One of the first topics was clostridia diseases (specifically Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens), which have been associated with inflammation in the digestive tract that can lead to diarrhea in foals and in adult horses.

The group discussed the potential benefits of using “friendly” yeasts or probiotics to help prevent diarrhea and treat horses with diarrhea. Long said all diarrhea cases at the University of Florida hospital receive probiotics.

Part of the difficulty in using probiotics is not knowing if the organisms that they contain are active or alive, or if what is on the label is actually what is in the product. There also was some discussion that, based on information presented at last year’s AAEP Convention by Scott Weese, DVM, DVSc, Dipl. ACVIM, of the University of Guelph, the type of organisms in the probiotic is very important. It was mentioned that Enterococcusspare now being avoided in probiotics for humans because they might be prone to promoting acquisition of antimicrobial resistance genes and thus should be avoided. Lactobacillus (particularly L. rhamnosis) is the preferred ingredient for horses