I have 3 horses, 5 year old, 16 year old and a 6 year old pony. All 3 have been eating their poop, they will go and turn around and eat it, its sooo nasty when i have to put a bit in thier mouth cause they always have poop in their mouth and on thier lips, they eat the bark off trees and eat the wood in thier stalls so i thought well maybe its lack of something in their feed ive changed their feed givin them supplements and everything, my 16year old eats the trees and stall and poop but my 5 year old will eat trees and poop but not the stall and my 6year old is the same as 5 year old, i thought maybe it was bordem so i started getting round bales and more nutrition filled grains and hay, but my horses will stand out all day and eat the round bale, poop and turn around and eat it and then go back to the hay, this is gross and not healthy they are hard to keep weight on because they get worms and then we worm them and then the just end up re eating the worms, please any suggestions
2008-03-19T22:20:47Z
ive also consulted the vet around here and they have no clue ive done everything they suggested and still same thing, ive heard u can put meat tenderizer in a dogs food to stop them from eating their poop, is there anything i can do like that for my horses? My horses eating their poop is a thing that has started in the last few months.
cowgirlup32012008-03-20T00:21:09Z
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Usually, if a horse eats poop, it means that he is trying to replace lost microbes in the gut. But it sounds like everything you are feeding your horse is well balanced. And if the vet can't find anything wrong and it is just habits that have now formed here are two products I would use. 1. This is for the eating of poo. It's called For-Bid you feed it to them and it will make their poo taste bad and then they stop eating it. (and it really does work!!) http://www.entirelypets.com/forbid.html?gclid=CJuzvJ2Sm5ICFRciFQodunzG-Q 2. For the wood chewing at the two show barns I work at we feed Quitt by Farnam. It is amazing, and we don't have any wood chewers or cribbers!!! http://www.farnamhorse.com/product.php?mainkey=200005&pid=100622&key=300002
I have seen this behavior only in horses that have a mineral deficiency or they are left a long time in a sandy lot without any hay. Hay should be provided free choice 24/7 if the horse is being left in a sand lot. Also, if you continue to have concerns, I would discuss this with your vet and perhaps have some blood work done to determine if she has deficiencies that should be addressed. If you find that putting her in the lot with hay does not deter the behavior, a deficiency is likely. Have there been any other changes since the move? Since the behavior seems to be related to the move, you need to determine what she does not have now that she had before. Just a process of elimination. Personally, I only use white salt blocks and also loose white salt. I feed a complete feed so supplementation is not required. As a general rule, horses are self limiting on minerals, so they do not take more than what they need. However, if what they need is combined with things they do not need, such as in these colored blocks, they cannot avoid the unnecessary things that will cause an imbalance. I can only speak to the blocks available in my area, so yours may be different. I find the red blocks to contain iron, and it is very rare and also very harmful to supplement with extra iron. Also, if the blocks have selenium, I would check my horse's feed for the content, as selenium supplementation can be very harmful, even terminal. Add: The Sand Clear product does NOT work and the psyllium can cause problems. AGain, give hay 24/7 and that is the best you can do IF your horse is taking in excessive sand. Best best, at least speak with the vet. Then go from there. Good luck.
Unfortunately the only thing I can think of (other than all your horses having the same mental psychosis) is that they are deficient in something. That's the only thing that causes coprophagy (feces eating) in horses (unless they're foals, because they do it sometimes).
Also, the eating of the tree bark and wood of the stall signals a possible deficiency, as they're eating things they wouldn't normally do.
I think it's a vicious cycle with the worms, really. Perhaps the worms made them deficient, and they started coprophagizing, getting more worms, then dewormed but still feeling deficient, then get relapse worms due to eating of the feces. The only thing I can recommend is keeping them on a dewormer regularly until they stop eating their feces, but definitely consult before doing that.
There are many good suggestions here, just one thing I can think of is, I started feeding my 2 horses garlic recently, and one of them started eating faecies, I though maybe he liked the garlic taste, he doesn't do it anymore just stopped of his own accord after a few days.
A mineral supplement may be good from your local feed store, A really cheap way to give them some minerals is to feed them 1/2 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar each day, and also some seaweed meal, as actual mineral supplements are expensive and you have to watch what other supplements are in the feed you are feeding.
K posted what I would have told you because it is multi-fold.
However, there is a product out there for this problem. Regular worming (I think you should be on a strict regimen -if not daily) with all three of them doing it is imperative.
I will scan some catalogs and get back to you with an edit if I find it.
Edit: Valley Vet has a product called Forbid. "powder is virtually tasteless when mixed with food, but after digestion, imparts a forbidding taste to stool." You'd need a 12 pack according to the directions. $13.80.