Re: psyllium

["Susan Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

 

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

 

 

I think what makes psyllium effective is that it does swell up some and make that slimy goo once it's in the stomach and exposed to liquid.  That expansion creates a pretty full tummy, maybe fuller than a horse or pony might normally have (being more or less nibblers by nature).  The amount of motilin released (which in turn stimulates hindgut motility) is proportional to the stretch of the stomach walls, so a stomach full of expanding metamucil slurry is going to trigger some pretty impressive hindgut motility, and that in turn is going to move alot of sand, as you saw with your pony.

So my opinion is that administering metamucil via NG tube or whatever is going to have alot more positive results than sprinkling little bits here and there.  And since beet pulp does that expanding thing as well, and can be fed daily, I sure like that as part of the program, too. 

Certainly nothing wrong at all about using psyllium, especially when it's used as your vet did, in therapeutic doses (that's how we use it here at the CSU vet hospital, too).  I guess the take home message here is that while having one useful weapon in your arsenal is nice, having four or five others as well really stacks the odds in your favor, eh?  :-)

Susan G