another mystery illness.... please not GS :(

So sorry to hear about your boy. No experience of GS fortunately but it sounds horrible. Everything crossed for him & you. (((hugs)))
 
Sounds like things are going as well as could be expected if he is happy and eating - do you know how much? He needs to be taking around 4 kilos a day to get through.

Continuing the good vibes :)
 
That's positive news :O) Really pleased to hear that. And how are you doing?

Keep positive and I have everything crossed for a good outcome xx
 
Thankyou so much everyone. Today is now day 13 and although I left my daughters shoes out in the rain and the weather is shocking! Mr V is still quite content out in his little pen! I'm feeling so positive! I really think we can fight this!! Heamovit might come today possibly tomorrow so I'll feel a bit better when he's on that - but like I say he's not really turning his nose up at anything. Infact I think he secretly loves all this attention and good food :) xxx
 
Don't worry about that for now! Sounds like he is the best GS patient ever so far! :) :)

4 - 5 kilos of high energy food was what was quoted to me as necessary for maintenence by the grass sickness nurse at the Royal Dick Vet school. If he is managing that much (and passing it...hopefully he's not getting bunged up?), then things are looking good.
 
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Just on a positive note I will tell you about a mare I took up to the Royal Dick Vet College

This was many years ago when they knew little about GS.

My friend bought a lovely Fjord mare from the local sales, who later we found out she was in foal.

My friend nursed her for a few days (So it was Chronic Grass Sickness) and then decided to transport her to Scotland. She was quoted a lot of money by transport companies so I said I would take her for the cost of my fuel and an overnight stop.

We set off loaded down with water and food, plenty of carrots etc. During the journey we stopped every hour to give the mare something to drink and eat, the food was high energy oil based food and fiber that was made very sloppy. As a nurse I took with me a type of syringe that can asperate anything that would get stuck. Fortunately the mare was taking in enough fluids for me to keep her electrolytes topped up. Because we were transporting her we did not want to stress her out too much so I gave her some Rescue Remedy. The journey took us all day and it was late in the evening when we arrived at the College.

We found somewhere to stay over night and went back the following day to see the mare, it was then we found out she was in foal. She had survived the night and was settled. We got daily reports and very slowly she recovered. She had lost a lot of weight etc

Three months later we went up to collect her and six month after that she produced a lovely heathy filly.

Don't give up as long as he is still eating and drinking that is a very good sign. As already said really sloppy feeds are a good way of getting both food and fluids in. Oil is a good food ane if need be you can syringe it in to him.

Good Luck and I hope for a good result.
 
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PP he is a bit constipated! Iv left him in this morning so I can monitor it a bit more. I find it so hard to give him a big bucket feed when he's always lived off haylage. I am terrified of him colicing. I am now giving him lots of safe and sound, sugarbeet with mix all mixed in! Iv just ordered some readigrass too, do you think he'll be ok if I gradually increase the mix? Or would you suggest more calories? Got some linseed oil too to add .. He doesn't seem to mind.
Thankyou Pauline - I am really enjoying reading success stories! It is really inspiring and helpful! Like I said this is day 13 and he has remained stable! So surely this is good!! I'm still fairly positive we can beat this
 
First up, I echo what Pauline just said - feed vegetable oil, in copious amounts if you can. He needs to get food moving through his gut and this will help, while also providing lots of calories. He might start to scour a bit, but it's a balancing act and for now, you want to see him passing muck. The whole problem with GS is that the gut stops working, i.e moving food along it's length, so if he keeps eating, but not going to the loo, there are going to be problems. The drug I mentioned, cisapride, would help with this.

As for food content - I understand you not wanting him to colic, but you have to look at how much weight he is losing - you haven't said how bad he is?

I'm not a vet, so in the end, refer to yours for advice, but I would say that your boy is in a situation whereby his gut won't be absorbing food the way it used to. So, if he is dropping weight, feed high calorie foods. If it is any comfort, Gully didn't colic once and he was on racehorse cubes and Baileys number 4 (I think - the conditioning feed!), along with veggy oil.

These are extraneous circumstances - in normal terms, yes, change of diet is bad, but the main problem here is maintaining weight. Worry about 'normal' feeding issues once you have got over the big problem, that's my opinion anyway xx.
 
Just saw your other thread and thought it might help to say that little(ish) and often is the way to go.

When we were syringe feeding we did it 4 - 5 times a day, so the same idea - not overloading the gut, but still giving it plenty to be going on with for most of the day.
 
That was really helpful PP thanks! I could post a picture of him if you'd like? He has lost his topline and his ribs are just visible but you have reassured me so ill up his food - will veg oil be better than linseed oil? Would a 20ml syringe be ok daily? I'm already giving him an electrolyte syringe - could I combine the 2? Your right I guess... His weight and condition is the most important - I think I just needed reassurance that I'm doing the best for him. If he keeps eating I will be happy!
Did you start syringe feeding when he lost his swallow ability? What did you syringe feed him? And how much in sittings? Your help is really appreciated! X
 
If he will take it give him a syringe of the oil each time you feed him. Apart from oil being good for him it will also help soften the feeds and lubricate the gut and soften and droppings.

Be careful about the electrolytes you have to make sure he is drinking enough. if it is going in his very sloppy feeds that is fine.
 
MrVelvet said:
That was really helpful PP thanks! I could post a picture of him if you'd like? He has lost his topline and his ribs are just visible but you have reassured me so ill up his food - will veg oil be better than linseed oil? Would a 20ml syringe be ok daily? I'm already giving him an electrolyte syringe - could I combine the 2? Your right I guess... His weight and condition is the most important - I think I just needed reassurance that I'm doing the best for him. If he keeps eating I will be happy!
Did you start syringe feeding when he lost his swallow ability? What did you syringe feed him? And how much in sittings? Your help is really appreciated! X
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I took pics of Gully every day, so that I could objectively look at how he was doing as time went on. If you post a pic it might be helpful, but as I say, it's seeing how they progress that is really helpful, so you can see if all of the food is doing any good.

I'm not sure about linseed vs vegetable oil, all i know is veggy does the trick and is cheap, seeing as you are feeding it in high quantities. As Gully wasn't feeding himself, I'm not sure exactly how much I was feeding, as I was pouring a good measure into the nuts slop (hot water poured on the racehorse cubes/baileys nuts and then left to break down into a slop - also great to feed as you know they are then taking in plenty of fluids - I would recommend it - they seem to find it very palatable too) that I was syringing in. 20ml is a pretty small amount.....I would be thinking more along the lines of 60 - 120 ml daily or more, depending on what it does to their poo? So around 1/2 a mug to a mugful with each feed?

If they loose their swallow ability, you are scr***d unfortunately. We syringe fed because Gully wouldn't eat anything himself (so Mr Velvet is being v good!), but he did still have the ability to swallow. The vets didn't say yay or nay to the syringing, but by then, I had pretty much taken his care into my own hands, as I knew if I didn't the vets would just say pts, and he wasn't ready for that. We fed him around 1 - 1.5 kg of pulped down cube/oil slop at each syringe feeding. The oil helped with the syringing too, both in getting it in his mouth and helping it slip down the throat. It took about 30 min to give each feed, so we had to be fairly dedicated!

If they can't swallow, then you can't feed them fullstop :(
 
you probably saw this pic on my account of his illness, but we got him back from this condition - this was 35 days in...

June20th.jpg


I'm guessing Mr Velvet is somewhat removed from this state at present - lets hope he stays that way. I have to say, if he is eating, all sounds very positive :)
 
Keep holding up hun, feed companies are sending high calorie samples. If you worrie about feeding lots weigh out the hard feed add copious amounts of oil and wack in a huge bucket with chaff or if he will eat it something like fast fibre, this will get all the necessary requirements into him, calorie, oil and fibre x fingers crossed for you and mr v x
 
PP that could be a picture of my boy! I'm gonna wack the feed quantity up.... What a wake up call! Glad to hear you got him back though - really does give me hope! Gonna order some baileys number 1 or similar right this second! -
Thankyou !!!! Queenbee!!!! He's eating safe and sound with sugarbeet like its going out of fashion! Wish must be good!! Gonna go back up and fill his bucket up even more now! So would the high calorie feeds through the day - about 3/4 then left with big bucket of safe n sound and sugarbeet over night sound okay? Xx
 
MrVelvet said:
PP that could be a picture of my boy! I'm gonna wack the feed quantity up.... What a wake up call! Glad to hear you got him back though - really does give me hope! Gonna order some baileys number 1 or similar right this second! -
Thankyou !!!! Queenbee!!!! He's eating safe and sound with sugarbeet like its going out of fashion! Wish must be good!! Gonna go back up and fill his bucket up even more now! So would the high calorie feeds through the day - about 3/4 then left with big bucket of safe n sound and sugarbeet over night sound okay? Xx
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If that is what he looks like, you need to get the high protein, conditioning foods in quick smart, along with lots of oil. Baileys no. 4 top line conditioning cubes and we had spillers HDF power cubes as well. Make them into a slop as I said - he will find it far easier to eat them, and you will have the added advantage of getting the oil and a load of water into him too.

Your plan sounds good in terms of when to feed. Make sure you are getting around the 5 kg mark of the high calorie foods into him xx
 
OP - Nothing usual to add...just wanted to say that I hope he picks up soon, some of what you said about him eating sounds positive.
 
Is he still eating hay or haylage? If not then one bucket of safe & sound / sugar beet won't last all night, I'd give him about 3 or 4 large tub trug buckets of fibre food over night. You don't want him standing around waiting for his next meal.
 
MrVelvet said:
PP that could be a picture of my boy! I'm gonna wack the feed quantity up.... What a wake up call! Glad to hear you got him back though - really does give me hope! Gonna order some baileys number 1 or similar right this second! -
Thankyou !!!! Queenbee!!!! He's eating safe and sound with sugarbeet like its going out of fashion! Wish must be good!! Gonna go back up and fill his bucket up even more now! So would the high calorie feeds through the day - about 3/4 then left with big bucket of safe n sound and sugarbeet over night sound okay? Xx
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to me that sounds grand, Baileys, Allen and Page and Mollichaff are sending you a ton of high protein and calorie feed and all the literature, there are loads of mixes and nuts that baileys will send and also their outshine is great... they should be there tomorrow or saturday so if your going up the yard make sure you leave a note on the door if you aren't going to be around so they know where to leave them.

Have you read chesters story yet? This is the link to it and it really shows her feeding regime and gives you an idea of amounts :D
http://www.grasssickness.org.uk/uploads/documents/Grass Sickness Diary of Chester 2007.pdf
 
Sugar and Spice - he's on grass through the day and has hay over night. Not as much as he usually eats but he's not left with out.
anything to eat :)

PP - yes he's eating about that mark - and obv just upped the quality of his feed so fingers crossed!! He's now on conditioning mix, build and glow, mollassed chop and sugarbeet oh and veg oil! Lots of! :)

Hopefully he will take a liking to some of the samples too - ill order another bag monday!
Things are gonna get better... I have a feeling!
 
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