UPDATE- Bio Sponge for Horses with Recurrent Diarrhea- Maintenance Dose working well

[hey101]

I am finishing up a 7-day course of Platinum Performance’s Bio Sponge and am very, very pleased with the results!

My mare has had frequent bouts of diarrhea for years, despite never-ending experiments (and $$!) with probiotics, ulcer meds, feed, hay, etc. Even when it’s “better”, the diarrhea is never really gone and nothing has really ever worked for very long. Even if not full-blown diarrhea, her manure is always very very loose.

A friend with a similar story told me about this product so I decided to try it. After 7 days she actually has horse-apple poop instead of loose gooey piles, for the first time since I’ve owned her! And I haven’t had to clean her butt or back legs all week. :lol:

My friends’ horse never had to use anything again after the one 7-day course, so I’m very hopeful this is the case for my mare too.

I know there are always a lot of posts on here from people whose horses have similar issues, so hopefully this will help someone else’s horse too. I’ll post in a few days with an update. Fingers crossed!

[Long_Spot]

I haven’t had to use it, but my vet swears by it.

[sublimequine]

Is it a paste, or powder? Also is it a medication, or a supplement? ie, can you buy it or do you need to get it from your vet?

My mare has had loose manure since I bought her. It’s never diarrhea, but always “cow patty”. I too have tried everything under the sun to no avail. She’s healthy otherwise and the vet has told me not to worry as long as she’s staying well hydrated, but it sure would be nice to find a solution.

[hey101]

it’s a supplement and I ordered it right from Platinum Performance’s website:
http://www.platinumperformance.com/Bio-Sponge0153/productinfo/EBIOP4/

I ordered the 4lb size and they shipped it to me overnight even though I just selected standard ground shipping. So between the efficacy of the product and the speed and value of the service, I am a very satisfied customer! Believe me, if all it takes is one order of a $30 product, I will be beyond ecstatic. I don’t even want to think about all the money I’ve spent on various things over the years… even worse that they didn’t really work!

[pintopiaffe]

It is a literal life saver for foal scours, so I certainly would go to it quickly in a case like your horse’s.

Have you ever COMPLETELY ENTIRELY removed all soy and all alfalfa?

[_bj]

Ok, you’re luring me out of “lurk-dom” with this post.
Because this is an aggravating problem!

I have been battling a diarrhea with my 5 yr old gelding for a couple of months. Actually BioSponge was one of the first things I tried (along with probois and ration plus). It did help some. I went thru 2 weeks of it and had ordered a 21 lb bucket when, for some reason, my boy impacted. 15 liters of fluid later, well, I had just thought he had had diarrhea, but after he “got rid of the impaction and extra fluids” he firmed right up. To almost normal. Strange, but I’ll take it. I removed all concentrates from his diet then and have not added them back yet. It has been about 2 weeks, and now his manure goes from a soft normal to a “too soft” normal with some water before and after. Without an obvious change in diet……maybe a little more grass or a little more hay but without adding or removing anything specific.
While I am happy with the improvement I would like to find the cause. I have not added back the Bio Sponge yet for that reason.

I have owned him since Feb. but previous owners had no problem.
CBC/Chem and fibrogen all normal, never sick or off feed. Just a little “ADR” some days.

His diet here was 1 ½ lbs oats, 1lb ration balancer, salt and flax, grass hay and grazing and 4 lbs alfalfa hay…per day.

Logic would say lush grass and clover, got worse when I restricted his grazing (impaction), better when on grass and alfalfa only (after the colic)……

I didn’t mean to hijack your thread, although I really don’t know what that means…… I just figured that folks with diarrhea problems would be reading and if yours is anything like mine, it’s frustrating and the more ideas and experiences the better.

Bio sponge is an awesome product. It binds to and removes toxins and some bacteria……but unless that is what you’re working with, I wonder if it’s just masking the problem if it’s used long term……
And you are right, they are a great company to work with. I’m debating on changing the Ration Balancer to their Platinum Performance supplement. They sent samples and I’m trying them now.

[hey101]

@pintopiaffe;4949703

It is a literal life saver for foal scours, so I certainly would go to it quickly in a case like your horse’s.

Have you ever COMPLETELY ENTIRELY removed all soy and all alfalfa?

Funny you mention this though, because yet another friend at my barn had luck with this problem by moving to a 100% alfalfa diet. And yet still another person had the exact opposite- success by moving to 100% timothy. When I first got her I had my own place and she was on orchard grass/ timothy/ pasture but still had the diarrhea. I added alfalfa in and out but saw no change. She has been boarded for the past three years on a 50/50 timothy/ alfalfa mix. Because I board her I do not have any control over the hay quality and source, and I noticed that sometimes- but not always- her “worse than normal” bouts were due to a change in hay. But then sometimes the hay would change and she’d be fine and sometimes it wouldn’t change and she’d be a poopy mess.

So I’m going to evaluate how the bio-sponge withdrawal goes over the next week or so without making any hay changes, and then I’m going to do a month of all alfalfa followed by a month of all timothy to see if things are better/ worse/ the same.

BJ- you aren’t hijacking! That’s why I posted this, so other people who are dealing with this can maybe get an idea of something else new to try a little sooner than I did.

[_bj]

Hey, posting might be fun! If I can stay away from those train wrecks!

My plan is similar to yours. With all that “it could be” I decided that when we saw an improvement after the colic, ON grass and the rich clover but no concentrates, thats where I would start.

Actually the clover has died way back since the rain has stopped and the heat hasn’t, so it must not have been that.

I have been wondering about the fescue hay, although that is what is in my pasture (along with crab grass, clover and bermuda) but I’m going to wait a bit to change it. I am thinking of testing it though just to see…

Apparently it is not the alfalfa either.

Other things on the list are: adding back the probis and ration plus, ulcergard and a quest, He did have an equimax in april. I don’t know about that med they sometimes use for RDC, colon ulcers…maybe worth a shot
Even thinking about Succeed, but I usually don’t use things that do not list ingredients…

It is hard waiting enough time between changes…and how long do you think that should be? who knows?

He is 75% better than he was before so I shouldn’t be complaining.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[TrakeGirl]

Okay - sorta related - but my horse started a random course of runny poo at the beginning of May. No changes in grain, hay, location, turnout, etc…

HOWEVER…I had put a salt block in his feed tub in April sometime to combat him gulping his grain down (he has had a few choke episodes due to bolting dry pellets). The barn feeds a very moist pellet/beet pulp mixture to him now and I noticed the salt block was wearing away very quickly - probably from the water in the beet pulp combined with him licking the bowl so much to get his grain.

I read somewhere on here that too much salt can also cause runny poo.

I removed the salt block from the bucket and put it back in the holder on the wall and presto - back to normal poo in a week.

Just another something to throw out there.

[FatPalomino]

[QUOTE=*bj;4949864]
I went thru 2 weeks of it and had ordered a 21 lb bucket when, for some reason, my boy impacted. 15 liters of fluid later, well, I had just thought he had had diarrhea, but after he “got rid of the impaction and extra fluids” he firmed right up.[/QUOTE]

Out this way, Bio Sponge is a bit tricky to get your hands on. I believed it was labeled only for sale “through a licensed veterinarian”, but not as a prescription. This is one of the reasons why- mis-use ca cause serious issues like constipation.

It’s a fantastic problem (we’ve used it for endotoxin related issues, for which it has never let me down) but always consult with a vet. I have heard of one old, rescue horse that has to live on it, but at that point, it’s a argument of quality vs quantity of life.

[_bj]

Gosh, same here. In addition to a little I put in his feed,I had loose salt and loose mineral mix in his stall. I doubt he had free salt before and he was eating it pretty regular. I could regulate it somewhat better than a block though. When his “loosey poo” started in early may I had the same thought and stopped filling his free choice feeders.

I just don’t know.

I did have a mare who, when stalled, would eat a 50lb block in no time, drink and pee a river. It did effect her general health, hair coat and body condiditon. All tests came back fine, it was a behavior, a bad one, and I don’t remember her having diarrhea.

[_bj]

Trakegirl, what part of the country are you in? Mine started in may too. I’m in GA and we have had some strange weather for about a year. Wonder if something has happened to the grass or if an odd weed is about? Like I said before, the clover is unbelievabe. It took over where the floods last fall drowned the grass.

FatPalomino, actually I worked closely with the company and my vet and 14 days was not considered mis-use at all. They also said that it would not cause constipation when dosed properly, which it was. Like you said, in some cases it may be given for long periods of time with no ill effects. Now that being said, we do not know why he had an impaction…it could have been from being dehydrated because of the diarrhea and our heat. It could have been because we restricted his grazing and alfalfa a little too much. It could have been the biosponge. but I really don’t think so…I have no idea. Also odd that the diarrhea subsided about 75% immeadiately following the impaction. The whole thing is odd. And aggravating because its just so hard doing an exclusion diet for a horse.

Thanks for all the ideas.

[Puddin_Pie]

Just out of curiosity, What exactly is a bio sponge? I saw the container from PP sitting on the vet desk yesterday when up at the clinic and meant to ask and then stumbled on this thread. The name just cracks me up-anyone else remember the Seindfeld episode of “Spongeworthy?” Sorry, just a bit off topic.

[Katy_Watts]

[QUOTE=hey101;4949900]
Because I board her I do not have any control over the hay quality and source, and I noticed that sometimes- but not always- her “worse than normal” bouts were due to a change in hay. But then sometimes the hay would change and she’d be fine and sometimes it wouldn’t change and she’d be a poopy mess. .[/QUOTE]

Because sometimes timothy is really high in sugar, and sometimes low in sugar. Lots of horses get the runs from switch to high sugar hay. It’s NOT about the type of hay, its about the conditions under which it is grown.
The Biosponge works because it is soaking up the toxins produced by lactic acid bacteria that bloom on the sugar/fructan in the timothy. If you want to eliminate the source of the problem rather than treat one symptom, test the hay and make sure you are not feeding something REALLY high. When you get a batch that causes diarrhea, soaking the excess sugar and fructan out for a couple hours should help. PIA, I know, but it’s free. And hope your horse is not prone to laminitis, PSSM or any other form of carb intolerance.
Katy

[hey101]

Katy, that’s interesting, it didn’t occur to me that timothy could really vary that much but of course now thinking about it, it makes sense depending on growing conditions, etc. Alfalfa is the hay that is generally high in sugar, correct? The alfalfa at my barn is overall much more consistent in quality than the timothy which can be good or absolute crap (and she is very clear about which timothy it is by either eating every scrap or peeing on it and then laying in it!)

Hmm, so now I’m even more curious to see how my hay experiments over the next two months go. If having a 100% alfalfa diet of mostly consistent quality (and sugar content) vs. 100% timothy which may vary depending on the quality of the batch of timothy.

At least she’s starting from a good base-zero with her diarrhea cleared up (for now).

The rest of her diet is pretty minimal- a little wet non-molasses beet pulp (mostly to hide all of her probiotics!), rice bran pellets, and a multivitamin, fed once a day. No grain.

If the alfalfa works I may take her off the beet pulp completely since (fingers crossed) I won’t need to feed the probiotics anymore.

tinker, tinker, tinker. Four years later, still tinkering. :sigh: Arrgh!

[hey101]

@TrakeGirl;4950148

I read somewhere on here that too much salt can also cause runny poo.

I removed the salt block from the bucket and put it back in the holder on the wall and presto - back to normal poo in a week.

Just another something to throw out there.

I think you are right that he was eating so much salt that he was also drinking a ton of water, which made his poo loose.

I don’t think this is the case for my horse- her salt block has sat mostly unlicked in her bucket (separate bucket from what I feed her in) for well over a year. But it’s an interesting thought to put out here for other folks!

[Katy_Watts]

[QUOTE=hey101;4951179 Alfalfa is the hay that is generally high in sugar, correct? [/QUOTE]

No. Alfalfa tends to be lower in sugar than grass, although both can vary considerably due to growing conditions or stage of growth.

[hey101]

@Katy Watts;4951388

No. Alfalfa tends to be lower in sugar than grass, although both can vary considerably due to growing conditions or stage of growth.

Well that’s hopeful! The alfalfa is the better quality hay anyway at my barn (cheaper too :D) and if your experience is that horses on high levels of sugar get diarrhea…

Pardon the thread digression but since you obviously know way more about hay than I do, why is it so many folks have a conniption about feeding all alfalfa then? Is it because of the high levels of calcium? I will probably have to give a mineral balancer if the all-alfalfa diet works out, do you think?

Tx for the continued input!

[Katy_Watts]

[QUOTE=hey101;4951396]

why is it so many folks have a conniption about feeding all alfalfa then? [/QUOTE]

When you find out, please let me know. Seems folks have a lot of theories, but fail to have any facts to back them up. Actually, I prefer to not feed straight alfalfa here, as our dairy quality stuff runs 25-28% protein and a RFV of 230-250. I have fed some rained on, overmature alfalfa that tested 22% CP. Enough excess protein that if one kept horses in stalls the ammonia would be bad for their lungs. But I understand the alfalfa in CA, especially that grown in hot weather, is not so high.

You are still playing blind man’s bluff by not testing your hay.

[Whitfield_Farm_Hanov]

Just my 2 cents worth (& it may be truly only worth that) why don’t you all take your horses off of everything except for a great quality, tested hay & platinum performance general supplement which has bio-sponge in it. That way they’ll get everything they need, plus the bio-sponge in a normal daily dose that can be used forever, plus their gastric/ulcer risks would be minimized. Then if they need more calories you can slowly add something back in like the new feed by Buckeye I think is called Gut Health made just for the type of problems you’re all having.
I’m thinking of trying to get the Gut Health for my group just because…