Her diet was DRASTICALLY changed - hardly any hay and switch to a large quantity of senior feed, plus a month or so of the Succeed paste and an upped dosage of the powder afterwards. The diet change helped immensely - like immediately.

Hope this helps…?

[joiedevie99]

You can ultrasound the colon and do a fecal occult blood test to test for hind gut ulcers. It’s not perfect, but it can give you an idea. My vet does sucralfate and misoprostol along with diet changes (no long stem hay for 3 months) for treatment.

[outerbanks77]

What is he eating?

I had a mare with similar issues and getting her off of soy helped. Also, make sure he’s not eating stemmy hay.

I put her on a clay supplement for a month or so as well as the priobiotics and that seemed to help her heal, and then she was fine as long as I kept her of anything soy.

[SugarCubes]

@Jo

I could’ve written this post. My mare had the same thing on and off for a while. We tried her on daily Succeed and it got better but over the winter developed into major poop butt. We pulled a fecal, bloodwork, etc. and she was diagnosed with inflammatory lower bowel disease. Her diet was DRASTICALLY changed - hardly any hay and switch to a large quantity of senior feed, plus a month or so of the Succeed paste and an upped dosage of the powder afterwards. The diet change helped immensely - like immediately.

Hope this helps…?

Interesting…I was actually about to order Succeed to see if it made a difference but maybe I’ll wait until I can get the vet out again. What specifically should I ask for, just a fecal and bloodwork?

Joie - I’ll ask about an ultrasound too, good idea.

Outer - He gets 3lbs EQ8, 3lbs Safe & Easy, and 1 C of Gro N Win per day (twice daily feedings) Free choice grass hay, he’s currently at my trainer’s so I don’t have much input on his diet at the moment, however, I’m moving him back home this weekend and can play around with changing things up. The only supplement he is currently getting is Digest More http://biozymeinc.com/vitalize/product/?id=1878

[SugarCubes]

Jo - Did you switch your horse to alfalfa cubes or anything to replace the forage? What about pasture turn out? When he’s at my house he has 24/7 dry lot access from his stall, with 1/2 daily pasture turnout…

[joiedevie99]

SugarCubes - Luckily my horse did not have hind gut ulcers, so our discussions were only theoretical. I believe the vet said we’d switch to soaked hay pellets if the test was positive, but there may be other options. My horse’s ulcers were stomach only - which is a totally different beast.

[BadTB]

Sounds just like my horse! It was a diet change that eventually helped him. No grain (I mix a powdered vit/min supplement with soaked beet pulp twice daily), and first cut local grass hay or Timothy. Any other hay and he gets the loose poops and liquid again.

[Surfer913]

I had a horse with this issue and my vet suggested sandclear which contains psyllium seed husk… he started on that and I believe they are fed it once a month for a week and I was amazed how well it worked for him. Horses can accumulate sand in their gut that doesn’t get cleared out and ends up just sitting at the bottom of their colon and irritating them from time to time. I noticed my guy getting runny usually after a heavy rainstorm, something about the wet grass would give him flare ups. He passed away last summer due to something unrelated, and I actually have a good amount (1/2 a large bucket) left of the stuff, if you’d be interested in buying it off of me and trying it out let me know! It’s just sitting at my house right now. It really worked wonders for him!

[Jo]

@SugarCubes

Jo - Did you switch your horse to alfalfa cubes or anything to replace the forage? What about pasture turn out? When he’s at my house he has 24/7 dry lot access from his stall, with 1/2 daily pasture turnout…

Minimal forage - 1 flake AM and 1 PM - she was out on pasture but was restricted to a smaller contained area where the grass wasn’t as plentiful. She was upped to 10 lbs. of Senior which was a big jump from what she was previously eating.

I checked my E-mails and he ran a Succeed fecal blood test on her. I would ask for that…?

[RedHorses]

While mine didn’t get to the cow patty poop point he did get excess liquid with his poop. Part of his problem is a sensitivity to flax - makes him gassier and irritates his hindgut causing the excess liquid. But the long term major cause was encysted strongyles. Once those were taken care of his liquid issue has been due to something he ate. I tried him on roasted soybeans and he reacted badly so flax and soy are forbidden.

I heard of horses reacting similarly to alfalfa when I was searching for an answer for mine.

In my experience the excess liquid issue improved within a few days when the offending food was removed from the horse’s diet. You might try (when you get him home) hay only for a week and see if he improves. If he does, then you can add one feed back at time (giving him a few days between adds) and see if anything triggers the liquid. It can take several days - I think mine had his soy reaction on the third or fourth day.

If you haven’t been doing so get a fecal count as well. If worms need to be addressed do another fecal afterwards to ensure your dewormer was effective.

[2tempe]

My (gray-white!) horse had this starting last December. we tinkered w/ hay, tried pro bio’s, did the psyllium thing, nothing seemed to work. Vet put the horse on Metronidazole for an extended period: starting at 10 pills 2x per day and tapered down gradually over 8-10 weeks. Also dosed w/ Quest Plus I think 3 weeks apart. General diagnosis was low grade colitis. Anyway, it worked - pretty much in the first few days, so haven’t had a problem since late January.

[Jo]

@2tempe

Also dosed w/ Quest Plus I think 3 weeks apart.

Yes - I forgot this part - did the 5 day Panacur Powerpack as well.