Does anyone feed Kwikbeet from Dodson and Horrell to a laminitic?

[Forester]

As per title .Is this safe to feed to a laminitic? I bought a bag today intending to feed it to my 25 year old laminitic mare as I am struggling to maintain her condition. The bag describes the beet as "unmollased "and states that it is 5% sugar but I am panicing now as the Dodson and Horrell website does not decribe the Kwikbeet as suitable for a laminitic.

Can anyone reassure me that it should be safe?. I have e-mailed Dand H but obviously won't get a reply till tommorrow. I think that I may be worrying all night

Whilst I am here can anyone give me any suggestions as to what I can feed her to help maintain her condition? She is currently on 18lb hay ( tested as 5% sugar) soaked for 8hrs plus a small ammount of Fast Fibre, Safe and Sound,Micronised Linseed, Magnesium Oxide and a Vit and Min supplement. A while back I stopped soaking her hay for a while which helped her condition without causing laminitis but I had to resume soaking as her breathing was affected ( She also suffers from RAO )

wine and cookies for anyone still here

Thanks
Forester

 

[itsonlyme]

Yes, I'd say it's fine to feed and i would happily feed it to a laminitic. It's very similar to speedibeet i think, which is also safe. Anything unmolassed & lower than 10% combined sugar & starch is fine

 

[be positive]

I have used Speedibeet, also 5% sugar, if you soak then rinse it it will reduce the sugar a bit more. I feed mainly fast fibre to mine, it is safe and if they like it you can feed plenty which should help with condition.
I would be careful with the Safe and Sound as it has a combined sugar/starch level of 10% and may be too high for your horse.

 

[itsonlyme]

As for condition, how much micronised linseed are u already feeding? Cos u can feed that by the mug-full & it's great for condition. Other than that, maybe just soak the hay for less time (like an hour?) or feed more of it?
With the Safe & Sound, Im unsure of the percentages, but it contains molasses/monglo doesn't it? I prefer Badminton's 'Easy Rider' as it is alfalfa-free & 'molasses-free. Im sure there are others; that's just what i feed mine. You sound like you're basically feeding all of the right things though

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

My mare is still recovering she has speedy beet rinsed with alfaa lite



My mare is now on Fast Fibre good for weight but safe for lami horses my mare loves it grabs mouthful's before i get to manger lol

They suggested 0.5k then up to 0.9 and then review more

but we have stayed on the 0.5 till further notice.

 

[Forester]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

My internet went down yesterday evening just after I posted so I have been unable to see your replies until now.

You have all reassured me that the Kwik beet was a good choice. I was happy with the 5% sugar content but concerned because the bag ( or the website ) did not say that it is safe for laminitics.

be positive / itsonlyme . Thanks for your comments about the Safe and Sound. I will try to replace it with something else in future. - Easy Rider if I can get hold of it. I need to have something " dry" to add to the Kwik beet and Fast Fibre as Mabel has a slight parrot mouth and finds it difficult to eat "sloppy" feeds. I've fed Alfa A lite and Alfa A molasses Free as well as Dengie Alfalfa pellets in the past but decided that I would try dropping the alfalfa in case she is sensitive to it ( she often has small ammounts of dried blood in her feet although luckily it has only once progressed further than that.

In an ideal world I would prefer to just increase her hay however I've only got 30 bales of last year's left and I don't know whether I can find any more. I was hoping that I could make my hay last longer and improve Mabel's condition at the same time by replacing some of the soaked hay with something more conditioning.

Leviathan - I have upped her Fast Fibre from 0.3kg to 1kg.

Itsonlyme - I am currently feeding approx. 250g of micronised linseed split between 2 feeds.

Thanks again, all suggestions for improving her condition safely are welcome.