Moose's "Little Problem"

So I got in touch with my vet. I had a fecal test done for Moose last week and I was able to chat with the vet who said that his results came back negative. At least one thing the previous owner said might have been true, he must have been wormed recently. I also got to ask her about the Coprophagia and she said that text still doesnt have any specific answers for it, however in her experience she has seen horses exhibit this when they are either on high diet or antibiotics/mediation. She suspected that the mediation we put him on for his strep has cleared all the good bacteria, flora, in him so he started munching the manure to give those back to him.

Her recommendation was to put him on a PREbiotic. I mentioned that I had probiotics on hand and she informed me that unlike a PRObiotic, prebiotics feed the good bacteria, versus feeding the bacteria to the HORSE like a probiotic does. I learned that probiotics in horses, unlike humans and dogs, dont survive. The equine stomach is so acidic that only about 5% of the bacterium make it to the colon, so feeding probiotics do basically nothing for horses. She recommended a few different prebiotics and I remembered something I had on hand...Proviable-EQ, one of the prebiotics she recommended. While I was on the phone with her I found it and she said it would be perfect for him. She directed me to give it to him for the duration of the strep medication and then maybe another week after that. If we still observe any of the behavior after that to call her and we can go from there.

How was I so lucky to have the Proviable-EQ on hand? Well, remember a few years years ago when I won that gift basket from Cosequin? Well, the Proviable-EQ was in that gift basket, and although I didnt know what it was, I held onto it cause, well, you never know! And nearly three years later I have a use for it!

In final news, I rubbed bar soap all over the fence posts Milo was chewing on and on those nearby as well. Hopefully it will help with that problem. Have I ever told you that Milo tells me what he finds tasty and what he doesnt? I always tell people that Milo will always try something once, and if he doesnt take it again he doesnt like it, but if he does then he liked it. He came over to investigate my fence-post application and eagerly looked to see if the bar of soap was tasty or not. I figured, why not, so I let him try it. He went to take a bit and once he got his lips on it, instead took a small lick. He licked his lips then looked at me, puzzled. I handed the bar soap up to his mouth again and he didnt take it, instead giving me a funny face. Yay! Hopefully the soap will deter him.

Oh, but lastly, Moose was too cute to not share today:

Moose figured out pretty quickly how to fit his little head into the hay bag. That's the only thing I dont like about the bag, is that its easy for a mini (or horse probably) to get into the hay from either side. So first time I saw Moose do that I raised it up on the corral panel. But tonight I caught him redhanded again with his head in the bag! But it sure made a cute picture!

So one more rail up the corral panel it goes!