Sand colic

[mad for mini's]

I have been batttling my first case of sand colic for the last few days. My yearling filly, whom I've only had since October went down with it late Saturday night. A dose of Banamine helped for the rest of the night and part of the next day but by Sunday afternoon she was in trouble again,she was literally throwing herself to the ground. She was tubed oil and water and we had to keep her sedated all of Sunday night to keep her from thrashing. She is doing alot better today after passing two huge piles of sand, still not 100% but getting there. My other horses(1 yearling and 4 two year olds) so far are OK, I have started treating them with mineral oil to see if it flushes out any sand. I have used Sand Clear and Metamucil and I keep their feed off the ground as much as I can. My vet suggested a mineral oil purge twice a year for them. He also said that he has heard mixed reports of the effectiveness of Sand Clear products. What else do you do to prevent sand accumulations ?

 

[maplegum]

Pysllium husks. About 70 - 100 gm each day for 5 days.

 

[Kathy2m]

I use metamucil every other day here in Florida, so far so good. If my vets suspects sand colic he recommends 10 days straight of metamucil to clean them out. Good Luck, Kathy

 

[Carolyn R]

I use metamucil every other day here in Florida, so far so good. If my vets suspects sand colic he recommends 10 days straight of metamucil to clean them out. Good Luck, Kathy

Yep, the big container of the generic stuff from Wal Mart. Asked my vet and he said it does not matter if I use sand clear or metamucil, either is made from psyllium husk.

Carolyn

 

[Laura Leopard]

How much Metamucil do you use for maintanance? I don't have any sand colic right now, but my guys are on a dry lot and they eat their hay off the ground so I want to do some preventative measures.

Laura

 

[eagles ring farm]

We use sand clear for one week every month as a preventative

have also used metimucil (sp) in the past a tsp every other day in their feed

when we first got the minis. we are in southern NJ so very sandy here

We haven't had any sand problems with either product (knock on wood)

 

[albahurst]

We use Sand Clear.

For about 8 months we used Metamucil and it did not work as well as the Sand Clear for us. Our vet recommended we go back to using the Sand Clear and no problems since. We order it in 50 # tubs- lasts quite a while.

Peggy

 

[bevann]

I live 5 miles from the bay and at times have little sand dunes in some of my paddocks.I feed a psyllium product EVERY TIME THEY EAT.After MANY cases of sand colic (8 at one time 1 winter when it snowed)I feel like an expert.I feed nothing on the ground(hay is inracks or bags only)and feed in buckets hanging on hooks.I also have heated water buckets in winter since sand problems ofter occur when water intake is slowed.I have had Minis poop almost 100% sand after being oiled by the vet.You could see the shiny sand in the manure.I let the pile dry and it looked like a pile of sand.I order 300 lbs at a time from Country Supply.The product I use is Equs and it smells like licorice.It is pelleted and the horse love it.I tried Walmart brand but it doesn't do well unless you use sweet feed so it will have something to stick to.Minis graze closer than big horses and are like small Electolux cleaners.Good luck and keep us posted.Sand colic can be very scary and stressful for an owner and the Mini too. Keep us posted.When you buy something look for a product that is mostly psyllium-some have lots of filler.Don't feed it wet or damp-it gets like gummy bears.

 

[SammyL]

[SIZE=10pt][/SIZE]

We use sand clear for one week every month as a preventative

I also use Sand Clear. Has worked well for me.

 

[Miniv]

Sand Clear........Metemucil..........all good..........

We have a very sandy soil in this area.....so we place rubber mats down where we feed.

 

[Kathy2m]

How much Metamucil do you use for maintanance?

Laura

My vet recomends 1/4 c. I use the walmart brand too orange flavor, they wont eat the sugar free.

I feed pellets and dont have a problem with it not sticking to the feed, they lick it up.

Also you can check to see how much sand they have by placing one clean (it hasnt been sitting in sand)piece of poop in a ziplock bag with enough water to float the poop, smash it up and hang the bag so one of the corners face down, the sand will collect in the corner of the bag. Kathy

 

[Carolyn R]

" My vet recomends 1/4 c. I use the walmart brand too orange flavor, they wont eat the sugar free. " as KATHY2M stated....

That is what my vet also suggested. He said to follow the same guidelines as the sand clear, and to feed hay in containers or hay feeders, not on the ground.

Carolyn

 

[Hosscrazy]

I use Equi-Aid power 2x/week, every week. I feed it to them mixed with a little A&M every Monday and Friday. My vet's suggestion is why wait for it to build up and then purge monthly? It seems to make more sense (to me at least) to do it every week as part of their regular maintenance program.

Liz R.

 

[Brandi*]

Someone told me that it is bad to give them a psyllium product every day. Is this true? My vet said I could give it to Melody either everyday or one week out of the month. I liked giving it everyday but then someone told me that it is bad because their systems will get used to it. Is there any truth to this? I have also heard this about people too. Melody's stomach seemed much less bloated when I was giving it to her everyday.

Oh and I use orange flavor generic Metamucil from walmart as well. Melody loves it! She will move her food around so that she can lick it up first

 

[Candice]

I live on 5 acres of sugar sand here in Fl. In 12 years (knock on wood) I've only had one colic. One of my mini mares colicked a few months after arriving here. Even though I was giving them psyllium (equi-aid pellets), I learned from the vet that I wasn't giving near enough to them or giving it often enough. I now give them twice the recommended dose every other week for three days straight. Because most of them don't care for it I break the dose up and feed it both am and pm. I do check stools periodically and yes I do get some sand, but not much.

For my foals I do give metamucil. I was blessed with a sand and shavings eater this year so its been interesting.

 

[whitney]

Right before the gut bug hit Tweet my mini mare had TONS of sand per the poop test.

I tested poop twice a day and got a TABLESPOON of sand at each testing of 4-5 turds.

I treated with Uckele Pure Phyllium 1 tablespoon twice a day for 30 days.

I tested EVERY day to see if it was working she was free of sand after 30 days.

I've been told that the Walmart brand has fillers in it so you may have to use more.

There was an article in The Horse Journal about over use of phyllium.

 

[Hosscrazy]

I liked giving it everyday but then someone told me that it is bad because their systems will get used to it.

I don't know about giving it every day - that's not something I would do. But like I said, I give it 2x/week every week and it's worked for me for close to 15 years.

I lost 2 horses due to illnesses that were not colic related and during the necropsy I asked both times to check for sand. Both times the horses were clear - no sand in their intestines.

Liz R.

 

[Katie Iceton]

Yup, had my first case recently, my gelding had the worst Diarrhea I have ever seen, looked like he was peein out his bum

. However pumped him full of pepto (60 ccs 2x a day!!!!) nd then a cyllium/rice bran/wheat bran mush, which he didnt particularly like, even tho he is a hoover when it comes to anything food related

. And then did it until his poop was good again...and now we feed in boxes so they cant get their food onto the ground. Hoiwever as a preventative measure we feed our grain mix at night with quite a bit of canola/vegetable oil which helps clear some of that stuff out...

 

[mad for mini's]

Thanks for all the great info. My filly is doing fairly good right now although she is not totally well yet. She has passed manure 5 times since her oiling on Sunday with the first two huge piles being total sand !

I couldn't believe her little gut could have held that much.

The last one today finally had alot of mineral oil with it but now she is doing dog sitting after/during her meals so now it looks like I am dealing with ulcers from the sand and/or Banamine she's been on. And this goofy Michigan weather turned cold and with her body clip she has been shivering

so she has been under a heat lamp. Although I was just told that it could be from a fever caused by a secondary infection, I didn't even think of that. This is crazy ! So out I go to get a temp on her.

I do feed in a hay feeder with 55 gallon barrels cut in half under them as tubs to catch all those "goodies" that they like to lick up. I also may not have been giving them quite enough physillium powder, I'll have to up that.

 

[KAYO]

We just finished up a round of treatment with Natural Psyllium Fiber (monthly purge) that our vet recommended. I have a couple of weanlings that I've been dealing with loose stools for awhile and although he (vet) said he hasn't seen sand problems in any horses this young to treat them. We only have dry lots to turn them out, and they usually get out every day (depending on weather) for about 8 hours. They nose around, chew on stuff and I'm sure eat sand.

Just got the new Smart pac catalog and they had an interesting bit of information:

Sand Colic Test

There is a simple test that can be used to monitor intestinal sand in horses.

1. Take 5-6 fecal balls and mix them in a small bucket half filled with water. Stir

2. Let stand for approximately 1 hour. If sand is present it will settle to the bottom.

3. Pour off the liquid. More than a teaspoon of sand left in the bottom of the bucket indicates a strong possibility for sand colic problems.

They reccomend treating horses that graze on sandy soil, have a sandy turn out lot and diarrhea.