Feeding a Fussy Cushings Poor Doer?

[Coblover63]

Just starting to think about winter and how to manage our fussy Clydie X poor-doer who was diagnosed with Cushings a year ago. Thankfully he had never had laminitis, or shown any signs of it (farrier confirms thus every time he comes) but I'm not getting complacent as I know it can come out of nowhere so Im very mindful of keeping his diet as low sugar as possible. His Prascend takes the edge off his appetite too. (Dont get me started on how we have to tempt him to eat those!!!) He won't touch Copra and will eat micronosed linseed in small quantities mixed into a fibre-feed. He is late teens and pretty much just a field ornament over winter. This is a horse that will stop eating and drop weight rather than eat a patch of grass that isn't long, lush and green! Will have ad lib hay day and night but I know that alone won't stop him losing weight. He won't touch any chaff that is totally unmollassed but will eat Happy Hoof and Speedibeet with added oil for calories. I have never fed him starchy straights but I know he'd happily tuck into a mollassed mix and haylage - which wouldn't be good for him at all!

How do other people tempt their poor-doers with a reduced appetite when you have to be mindful of sugar? Where do you find the calories to tempt them?

 

[AdorableAlice]

Linseed, veteran and vitality (it is 15% so be mindful of that), equi jewel all helped my old cushing horse.

 

[JillA]

My old mare lived for years on Equibeet (unmollassed sugar beet which is 2/3 the price of speedibeet so much more affordable to feed in quantities) an grass pellets, also mixed in the soak. How about Grazeon chop - fast dried good quality grass chop? Currently I am managing a very poor doer TB with soya hulls (main ingredient in Ready Fibre Mash if you can't get it as straights) with soya meal added for more protein/calories, and added protein as amino acids such a lysine. You can get the soya and amino acids as straights from Target, sister company to Rowan Barbery at Prees, Whitchurch, worth it if you can get to pick it up in person, otherwise delivery is expensive.
I presume he is on Prascend now?

 

[Auslander]

I've started using Cushcare Condition recently - and it's worked so well that I'm using it on anything that needs condition without sugar. You can either feed it as it comes - a soft crumble, or soak it into a mash - either way appears to be VERY palatable.

 

[AdorableAlice]

I've started using Cushcare Condition recently - and it's worked so well that I'm using it on anything that needs condition without sugar. You can either feed it as it comes - a soft crumble, or soak it into a mash - either way appears to be VERY palatable.

What sort of quantities are you using on a big horse ?

 

[Crackerz]

I have a very fussy Cushings pony who is also a poor doer - i am positive it's harder than a Cushings pony that needs to watch it's weight....


Cushcare works well, but if yours is anything like mine, he will eat something for a couple of months, then that's it, wont even touch it again. Then i have to find something new to try. Mine will not eat Cushcare now which is so annoying as it worked really really well. Better than anything else i've tried in the 10 years he has been diagnosed with Cushings.

He used to die for sugarbeet, but will not touch speedibeet either.

Currently he IS eating Copra though - vets always just said to wing it with whatever feed he will eat (within reason) to stop him losing weight. In a month he will decide he is too good for Copra so i will have to find something different

 

[be positive]

I have a very fussy Cushings pony who is also a poor doer - i am positive it's harder than a Cushings pony that needs to watch it's weight....


Cushcare works well, but if yours is anything like mine, he will eat something for a couple of months, then that's it, wont even touch it again. Then i have to find something new to try. Mine will not eat Cushcare now which is so annoying as it worked really really well. Better than anything else i've tried in the 10 years he has been diagnosed with Cushings.

He used to die for sugarbeet, but will not touch speedibeet either.

Currently he IS eating Copra though - vets always just said to wing it with whatever feed he will eat (within reason) to stop him losing weight. In a month he will decide he is too good for Copra so i will have to find something different

The one I had was certainly far more difficult that a greedy good doer and like yours the vet said feed anything he will eat and not to worry too much about low sugar/ starch as the weight loss and lack of appetite was of more concern than laminitis which he had never suffered from.

I fed most of the "wrong" things in winter just to keep him eating, summer he was ok as the grass kept him well enough, the only way to get the meds into him was to soak in the sugarbeet and mix it in, he got wise to it being inside a treat and stopped eating the treats fairly quickly but the soaking worked long term for some reason.

 

[MurphysMinder]

I've started using Cushcare Condition recently - and it's worked so well that I'm using it on anything that needs condition without sugar. You can either feed it as it comes - a soft crumble, or soak it into a mash - either way appears to be VERY palatable.

My Cushings pony went off her food and I put her on Cushcare. She loves it and both the vet and farrier have commented on how well she is looking.

 

[NOISYGIRL]

Mine is 37 and he needed to put some weight on June/July time, he was already on cushcare condition and was going through 2 bags a week but it wasn't increasing his weight he was just maintaining and he won't eat any chop feed and doesn't eat much hay so is hard to get enough calories in him. I then went through a bad patch of not being able to get cushcare as the quality was compromised and he stopped eating it, long story with them testing it etc in the meantime I had to find something my boy would eat, I changed him onto Top Spec Fibre Plus with the senior lite balancer, they said I could swap to the normal senior balancer in the winter but I don't think I'll need to. I am so pleased, he has put weight on and looks really good. He has 5 meals a day (he won't eat more that a stubbs scoop in a feed) VERY fussy. He won't eat micronised linseed added. He is muzzled during the day when turned out.

I would just feed any chushings horse as if it is laminitic so low sugar/starch lots of fibre