saw pont eating her own poo

[notpoodle]

im very worried!!! i saw angel snacking on her own poo today!! i have never seen her to that before, it happened as she was calming down after going ballistic in her stable when there was hale and thunder. (not sure thats anything to do with it though!).

i just did some research on the subject online .... found a couple of potential causes so far, but not sure ...

1. she is lacking something in her diet

her diet at the moment consists of the following:

ad lib hay and some haylage for variety (haylage in one of those hay-bags with a hole at the front to keep her busy for longer)

1 little feed per day: handful of alfa-a, garlic granules and a small handful of Hestamix (sweet itch high fibre ponynuts type stuff which is supposedly a complete feed) and 2-3 equivite pasture plus biscuits. oh and 2-3 carrots to go with it.

she also has a salt lick in her stable, along with a snackball (with a couple of horse treats in it)

am i missing something? is the salt lick maybe not enough for the mineral-front of things?

2. boredom

she is currently turned out every other day during the day in a herd of mares only. she is beginning to make some pals, but i know it will take her while to become a proper part of the herd (she can be a little bit anti-social and is picky about who she hangs around with). she should go out 24/7 again in a couple of weeks time, depending on whether. she doesnt show any obvious signs of distress in the stable, doesnt get bargy and is absolutely fine to ride and handle on the days she in (she is ridden for about an hour on the days she is in, sometimes with a runaround and roll in the indoor school afterwards).


i worry a lot about this :(

should i get a vet involved? blood sample?

julia
x

[hApPiNeSs]

mmmmmmmmmm delicious

sorry :o

maybe it was a one off because she was worried about the storm

personally i would only call the vet if she kept doing it :)

[Tootsie4U]

They'll do it too if they dont have enough forage to keep them munching.

They're trickle feeders and if there isnt at least hay or grass in front of them, they'll look for 'remains' of it in their poo. Natural instinct.

[notpoodle]

i cant supervise her 24/7 for obvious reasons so have no way of knowing if she keeps on doing it or not (other than checking manure for pony-bite-marks ...).

what if she doesnt like the new yard (she seems fine with it. shes normally happy as long as there is food involved)? what if its all my fault for bringing her there?? i will check tomorrow if i can move her to a stable with horses right next to her though (as opposed to 3 stables down)

julia
x

edit!

@ tootsie: she did that when there were 3 big slices of hay in her stable i had just put in there. she started off on the hay, had a poo and swiftly turned round and ate it :rolleyes: am also worried she'll be eating shavings with it (stuck to it) - that cant be good.

[hApPiNeSs]

what if its all my fault for bringing her there??

definatly not - she will be much happier with the organised turnout!

ive just remembered I used to ride a pony at riding school. every time one of the other horses pooped his head went down and.. yum yum :)

horsys bottoms are strange things - when its raining and happys in the grooming shed (with tin roof) she diarreas all over the walls, but seems perfectly calm :rolleyes:

if you are really worried then phoning the vet wont do any harm :)

[notpoodle]

ill keep an eye on it but will try and move her to a busier side of the yard and will clean or take out (the plastic) her little extra window so she can see out better.

julia
x

[No_Angel]

Normally is they are eating their own poo they are lacking some vitamins. Try feeding a vitamin supplement and if she keeps doing it get the vet out.
Hope this helps.
tasha

[Cheko]

Include some minerals with the vitamins as well.

[notpoodle]

so minerals in the lick arent enough then. what, for example, could i give her for the minerals (my knowledge of supplements is very limited :rolleyes:) .. she's getting the Equivite Pasture Plus stuff which supposedly contains everything she needs - looks like thats not enough though :rolleyes:

julia
x

[No_Angel]

This is a very good multi vitamin supplement

http://www.dengie.com/optimum.htm

[notpoodle]

will venture into tackshop tomorrow, i think they do dengie stuff - and ask them for advice as well. its worth a try :)

julia

x

[Cheko]

At this time of year when ponies have come through a winter, their stores of minerals etc are depleted, especially of they have lived out (a bit like my brain really!). Have a word with your vet or yard owner and see if they can suggest something. Or, perhaps try a mineral lick if she can have regular access to it. I hope all goes well. (I was going to look for some minerals to give Falcon a boost as he's come through the horribly wet winter living out. However, I wont give him too much of a boost after his performance last Sunday!

[Bay Mare]

Try a vitamin and mineral supplement and see if that works. Corprophagia (dung eating) is usually as a result of a nutritional imbalance.

Another thing to consider is that foals eat their mother's dung (which helps to provide them with immunity etc) which she may be regressing to as a 'comfort' thing.

[notpoodle]

maybe she *was* comforting herself after the nasty scare with the hale and thunderstorm? ive never seen her so worried before, she was jumping in circles in her stable and looked she was trying to do a run-up to jump the door (thank god the door is very solid and high enough so she could no jump it ...). i stayed with her, trying my best to calm her down, which she did in the end.

julia
x

[RachelEvent]

Ferdie does this occasionally, but only if he has got excited and done a 'runny poo' which I guess is one which hasn't been fully digested. If angel had got worked up, her digestion may have become rushed, and perhaps her instincts told to digest it again?

As I said, ferdie does this once in a while, and if it's very very occasional, I'm inclined not to worry too much as I know that he's on good graxing, good hay and good feed with a broad spectrum supplement already.

[notpoodle]

yeah, she had the poo in question right after the scary incident ... will keep an eye on it, but up on the mineral/vitamin/etc front anyway

julia
x

[eventerbabe]

toby used to do that. i put him onto Selenavite E vitamin supplement and the problem stopped. my instructor advised me that a selenium deficiency may have been causing it. he's never done it again thankfully!

[entreat]

My mare has done that but just to counter every ones points:
1) she's out in a HUGE paddock 24/7
2) the poo she ate was 1.5m from yummy mineral block!

go figure!

[Waikato Valuta]

Depending what kind of mineral block you have it might not be enough. the really hard kind's only give a little at a time so if she was feeling very depleted it might not be enough.
I've noticed my horses doing it sometimes. even when turned out 24/7 with a mineral block.

I think they might just do it from curiosity.

I don’t think eating there poo is too bad. There poos ain't as bad as ours, but I guess a dog might dispute that. ;) Sorry to be filthy

[KarinUS]

First off: make sure she doesn't 'kiss' you. ;) :D
Some people find loose mineral (free choice) mixes more accessible than blocks. You could try that?

[entreat]

hmm. I think I'll resort to the yummy (but super expensive) one from horseland... it lasted less than a week last time (but IS $20!! :mad: :mad: )

[kayjayhorses]

Both my dogs will have a good munch on horse poo if they manage to sneek to a pile before I can catch them. I think there is still a certain amount of goodness in it as the horses body can't absorb it all especially if on a high fibre diet, everything passes through the system quickly. Obviously eating it should be avoided because of worms expecially now we should be going into better weather. More flies more eggs etc.

I think the same as everyone else, must be vitamin/mineral difficiency, maybe a haynet in the stable if you dont already do one. The net would slow down the speed the horse can eat its hay so making it last longer.

[Waikato Valuta]

forgot to add, is the mineral block next to the water? the water helps soften it so the horse can get more with every lick.

Try putting a little water on top of the block every time your in the stall, to encourage her to lick it.

[roxycutie]

She sounds like shes missing something in her diet. I know many people have said this before me, but you never know. One of my mares did that while I was riding her. Or attempted to, anyway. Try adding some toys to her stall maybe? If it is caused by boredom, than that would help. :D Or you if you can, turn her out, and when she does her business, see if she does the same thing. If she continues I would take her to the vet. :p :)

[notpoodle]

@roxy ...: she is turned out every other day at the moment - ive never seen her do it in the field.

her lick isnt next to the water, but it certainly looks like she is likcking it (its hollowing out towards the middle).

i'll keep on watching her


julia
x

[Trewsers]

My guinea pigs used to sometimes eat their own poo - don't really know why they did it. One of my friends once dared me to eat one - (I nibbled half a one :D :D :D :D - gross or what???!!!) things you do when you're a kid eh??!!

[notpoodle]

with guineapigs (i got some myself) that is perfectly normal and part of their diet as it were (if you watch closely, they will only eat fresh ones and wont eat ones lying around the hutch).

julia
x

[easyhorsecare]

You could try a selenium mineral block. Mine love it!
It is a very sweet smelling, hard block and can keep them busy for days!

Also, add a little black treacle in with the carrots - they lick there lips for hours!!

All the best

From Tracy
http://www.easyhorsecare.com