My older gelding has diarreah

Pedestal*Pony · My older gelding has diarreah

I thought there was a tread on this topic but I looked and can not find it.

My older paint gelding has diarreah and has had it for a couple of weeks. He has been wormed and nothing in his feed has changed.

I feed Southern States Tripple 10 feed and he has free choice Coastal Berumida hay from round bales.

Is this something that I need to call the vet out for? He acts normal and has his usual appitite.

If I mix just regular oats in his feed, it seems to get better but not totally go away which makes me think maybe the feed he is on is possibly causing it.

He is about 20 years old. Do you think I should have him on a senior feed? He is fat and doesent need any weight. He has not lost any weight over this either. He is drinking water just fine too.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

thelmanelle

I had many older guys and went to senior feed, but it can cause choking. They do not salivate as much. So I went to pellets and soaked them for the horse(s). They need a little bit higher protein....14%. If you give oats, steamed , crimped as they grow older they do not digest the whole oat?

That is what I learned.

Plus, if really poor I bought cheap vegetable oil and put a 1/2 cup a day for extra calories or weight gain.

My guy lived to be 32 and only had to be put down because he was attacked by either a pack of dogs or coyotes.

He came up needing to be put down. I called the vet and fed him as gave pain killers. And did the right thing as we had nothing to work with after the attack. But, he was a strong horse for many years. As he got older, he separated himself or the other horses separated him and it led to the event.

He was my first horse. He taught me much. Even about feeding older horses! I was blessed to have him.

learningthedance

Probiotics may help especially if he has been wormed recently. Mine get them once a week regardless.

Pedestal*Pony

PasoBaby_CarolU

You can feed him probiotics (the organisms) and prebiotics (the nutrients for the organisms to survive). You can buy them in a tube (like wormer paste)...one squirt and you know he gets them. They also come in a powder and I'd buy that and top dress it and put it on his feed daily. This isn't as sure if he's sharing feed, but all older horses benefit by it...it's like Activa for horses. :-)

The Senior feeds all have probios in them. I've never had a problem with choke in an older horse. You might feed some hay and then the pellets and then the rest of the hay meal. They need hay for fiber anyway.

If it doesn't clear up I'd call a GOOD vet and get a stool sample. He may have an intestinal bacterial infection that is out competing the digestive bacteria. I wouldn't let it go too long before doing something. They get dehydrated.

Pedestal*Pony

Ok, I will try the probiotics and prebiotics. I may just switch him over to a senior feed anyways. He has free choice hay in the pasture. I have a round bale for them.

I bring them in their stalls at feed time to eat and turn them back out in the pasture. I dont believe in feeding loose in the pasture because it just dont work out.

I am going to have a vet come out to pull coggins this week on all my horses so I may talk to him about my gelding. He is just a small animal vet but he grew up with horses so I will just ask him.

4theloveofjake

Hey Jodi, Jake had the hershey squirts for 6 months and at the recommedation of an equine therapist here I started using a dimataceous earth blend called Geobond, no more squirts. I also used the powdered probiotics to calm his tummy while it was going on still, kinda like pepto bismol for horsies. I bought that at the feed store too.