Any type of soft snackaball filling

[hopscotch bandit]

As title. My horse is having soaked feeds (mix and speedibeet, chaff) due to a dental issue. I'm thinking before long I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get this tooth looked at again, every now and then I get an indicator all is not well with the way she is chewing and she has started dunking her hay again but not all the time. She is still eating apples and carrots and pony nuts including herbal treats and doesn't seem to have an issue but about every fourth or fifth day will roll it around her mouth. She has no swelling, no lack of appetite, no foul breath and appears hungry when she is fed and apart from leaving a bit of hay (which I've over wet) she eats everything put in front of her. Still interacting with other horses next to her in the paddock and interacting with me fine, is not resenting me approaching with the bridle, or running off when I put it in her mouth, so every indication its not hurting her.

The fractured part of the tooth (upper premolar) was removed which left a tooth which was then packed. THe vet said the tooth showed on xray as looking strong and healthy and may not necessarily need to be removed. The vet said leave a few months before we check it again but has never bothered ringing up to check how she is or anything. I was thinking of waiting until Feb time and getting a 'winter MOT' which includes teeth inspection, soundness, eyes, lungs, heart etc.

In the meantime I am thinking of going down the route of steaming my hay to make it softer rather than dunking it under the tap which iv'e always done, I don't want to soak it as I know she won't eat it. But she loves her snackaball with a passion, does anyone know if there is any brand of 'nut' out there that is softer or anything that I can give her as a replacement to a nut that is small enough to fit into a snackaball but not loaded with sugars like mints, or cut up apples? She's on one bute a day.

Does anyone actually produce a 'soft nut' or by definition are nuts expected to be hard!? lol At least I can say I'm doing everything feed wise then to look after that tooth.

 

[supsup]

Maybe the "hay cobs soft" from Kramer? They are just pressed hay cobs, treat-sized (about and inch long). They sell a "soft" and a regular version, with the soft one less firmly pressed to soak faster. But I don't know if they'd be really soft enough for your purposes, or whether smaller pellets wouldn't be better, even if they are harder.

 

[ester]

Fwiw we've essentially sacked off all treats, he doesn't need them and they likely don't help.

However if you want lower calorie fruit/veg options.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Haven't used a snack ball, but I think your idea of steaming hay is a good one. My mare has a missing upper molar and whilst the diastema is not painful, food can get trapped in it. Steaming her hay makes it softer and easier for her to eat. Plus it smells delicious!

 

[hopscotch bandit]

Well its great news!

I left work early on Friday as I have a dreadful cold and felt rough. As luck would have when I arrived at the yard I found another vet from the practice I use was there doing routine rasps, I’d forgotten she was coming to my friends horse. I asked her if she would look at my horses tooth as I was worried and after she had dealt with the other horses she put the gag on and said her tooth was fine. No sign of infection, healthy gum and gap where slab fragment had been removed had healed lovely. I had a look and could see it was fine. She advised not to feed chaff as she thinks it’s the short sharp bits that stick in the gap that are annoying her hence the grunging face every now and again as she tries to remove the offending article from around the gap.

She said that I could carry on feeding nuts for the snackaball as they were quite powdery when broken down and that the speedibeet and the mix soaked with hot water is a good idea. Didn’t think it was necessary to steam the hay, just give it a good dunk to make it soft thank goodness. Having to steam four nets would have been a total nightmare.

I am so relieved that she is okay and what a stroke of luck that she was there to advise. She said worst case scenario she could develop a root abcess and to make it part of my daily routine to check outside the cheek by laying my hand on her cheek to see if there is any warmth or swelling. If she did develop a root tooth abcess which looks unlikely the first line treatment would be massive antibiotics to treat. She said this would hopefully sort things out, as a last resort the tooth would have to come out if the abcess formed. But again hopeful this won't happen.

Feel like I have won the lottery! Best Xmas present I could have, as I was getting very worried.