35 yr old pony not eating

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baz_zy

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I have 35 year old pony who up until this morning has been so sprightly for his age...always eats his breakfast and dinner (chaff, sugarbeet, 16 plus and garlic power) well and likes to interact with us. But this morning he did not want his breakfast and was in pain. He seemed stressed and unstable on his feet. A few times he wanted to roll, so thinking it were colic we called the vet who later could not find anything wrong...HR fine, temp fin, lungs fine etc...and gave him a dose of painkiller and he picked up and could walk out well and eat, but now he is back in his stable and I fear he will get bad again when painkiller wears off as he won't come to me when I go the door when usually he does....any ideas as to what this could be? It came on very suddenly, last night he was fine, this morning was a totally different story. Any advice appreciated.
 
a wobbly tooth? if he goes bad again get the vet to check his teeth. it will stop them eating very quickly and causes pain! i had an oldie who stopped eating hay and dropped a lot of weight in 2 days, had 2 v wobbly teeth out (didnt need any pulling!!!) and she is back on form. her teeth are checked every 6 months and it was 2 weeks before dentist was due again. she is now back to her old self , eating and perky and picking up weight again. best of luck yours is a golden oldie. you could run some bloods to see how kidney liver function is and general blood count. its always good to have a blood profile when they are old.
 
With a horse that age they often do show signs the end of their lives are approaching, if you turn him out does he interact with the others or go off on his own?
Often their heart starts to fail and they show symptoms first which go away then return more severely.
It may just be a small blockage which shifted itself too before the vet arrived, and may never return. It does sound like tummy ache to me more than anything else.
I would keep an eye on both his temp and pulse, don't forget the episode whatever caused it will have left him a bit shaken and he won't probably want much to do with anyone for a little while as a result.
Getting a 35 year old to such a good quality of life is to be commended, but realistically, he's on the downward slope now at his age.
Sorry to sound such a miserable git, but having seen lots of oldies fade here, they do tend to start off with minor problems which return.
I don't think you can do more than you have, fingers' crossed he is ok tomorrow.
 
Have you wormed him recently? I wormed my old mare with pramox a year or two ago & it was too strong for her, so she spent 4 or 5 days being off her food & mildly colicky (I did call the vet & was told to monitor) & just as I was about to PTS, she perked up again. She is going to be 37 on Jan 1st, so a similar age.
 
As HH hun. I'd suspect that your much loved ned is nearing the end of his life and all sorts of things can take hold in an immune system that is nowhere near as robust as it was in ned's youth and middle age. You might have to be very brave soon and work out how you can best help him and watch for him telling you he's too tired to go on. Thinking of you hun xxx
 
See how he goes on, my 32 yo had a spat over a year ago when we found him down in the field, tongue hanging out the works, we really thought that was it, however he got up, we got him into his stable, vet came, ran all tests and couldn't find anything! He recovered so quickly and went right back to normal (except for us who were v concious!) This was over a year ago and the cheeky little man "touches everything wood" seems to have stayed his cheeky self!

I'm sure you'll know when he is sliding, a moment we all dread, i know i do, but just take each day at a time.

Thinking of you and let us know how he goes on.
 
Heartbreaking for you - as HH says he may be near the end. Think what a wonderful life he has had with you.

I have had horses go 'off' their feed for unknown reasons only to recover quite quickly.

Hugs - whatever the outcome.
 
35 is a jolly good age & to have been sprightly until today is a great acheivement for you. But it's still 35 and sadly the end has to come eventually. I hope your pony pulls through this episode but at this age you do need to come to terms with the fact that he will need you to make that decision sooner or (hopefully) later.
As the owner of a couple of oldies who thought she was going to lose 1 to colic a few months ago I can understand the agony you are going through today & hope you have the chance to spend a bit more time coming to terms with what will eventually happen & can plan things out & not have to make rushed decisions. Mine is still with me & very well for now but the scare did make me do some serious thinking & planning. Sending big hugs & cyber tissues your way
 
I'd agree 35 is a fair age, but 40 isn't uncommon and this may be a minor and inexplicable blip. I'd say double up on the vigilance and get some sort of plans together covering all eventualities for the worst outcome, but don't bury him until he has given you his permission!
 
I had a pretty similar thing with my oldie. He was found lying flat out in the field completely zoned out. I got him up and he was unsteady and wanting to go down again. Vet arrived and could not find anything wrong other than pony lying flat out.

I did think it was the end of the line but it turned out to be a tooth (he spat it out at me the next morning and wolfed down his breakfast).

I hope your pony gets better, he is a great age. It is one of those (many) moments when you wish they could talk.
 
Thanks for all your all advice!

After the initial painkiller the vet administered wore off he did get bad again which was very upsetting but we gave him some bute and left him overnight, checking regularly. I really thought that he would be bad again in the morning but he wasn't!

He came up to the door to say hello and kicked the door (as he always does) when I went to get his breakfast.

We kept a close eye on him and let him wander in the arena so we could moniter him easily. He seemed fine so he went out in the field. When I came to get him in he came up to the gate and seems like he is back to his old self! Straight to his food bowl once in the stable! Although I don't want to speak too soon.

He did give us a scare and we still don't know what it was. He has very few teeth left (no top front teeth at all!) and he does have his teeth checked regularly but we are getting someone out this week to check again.

I understand he is very old but it was just so out of the blue and totally unlike him. I am very happy to see him back to his old, cheeky self but I think that now I am beginning to come to terms with the fact that he isn't going to live forever. But for now we will continue our walks along the river and visits to the kitchen window for treats.

Thanks again for all your help, thought I would let everyone know that he has pulled through for now.
 
OMG I am so pleased your pony is back to normal, it has put a smile on my face, as I was holding my breath and hoping to see a happy update on him
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I must admit though, I realised that my old boy might not live forever, when he went down with Cushings Induced Laminitis, over 4 years ago at 24. So if you have only had those feelings now your pony is 35, well done
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..... long my he live
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Glad to hear he is better - mine was demanding polos less than 2 hours after I had a discussion with the Vet about how long we should give him to get up again before making any decisions & hasn't looked back since. One word of warning - whenever he is being especially cheeky or lively you will get a lump in your throat & give in to extra carrots!
 
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