[Serpentines]

My mare has had loose stool and intermittent diarrhea for about 10 days. She had something similar a few years and was diagnosed with having some sand in her gut so I called the vet to ask for advice. She recommended the same treatment as last time and wasn't overly concerned by the symptoms my mare had. (This was all done over the phone)

I've been giving her 5 oz. psyllium pellets, 3 tsp probiotic powder, and 1 tbsp loose salt every day, for the past 8/9 days. I've seen some improvement as now about 50% of her manure piles are fine but the rest is loose. My concern is it's been over a week and she still isn't fully better.

She had a FEC done in April which was low and was dewormed with Ivermectin. She hasn't been dewormed since then. She is on a dry lot and gets alfalfa/timothy hay and a ration balancer. She isn't showing any other symptoms (no fever, not lethargic, no colic signs, good appetite, drinking fine, etc.) but I'm worried about how slow going improvement seems to be. I'm thinking about getting the vet out come first thing Monday. Is it normal for it to take this long to resolve if it is sand? Any ideas as to what else it could be?

 

[farmpony84]

Take a few of those apples and drop them in a bucket of water. Give it about a half hour to soak in and then slowly poor the water out to see if there is sand at the bottom of the bucket.

I personally would go ahead and give a round of ulcer guard as well. Sand can irritate the intestines. I had this happen to my old guy a few years ago and I ended up having to do antibiotics as well.

Have you checked her for a temperature?

 

[Serpentines]

I'll do that bucket test today then, thanks for the advice. Have checked for a temp a few times throughout the week and it's never been over 101 F so no fever.

 

[Yogiwick]

I second the ulcergard, I would do a course of a week or two tapering the dose.