Management of Chronic Diarrhea in an Adult Horse

Chronic diarrhea could be a challenge from both the diagnostic and therapeutic point of view. This case report will discuss the clinical approach to the evaluation of chronic diarrhea with the production of free fecal water in an adult horse. The discussion of this case report may provide further information and describe a possible therapeutic option with sulfasalzine, focusing on the nutritional management of chronic diarrhea in adult horses. Nutritional management could be of higher importance for horses that suffer from this problem because it improves the well-being of the hindgut environment. In the present case report, motility abnormalities were identified without other physiological disturbances of colonic function or a decrease in body weight, and the priority was the folldwing: (1) rebalancing of the diet to the real nutritional requirements of the patient, (2) avoiding excess carbohydrate from both forage and concentrate, (3) selecting the right proportion between good quality first-cut meadow hay and grounded and pelleted meadow hay that helps to reduce mechanical and physical load of the colon and could help in the formation of more homogeneous digesta, (4) reducing the stress with adequate feed consumption time, meal size, and time spent in a overgrazed paddock, and (5) increasing the proportion of omega-3 fatty acids in the diet. With the nutritional plan and management and the initial use of sulfasalazine, the horse maintained a good quality of the feces with a reduced or absent production of the free fecal water. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.