Re: psyllium

I'm so glad you responded to this Susan. I may have the "2-5 hours" wrong, but the pony definately pooped out sand within a day. (This was 10 years ago and my memory isn't perfect) Your explanation of the time it takes for the psyllium to move through the gut makes sense, so it couldn't be that the psyllium is physically carrying the sand, but stimulating the gut instead. The first time the pony collicked I remember the vet actually pumping a wet slurry of Metamucil into the pony's stomach and while the vet was still there he pooped about a cup full of pure sand. It happened that fast. After that first time there was never as much sand and it was mixed with more manure, but you could still easily see the sand, and feel the weight. When the pony wasn't eating I'd make him a Metamucil mash with bran or oats to tempt him to eat it, and I'd pray he would. If he was too sick to eat, I'd syringe the wet Metamucil into his mouth. While I owned him he collicked several times, and everytime the Metamucil worked. It seemed like it was an effective treatment for sand collic.

The pony was fed alfalfa at that time and didn't get much exercise. I'm glad to learn that feeding beet pulp regularly is advantagous for this problem. The 5 horses I have now have never had sand collic, even though they live in deep sand, but adding beet pulp definately sounds likes something I should do. I feed bermuda now, and I will take your advise and add the beet pulp. (and more exercise :- ) )

Thanks for the education!

Linda

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>If you're seeing poop loaded with sand 2-5 hours after feeding psyllium, the psyllium hasn't even gotten within shouting distance of the colon yet, it's still in the small intestine and maybe getting into the cecum. All that psyllium won't be in the hindgut for about 2 days. The poop and sand you're seeing is a result of having gotten some bulky fiber in the stomach, which in turn stimulates the secretion of motilin hormones, which in turn stimulates hindgut motility and THAT is what's moving the sand. So if feeding psyllium is what gets you that increased motility, that's fine. But just keep in mind that feeding plenty of forage, regular exercise (the gut never works better than at an easy jog) and beet pulp (same soluble fiber as psyllium, but fed in much larger quantities and for a whole bunch less money) is in the Big Picture going to do as much or more. :-)

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>Susan G

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