Management of Chronic Diarrhea in an Adult Horse

Valle, Emanuela; Gandini, Marco; Bergero, Domenico

doi:10.1016/j.jevs.2012.05.061

Cited by 15 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The reported BCS was in relation to what was expected. The majority of horses were reported to have a BCS of 3 (normal BCS), which is in agreement with previous descriptions of FFL [1,5] where horses were not reported to show weight loss or loss of BCS. It has also been reported that horse owners are commonly underestimating the body condition score of their horses compared to a trained professional scorer [18].…”

Section: Horsessupporting

confidence: 90%

“…One important factor is plant maturity at harvest, which greatly influences overall digestibility in the equine GIT and the nutritive value of the forage [27]. Valle et al [5] reported a horse with FFL to maintain a reduced or absent production of FFL with gradual changes in the nutritional plan to meet the theoretical nutritional requirements of the horse. Changes included reducing energy content in the feed ration by excluding concentrate feeds and decreasing the amount of forage and changing batch of forage in combination with increased exercise.…”

Section: Feedingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The liquid phase is a brown-coloured liquid that can be voided separately or together with the solid phase. The condition has previously been referred to as free faecal water and/or free faecal water syndrome (FWS), and cases have been described in Germany [1][2][3], Denmark [4] and Italy [5], but the overall incidence of FFL is not known. Horse owners in Sweden and Norway have anecdotally reported cases of FFL in horses, and have referred to the condition as "haylage intolerance" due to an assumed association with feeding wrapped forages (including grass conserved as silage and/or haylage with dry matter concentrations from 300-840 g per kg [6][7][8]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Horses affected with FFL may show discomfort when voiding faeces and/or faecal liquid, such as nervous trampling with hindlegs and extensive tail swishing, but no symptoms of disease have been described [1,5]. The faecal liquid may, however, cause lesions in the skin around the anus and on the inside of the hindlegs, as well as dirty tail and hindlegs of affected horses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a German study [1], associations between the presence of FFL and intrinsic horse factors such as being a gelding, paint-coloured and low in the social hierarchy in a group of horses were found. Improvement of the condition have been reported in association to changes in the diet in a one-horse case study [5] and after faecal transplantation performed in a study including 10 horses with FFL and twelve horses assessed to be clinically healthy [4]. However, no clear associations to feed-or management-related factors [1,3,12] has been reported.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Differential Defecation of Solid and Liquid Phases in Horses—A Descriptive Survey

Lindroth

Johansen

Båverud

et al. 2020

Animals

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Free faecal liquid (FFL) is a condition in horses where faeces are voided in one solid and one liquid phase. The liquid phase contaminates the tail, hindlegs and area around the anus of the horse, resulting in management problems and potentially contributing to impaired equine welfare. The underlying causes are not known, but anecdotal suggestions include feeding wrapped forages or other feed- or management-related factors. Individual horse factors may also be associated with the presence of FFL. This study, therefore, aimed to characterize horses showing FFL particularly when fed wrapped forages, and to map the management and feeding strategies of these horses. Data were retrieved by a web-based survey, including 339 horses with FFL. A large variety of different breeds, ages, disciplines, coat colours, housing systems and feeding strategies were represented among the horses in the study, meaning that any type of horse could be affected. Respondents were asked to indicate if their horse had diminished signs of FFL with different changes in forage feeding. Fifty-eight percent (n = 197) of the horse owners reported diminished signs of FFL in their horses when changing from wrapped forages to hay; 46 (n = 156) of the horse owners reported diminished signs of FFL in their horses when changing from wrapped forages to pasture; 17% (n = 58) reported diminished signs of FFL when changing from any type of forage batch to any other forage. This indicated that feeding strategy may be of importance, but cannot solely explain the presence of FFL. The results also showed that the horses in this study had a comparably high incidence of previous colic (23%, n = 78) compared to published data from other horse populations. In conclusion, the results showed that FFL may affect a large variety of horse types and that further studies should include detailed data on individual horse factors including gastrointestinal diseases as well as feeding strategies, in order to increase the chance of finding causes of FFL.

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Section: Horsessupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Feedingmentioning

confidence: 99%