Any info please....

roloaimee

roloaimee

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Hello

I have a 15 2 TB who was intimately lame so i started to loan a new horse and turned him away in a field for 4 weeks - he lost a hell of a lot of weight even tho being fed once a day.

Hes now stabled and not gained any weight, and he is very very under weight, his spine is protruding the whole way along, you can see every rib, he looks like a rescue pony - he has had numerous of tests - been scoped etc but has been diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. He is now on steroids for the next 3 month - but he is very under weight, the vet is optimistic but i need some reassurance - has any body had any dealings with this?? and any advice??

thanks alot
very worried for him

aimee
 
Its not something I have experience of but I wonder if he would benefit from some YeaSacc? Might be worth investigating.
 
Yes Sac is a powder supplement that enables the horse to digest food in the hind gut better. It also contains pre and pro biotics and will act as a very mild appetite stimulant. I have to say though that to chuck an intermittently lame (presume that's what you meant) horse out to grass and hope he gets better is at best optimistic and at worse unbelievable. Take great care while he's on steroids as they can cause laminitis. The quality of the grass he's been turned out on may not have been enough for his needs. Was he rugged/had shelter? Or his lameness may have had something to do with his gut. Or his lameness may have been so painful for him that he's been unable to eat or rest and is now clinically depressed on top of everything else. I'm surprised your vets haven't given you step by step instructions on exactly what to feed him but in the event that they haven't, you need to get straight on to one of the better feed helplines and tell them everything about your horse. They will give you a detailed diet for your horse. I'd recommend D&H feed helpline. Not got the number to hand but it'll be on their website.

A final thought, a horse that is about a condition score 1 (from what you say) needs much more than hi fi and hi fibre cubes. That sort of diet is fine for a good doer cob-type. But not for an emaciated, starving TB.
 
We had a TB who had a similar diagnosis. His was 'partial malabsorption of the small intestine' which is similar to chrone's (cant spell) disease. We had to manage his diet very carefully as he could not absorb any mixes. He lived mainly on sugar beet with a balancer and oats when he was in hard work. Each element was fed seperately. He ended up looking very well and lived to the ripe old age of 21 (a good 10years after his diagnosis). He was PTS due to joint problems - completely unrelated to his dijestive disorder, never suffered from colic and was the biggest drama queen going! Good luck - it will be a fraught time whilst you try to sort his diet out. We had alot of help from Teresa Hollands at Dobson and Horrell.
 
Thank you for your advice! But roll was not lame when I turnt him out - he has had a lot of problems all of which was sorted by my vet - feet and pedal disorders - coffin joint degenetive - kick wound which was a green stick fracture - his last lameness was only an abbess - I was just so fed up getting no where - I understand that it was wrong thing to do but he had 3 rugs on and was toasty every time i went - I was feeding him every day when I went ! I did not just abandon him in a field and leave him with nothing I just though maybe a rest would do us both good - as I have also just had a baby and he lived out over the summer during my pregnancy. I phoned feed
Helpline and was told to feed him this and I was thinking it may not be enough - my vet is sending me a diet thank you! And i just wondered if anyone had any experience with this sort of thing! Didn't want to feel bad like its my fault.
 
Thank you maybe ill try to contact her - dengie didn't help me too much! And I was also thinking of looking into another supplement that sounds like yeosack.
 
I assume irratable bowel has quite specific nutritional needs. Whether a prebiotic would be good in this situation (like those yoghurt drinks you see advertised on the TV) but hopefully your vets can advise in this as your horses digestive situation may be rather delicate.
Could it have been that you horse could have been too warm with three rugs on it has been very unseasonally mild
 
No he def wasn't too warm
-
It was in our very cold spurt and he was clipped out - I checked every day how warm he was - and he was fine and temp dropped below at night ... If anything may have been cold at nights ... But I'd rather he could warm himself, he can't exactly take rugs off. My vet said he's known him so long he doubted weight loss wasn't just he hadn't coped with winter,
The weight loss is because e isn't absorbing the right amount he should be which showed up in the glucose tollerance test and ibd confirmed from rectal biopsy. It's early days only been on steroids a week - weight taped him so I'll keep eye on weight but he does look a little better. Its just his spine protruding that gets me. It's awful.
 
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