EDT refused to do my oldie....

M

Milford

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EDT (recommended by my vet) came out this morning to see to my oldie who is in his late twenties. EDT said horse has gone beyond help now (i had him regularly looked at by a different EDT who was obviously useless!)

He said if he rasped the teeth down now, there would be a chance that he may not be able to eat at all. He said to give him the summer then review.

A) what does he mean give him the summer - he is perfectly fine mobility wise, just underweight (not rspca case) but just as you would expect with his age. It got me thinking what exactly did he mean.
 
Try contacting the veteran horse society, they have oldies with poor/no teeth and manage to keep weight on with a replacement for hay diet.
I'm sure they will be able to advise.
 
I would be getting out another EDT.... They dont have to take it all off at once and can rasp a bit then a bit more in 3-6 mts.
 
M_G said:
I would be getting out another EDT.... They dont have to take it all off at once and can rasp a bit then a bit more in 3-6 mts.
Click to expand...

This, I would be wanted a bit more of an explanation from the EDT so that I could understand just what they meant. Then I would look for a recommended EDT (poss another one lol!) and see what they think - perhaps get them to liase with your vet. As mentioned above, there is no need at all to go in hammer and tongs, a gently gently approach might be what your boy needs to improve his teeth. Is there a reason the current EDT doesn't want to take that approach, is there a reason the teeth shouldn't be touched.
You need to grill him and get a better understanding so you know what steps you would like to take next to look after your old boy.
 
My mare is 29 and has lost 5 teeth. Last time my EDT checked her he said under no circumstances should she be hand-rasped any more as it risks problems with teeth that have no hooks or edges. She should only have hooks removed by electric tools so that they can target just the affected teeth.
 
My friends have a 31 yr old ex racer. teeth completely shot after years of not having them looked at. They had a EDT look at he said he would do what he could to make her comfortable to eat, he comes every 6 months and horse is coping. they feed sloppy feeds and leave big trugs in her stable instead of hay as she struggles with hay.
 
I recently took an old pony on loan, who had NEVER in his 30 ish years of life seen an EDT.
He couldnt eat and was balling food up on his left side of his face.
He came and basically said he would make him comfortable to eat but obviously his teeth are old , as is he, and there WILL come a point where he just wont be able to eat properly and Im aware of that anyway.
But for the minute, he has had a massive splinter that was jammed in his cheek and tooth removed and all sharp bits smoothed, and is merrily stuffing his face at the rate of knots :)

I would ring him and just ask him to clarify exactly what he means.
 
He needs to explain what 'gone beyond help' means. Does he mean they are worn down to the gum? If so then he is certainly not 'beyond help'. My 36 year old's front ones wore down to the gum :o and although they looked awful he could still nip off the grass. He lost all his grinding teeth years before he died but managed on a total diet replacement - vast quantities of soaked high fibre nuts and sugar beet and Thunderbrook base mix.

If you have trouble keeping the weight on then I can't recommend Thunderbrook base mix enough - really helped my old boy, he died at 37 and hadn't had any teeth to speak of for 8 years!

The 'give him the summer' comment means review quality of life to me. Perhaps he is suggesting that due to being unable to eat he may not be able to take another winter - again ask for clarification. If he is well and happy and just a bit underweight then upping the fibre in easy chewable form may be the answer. Don't panic yet!

I hope you get to the bottom of it :)
 
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Talk to EDT and clarify their position then chat to vet again. If the horse were mine I'd prefer short term discomfort and new diet with sloppy feeds and good fibre source that the horse can cope with rather than wait and see
 
Update - horse has lost some teeth, by him rasping them down he feels he would worsen the horse to the point where he couldn't eat. It should of been done 5 years ago. He is able to eat at the moment so leave be.

Weight wise, he struggles eating his hay, can i replace this with something else?
 
Fast Fibre by Allen & Page is a high fibre feed that I use with ours... Low sugar... Part of the gumpf does say " Fast Fibre® is particularly useful for horses with dental problems, as it can be used as a partial or complete hay replacer if necessary."

Mine are ok teeth wise but I have regular 'meal times' so I can get supplements like micronised linseed in which would probably be a good addition for overall health... :)

Fast Fibre

PS...one of ours is 19 and hadn't had dental care for quite a while... She had a lot of hooks catching at the insides of the cheeks and making it all very sore although she was fine in herself... Our EDT was quite passionate about dealing with those and keeping on top of them which meant a sedative and using the electric gizmos...

:)
 
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Fat Piggy is right....oldies should never be hand floated as it can pull what left of teeth in shallow sockets out. Electric tools only from now on IMO.
Feed wise, try well soaked grassnuts, fastfibre, baileys no1 all which can be feed as a mush.
 
Go back to page 1 of this thread as there are some replies that suggest a hay replacer diet.

Google the veteran horse society as they have a helpful website which I think includes a recipe for a hay replacer. Other than that you could feed Fast Fibre which is a soaked high fibre mash. Won't be cheap though.
 
Replace hay with chaff. Try, damn, the name has just gone out of my head! It's effectively grass. Very short. Comes in a big white bag. Don't feed if he's laminitic though. Readi-grass! See, knew it would come to me :)

Sugarbeet - sloppy feed.

The feed and forage should be ground down so he's gut can deal with it, so if he can't grind he needs feed that effectively is already small enough. Look at the veteran feeds, also do as someone else has suggested and speak to a rescue centre, they're used to dealing with the older horse/teeth issues.

Our old lad is checked every six months. She uses power tools so can get the bits she needs to. His teeth were a mess when we got him and he needed a tonne of work doing on them, so they'll never be brilliant, but luckily, so far, he's not lost any.
 
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