TIP MONTH of the

Courtesy of Cloverdale

(See their listing in our Business Services section under “Equine Health”) Free Fecal Water Syndrome (FFWS) Treatment Ideas

FFWS is a condition when horses produce normal stools but have free water running out of the anus before, during, or after defecating. This doesn’t normally have any direct health concerns like an infectious diarrhea but it can be a pain in the butt for the horse and owner. The watery feces can run down the hind limbs causing skin irritations, attract more flies, and increase the risk for frostbite in the winter. It can also cause messy stall walls and bedding with dirty fecal water.

Owners can try dietary changes like avoiding excess water-soluble carbohydrates, changing eating schedules, and feeding psyllium fiber. Dysbiosis (an imbalance in gut bacteria) is generally believed to be a possible contributing factor to FFWS, so giving prebiotics and probiotics can also be tried.

If you have tried most of your typical probiotic products, you could try an equine-species specific probiotic not found in typical supplements. Combining probiotics with gut repairing herbs can also be helpful. Inflammation of the intestinal wall can impair water absorption from the GI tract thus leading to more water expulsion in feces.

Another contributing factor could be mycotoxins in a bad batch of hay. Some horse owners have reported benefits from using toxin binders. These work by attaching to the mycotoxins in the gut of the horse, decreasing their ability to be absorbed and then harmlessly excreted.

Lyle Sunada is a pharmacist specializing in veterinary medicine and alternative medicine at Cloverdale Pharmasave. Lyle has helped small and large animal owners for over 30 years and believes in looking at the root cause of health conditions. For more veterinary product information, feel free to contact us.