Arthritis in the jaw? and feed advice

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MadJ

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Does anyone have any experience with this?
At the moment it's a suspicion with my old boy so the vet is doing a bute trial to see if it helps him.
Teeth are done 6 monthly as he has a slight over bite which causes hooks on his back teeth if not kept on top of.
He's recently got progressively more picky with what he'll eat to the point we're at now where he's only eating hay, hence the bute trial to see if he's got in to a cycle of not eating due to discomfort.
He's a 20yr old TB who's a constant battle to keep weight on as he's so fussy with feed, so I'm really worried that just eating hay is not enough to keep his condition on through the winter.
We've tried 16+, happy hoof, readi grass, just grass, haylage, oats, grass nuts, pasture mix, hi fi, alfa a and saracen releve, equi jewel, bio life and veteran mix- they sent me samples that i'm very grateful for, unfortunately he wasn't keen on any. I'm waiting on a sample of coolstance but i'm not convince he'll like that as he doesn't seem to like wet feeds. Doesn't like carrots or apples.
DOES like pears, parsnips, hay, fresh grass and extra strong mints.
Any ideas? Anything anyone can suggest that I can tempt him with?
 
My fussy old pony does not eat much hay, he also will not eat most of your list, does not like wet feeds, although loves carrots and apples.
I have struggled to find what he will enjoy and eat up and found he prefers plain cubes, I feed him bog standard cubes in the summer with a little calm and condition, in the winter the cubes are changed to Baileys no 4 conditioning cubes and the quantity of calm and condition is upped, he gets 3 feeds a day and the Baileys really help with his topline. He gets a bowl full of Healthy Hooves left overnight which he picks at in his own time rather than getting it all mixed in, he will leave it if I do that.

Try Allen and Page, they will send samples, I find the fast fibre good but oldie will not eat it, the calm and condition if fed with a minimum amount of water to soak seems very palatable.
Your other option would be to try a balancer, you only feed very small amounts but it could get very expensive if you have to buy them only for him to leave it.
 
I've fed a couple of old horses on dampened hay replacement cubes over the years. I'm not sure if you have similar here (they are like the cubes you buy for pet rodents!) but perhaps any high fibre cube could work (we used alfalfa cubes but no doubt someone will tell me why that's wrong ;)), perhaps mixed with fine chaff of some sort. The key actually seemed to be boiling water, poured over and left to steam for a few minutes before feeding. If you could get the horse eating something like that perhaps you could then mix in something with a higher fat content such as rice bran and/or linseed.

You could also try mint as an appetite stimulant, since he's already shown a fondness. Fenugreek is also a popular choice with some horses.
 
TarrSteps said:
I've fed a couple of old horses on dampened hay replacement cubes over the years. I'm not sure if you have similar here (they are like the cubes you buy for pet rodents!) but perhaps any high fibre cube could work (we used alfalfa cubes but no doubt someone will tell me why that's wrong ;)), perhaps mixed with fine chaff of some sort. The key actually seemed to be boiling water, poured over and left to steam for a few minutes before feeding. If you could get the horse eating something like that perhaps you could then mix in something with a higher fat content such as rice bran and/or linseed.

You could also try mint as an appetite stimulant, since he's already shown a fondness. Fenugreek is also a popular choice with some horses.
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You can get grass pellets and alfalfa pellets here. In fact I was going to suggest soaked grass pellets.

Have you got anyone that does thermal imaging locally to you? If so, may be worth asking them to come and visit and do a quick scan of the head. Wont cost a lot, and could give you a very good idea of where to look for a problem.
 
wench said:
You can get grass pellets and alfalfa pellets here. In fact I was going to suggest soaked grass pellets.
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Yes, Simple Systems and the like would be worth a shot. These were a bit different though as they broke down into what looked like very fine short chaff, rather than mush, which many horses seemed to prefer. They also smelled amazing with the hot water. Mind you, I've also had horses prefer a big bucket of what amounts to fibre porridge. :)
 
What about these "fibreblocks" that seem to be the latest craze. Bet if they were soaked they would be more like chaff than grassnuts
 
That is closer to what I'm talking about, wench. Those look like they would need some supplementing perhaps (the ones i mentioned come in a couple of different formulations from effectively grass hay to punchier blends) but might be a worth a try to get the horse eating a bucket feed.
 
Will he eat sugarbeet? Could you give him just a little scoop of this to entice him mixed with micronised linseed for calories mixed with a nice smelling chaff. Dengie do a nice mint smelling one called "good doer"
 
You say he likes extra strong mints. You could dissolve half a pack of those in mug of boiling water and mix with his feed, or buy some peppermint cordial (available from large off licences or supermarkets) and mix in.

It sounds like its more of a pain thing than a dislike of feeds. You also might like to try Rowan Barbarry Horse Feeds - this is extremely palatable and you can feed it as a mash, i.e. with hot water, so its like a porridge consistency, which would be easier for him to eat. This was so palatable to my horse, unfortunately, much as he liked it, it really made him a little too plump and I had to stop feeding it, thinking of maybe re introducing the ready mash and not the ready mash extra to his diet this winter!

http://www.equi-box.co.uk/shop/deta...ds/rowen-barbary-ready-mash-extra-soft-&-soak
 
Thank you all for your replies.
I've emailed all the suggested companies for samples and the vet's been back, taken blood to see if that shows anything up and check up on him.
He's now on day 3 of the bute trial and I think he's looking a little brighter in himself and ate nearly 2 slices of hay last night. His stable looks like a buffet. He has a choice of 2 different types of hay, a net of haylage and 3 small buckets of feed I've been given by friends to see if anything can tempt him.
Frustratingly I offered him some fibre beet which he ate a few cubes out of my hand but wouldn't touch when it was soaked.
I'm looking for a liquid supplement I can syringe in to him to give him a boost and make sure he gets it down. I'm trying to choose between Red Cell, Collovet and Twydil Hemopar. The last 2 I've never heard of before but both claim to stimulate appetite.
Thank you all again. He's always been fussy with his food just not to this extent. All the advice is very much appreciated.
 
MadJ said:
Does anyone have any experience with this?
At the moment it's a suspicion with my old boy so the vet is doing a bute trial to see if it helps him.
Teeth are done 6 monthly as he has a slight over bite which causes hooks on his back teeth if not kept on top of.
He's recently got progressively more picky with what he'll eat to the point we're at now where he's only eating hay, hence the bute trial to see if he's got in to a cycle of not eating due to discomfort.
He's a 20yr old TB who's a constant battle to keep weight on as he's so fussy with feed, so I'm really worried that just eating hay is not enough to keep his condition on through the winter.
We've tried 16+, happy hoof, readi grass, just grass, haylage, oats, grass nuts, pasture mix, hi fi, alfa a and saracen releve, equi jewel, bio life and veteran mix- they sent me samples that i'm very grateful for, unfortunately he wasn't keen on any. I'm waiting on a sample of coolstance but i'm not convince he'll like that as he doesn't seem to like wet feeds. Doesn't like carrots or apples.
DOES like pears, parsnips, hay, fresh grass and extra strong mints.
Any ideas? Anything anyone can suggest that I can tempt him with?
Click to expand...

I understand that he doesn't like wet feeds but in this case I would ring A&P and ask for a yard visit from one of their reps, they will come out and assess... Body score, discuss requirements and have a cuppa and a chat, in exchange you get a free bag (proper size bag) of feed, they will probably give you something like veteran vitality.... That way you aren't out of pocket if he turns his nose up at it since its a wet feed, but you can start by only lightly soaking it and wean him upwards if you need to make it slop in the future. I would also invest in a good blood tonic which you can feed by syringe, these are nice and palletable and syrup based and should help to stimulate appetite... All the feed companies were so helpful to me when ebs was poorly but the whole free bag thing... Worth a try in my opinion. I also found that a lot. Of horses will kill for good old mollichaff when they refuse other things, you could feed slop but add some of this... Used to make it acceptable to Ben my boy and he hated slop:rolleyes: they also do a really good veteran version of mollichaff... It's not something I would usually use because of the molasses but needs must, they will also send you free samples of their range. Oh and for a tonic I used haemavite b + it gave me a good couple of precious extra weeks when my girl was battling for her life. You can order it online or your vet can get it, apparently it's all they use up at Newmarket. Also, try feeding from an over the door manger... May be that eating from the ground is uncomfortable.
 
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Thank you Snow Queen. Have just emailed Allen and Page and will call them on friday if i have no reply by then.
I haven't had his blood results back yet but wouldn't surprise me if he's anaemic given his current diet.
I've now ordered the haemavite b+. Years ago I used visorbin on a different horse with excellent results but it seems they don't make it anymore. The haemavite looks very similar.
He has his buffet set up at various heights around his stable to see which he's happier with, although he's happily picking at grass or the hedge out in the field.
Tomorrow i'm going to hand graze him in the summer paddock for as long as he wants in the afternoon. There's grass in the winter field but the summer paddock's been rested since September.
 
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