[ponygirl]

I'm at about my wits end with a 6 week old filly that does not seem to be responding to Gastroguard (and friends)as she continues to eat more and more dirt. We have her on an arsenal of stuff. Biosponge, GG, sulcrafate, psyllium, probiotics, rantiditine... you get the idea. NOTHING seems to be helping. In fact, I think it's getting worse the older she gets. Blood has been pulled to see what her protein levels say. Should get that back tomorrow. Has anyone had a foal like this? I put her out and she digs a hole, eats dirt then looks in my general direction as I'm having internal kittens about it. It's a vicious circle- the sand, diarrhea, etc, etc and the only way I can break the dirt eating is to stall her. I don't like doing that but I'm out of ideas.

[Laurierace]

Just curious why you think it is ulcers. If it did not respond to gastrogard, the real stuff not compounded I doubt that is the problem. At the very least it isn't the whole problem. The things that immediately springs to mind as possibilities is parasites and mineral deficiency. If you haven't already double dose her with panacur or strongid and start her on foal aide or rejuvenaide.

As an aside, I had a foal last year that sounds sort of similar. He had runny poop for weeks that didn't respond to anything we tried which were the same things you have tried. He was not eating dirt though. Anyway one day I saw him absolutely crane his neck to an impossible length and was licking his Mom's Himalayan salt block. I took that out of the stall and his poop was normal in a day or two. Jingles for your little one.

[Dutch]

I had a foal that insisted on eating sand/crusher dust - I could hear the crunching in her mouth! Treated for ulcers, worms and also used Biosponge.
The de-wormer was really hard on her, and I am sure the problem was the sand/crusher dust ingested. It may have started as ulcers, but quickly became the vicious you spoke about. Oh yes, tried psillium too. I think the sand abraded her intestinal track. In the end, I did stall her until I could move her to another paddock. Only then did she recover. She did not have a "normal" diarhrhea - very watery almost clear, and then more solid lumps. Clearly, her tummy was bothering her - pressing butt against the wall. Also, as Laurierace says, remove the salt block, just in case. Too much salt can cause problems in foals.

[JB]

What is her diet, if anything other than mom's milk and hay/grass?

I would agree it may wall be a mineral issue. I've had bouts of dirt-eating with my adult horses, and every time, as soon as I force-feed a Dynamite product called Izmine, which is silica-based, they stop in about 2 days.

[ponygirl]

Just curious why you think it is ulcers. If it did not respond to gastrogard, the real stuff not compounded I doubt that is the problem. At the very least it isn't the whole problem. The things that immediately springs to mind as possibilities is parasites and mineral deficiency. If you haven't already double dose her with panacur or strongid and start her on foal aide or rejuvenaide. .

I just posted a long response that got eaten. The filly was born and shortly thereafter was grinding teeth and rolling up on her back. Classic signs of ulcers and her mom had placentitis so was on high doses of banamine. It made sense given the drug cocktail momma was on. The filly has been wormed with Panacur and has been on Rejuvenaide. All was well until about a week ago. I did remove Rejuvenaide Plus as I was having a hell of a time getting it into her as well as her GastroGuard(real stuff) solo so opted for the GG. I currently have friends helping me out to get all the other things into her as it's a two man job for get everything into her. Currently she hates me.

As an aside, I had a foal last year that sounds sort of similar. He had runny poop for weeks that didn't respond to anything we tried which were the same things you have tried. He was not eating dirt though. Anyway one day I saw him absolutely crane his neck to an impossible length and was licking his Mom's Himalayan salt block. I took that out of the stall and his poop was normal in a day or two. Jingles for your little one.

There are no salt blocks in the foaling stall. I greatly appreciate your response. As I said I'm at my wits end and am awaiting protein test results.

[ponygirl]

What is her diet, if anything other than mom's milk and hay/grass?

I would agree it may wall be a mineral issue. I've had bouts of dirt-eating with my adult horses, and every time, as soon as I force-feed a Dynamite product called Izmine, which is silica-based, they stop in about 2 days.

Mom gets TC Growth with Vit E supplement. She gets O&A hay- as much as she can eat.

[JB]

Who gets the O&A hay - mom, mom and foal, or foal?

The O part, assuming it's oats, may be too much starch for the foal.

[Callaway]

I think 'O' is orchard grass. Be sure that the foal is not eating mom's feed. That caused one of my foals to be persistently colicky last year. Have you had a CBC done on her?

[ponygirl]

The O is for Orchard grass. Blood was pulled yesterday to run a few tests. I should get that back today. The TC Growth feed the filly gets very little of if anything as momma is like a lab- head in feed bucket and she doesn't come up for air till it's gone.