Re: Beet pulp overload

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

> Other than watching them carefully, and keeping the phone
> handy for the vet who is minutes down the road, any
> advice? How long would it take for problems to show up?
> Should I be out there hand walking her to make sure it
> all goes through?

Overloading on beet pulp isn't a real big deal, since the digestive
system processes it pretty much like hay, not like a soluble
carbohydrate like grain.  It doesn't cause major changes in pH in the
cecum and won't greatly upset the lactic acid-producing microflora, so
no worries about endotoxin release and laminitis.

Heidi will give you her input from the DVM point of view, but I'd say
give them an extra dose of probiotics for a day or so to take care of
any transient imbalances.
> 

> Wanted to know if they'd had it before. Well, kind of. In
> Mouse's case, she's actually only had a small amount, so
> I don't quite know how her gut flora will react to this.

With enthusiasm.
> 
> Is our main worry going to be how much the stuff swells
> in the gut? and how much moisture it sucks out? rather than
> the nutritional overload?

The gut will handle it all just fine and it won't suck out undue
moisture from the plasma volume.  The digestive system is evolved so
that horse's thirst reflex will prompt them to drink several kilograms
of water for every kilogram of dry matter, so other than making sure
Provo and Mouse have access to water (which of course, I know they do),
no worries.  Swelling beet pulp in the tummy or gut is NOT a concern. 
The only reason you generally soak beet pulp is because some horses are
prone to choke on it dry (generally the horses that are also prone to
choke on other types of food as well) and because soaking increasing the
palatability (though it's apparently not a major factor for YOUR two
piglets), and because it's a nice extra reservoir of water during a
ride.  And finally, because soaked beet pulp is easier to hide Stuff in
than dry---vitamins, meds, etc.

So essentially, a horse having a free-for-all with a bag of beet pulp
isn't much more cause for alarm than would a horse stuffing himself on a
bale of hay.

This is all, of course, just the two cents from the nutrition and
physiology camp---the DVMs on line might have another viewpoint, since
they're the ones that see this stuff firsthand.

Susan G