Best source of iron??

[emmareid97]

Can anybody recommend a good source of iron? My horse has a stomach tumour and is losing a lot of iron. He is on vitalise, seaweed and even marmite along with his balancer.

 

[MegaBeast]

Redcell?

 

[emmareid97]

Thanks for the reply, asked the vet about redcell and was told vitalise was the better option.

 

[Hen]

How much forage is he getting? A lot of UK hay can be very high in iron (I only know this because I struggle to reduce iron in my horse's diet :/ ).

 

[be positive]

You could try offering him some nettles that you have pulled and left to wilt, they are high in iron and a natural detox that horses will tend to eat if they feel they are helping, dandelions are another weed you can try.
The vitalise should be enough to pick up his levels of iron but herbs are useful as they can self medicate and seem to know what is good for them.

 

[emmareid97]

He gets loads of forage but thank you, really appreciate your reply

 

[emmareid97]

Thank you for posting this. I will get onto picking nettles first thing in the morning. How long do you suggest i leave them before feeding them? I guess the more i can get into hIm the better.

The vitalise is the best thing but i need to get as much iron as possible into him on a daily basis because his stomach is leaking it.

Possibly clutching at straws with this theory but the way i look at it the more iron i can give him the less it might affect him with loosing some!

 

[be positive]

My laminitic pony will eat them freshly picked but some prefer them to be left, if you pull them and give them to him he will eat them when he wants depending on how picky he is.

 

[Tnavas]

An old trainer I once worked for had a bucket filled with water and old rusty nails and each horse got a cup full weekly.