Feeding a veteran...

HufflyPuffly

HufflyPuffly

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Hi I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas of what we can try next for Doodle...

Feeding history is that she was a very poor do'er when I got her at 12/13 years old, went through various feeds as recommend by the feed merchant, until I wise'd up about starch/sugar content and gave her diet an overhaul.
We ended up feeding Mollichop veteran, rolled oats, grass nuts and speedi-beet, with added supplements of a balancer and cortaflex. This has made her weight blossom and she's been fairly stable ever since (about the last year or two), so all was well and I thought we'd cracked it with her. The grass nuts and rolled oats give her energy and keep the weight on and the chop and speedi-beet bulk her feed out.

That was until this weekend...

She is now not eating her feed :mad3:. At first we thought it was because she had been out with the hunt and was a bit hepped up still and also her teeth were due to be done, so we didn't panic and tried to tempt with some molasses so she got her supplements.

Teeth were done on the Monday, (done every 6 months as she's an older lady at 21), dentist was happy that there was nothing to cause concern and that there was certainly nothing to stop her eating, and mentioned it would be the haylage she would struggle with first not her hard feed. So back to the drawing board as the hunt/dentist issues should now be resolved? Decided to take the grass nuts out as she can be fussy if they go fluffy when wet (we used to make her feeds in advance and she didn't like the way the wet speedi-beet affected the texture of them, so now they are made fresh for her). This worked and she ate her feed well...

As the grass nuts are the more important part of her feed I tried yesterday adding them and taking the speedi-beet out, but she is still snuffling around her bowl and not keen though she did eat most of it. So now don't know what to do, she has clearly gone off the nuts! Going to try them soaked tonight, but I'm not sure its the texture as she's happy to eat them out of my hand dry?

Failing her suddenly deciding she likes them again, any suggestions of something to replace them with?
As the show season is coming upon us, I was looking to up her feed as she will be working harder and currently she really doesn't need to loose any weight...

Fussy beggar that she is now she's older, she used to eat anything and everything!

If anyone has any ideas I'd be grateful, off to scour the net for an alternative...

x x x
 
My old boy with low level cushing thrives on Veteran Vitality, linseed and handful of chop. He has phases of liking soaked grass nuts and then goes off them.
 
AdorableAlice said:
My old boy with low level cushing thrives on Veteran Vitality, linseed and handful of chop. He has phases of liking soaked grass nuts and then goes off them.
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I have been debating linseed for a fair while, but as the current diet seemed to work didn't want to make any changes, but might look back into it again. Not heard of the Veteran Vitality before is this a complete feed, (so no need for a balancer)?

Hmm well at least she's not alone in her changing taste!


x x
 
It is a complete feed, Allen and Page make it. It is a soaked type of feed (one part feed to 2 parts water).

I was surprised when my horse liked it to be honest. He was a show horse and very frustrating to feed. He would eat half a bag of whatever and then go off it.
 
AdorableAlice said:
It is a complete feed, Allen and Page make it. It is a soaked type of feed (one part feed to 2 parts water).

I was surprised when my horse liked it to be honest. He was a show horse and very frustrating to feed. He would eat half a bag of whatever and then go off it.
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Will look into it, then at least I could ditch the balancer as well! Not sure how it would fit with the rolled oats though? Maybe another total overhaul is due...

See Doodle is surprising up until now she would eat anything, but she's becoming more of a fussy diva with every year that passes. I think the showing is going to her head, she knows just how special she is now ;), not quite in the same league as your fabulous boy though.

x x
 
AdorableAlice said:
It is a complete feed, Allen and Page make it. It is a soaked type of feed (one part feed to 2 parts water).

I was surprised when my horse liked it to be honest. He was a show horse and very frustrating to feed. He would eat half a bag of whatever and then go off it.
Click to expand...

The Allen & Page veteran food are really great in my experience. We feed our 20 yr old 'Old Faithful' from that range and he absolutely thrives off it. When it got really cold last winter he also used to have boiled barley which certainly helps keep the condition on him.
 
My 29 year old is on Veteran Vitality; it has linseed already in it. When she struggled with her weight last summer, I added in Calm and Conditon, which is also Allen and Page. She had a half a scoop of each, twice a day.
Some people don't like the Calm and Condition, but I also have my ridden TB cross on it. She loves it and looks fab.
I'm so glad none of mine are fussy eaters; good luck finding something she likes.
 
Mariposa said:
The Allen & Page veteran food are really great in my experience. We feed our 20 yr old 'Old Faithful' from that range and he absolutely thrives off it. When it got really cold last winter he also used to have boiled barley which certainly helps keep the condition on him.
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Never used boiled barley, but something else to consider thank you.

Farcical1 said:
My 29 year old is on Veteran Vitality; it has linseed already in it. When she struggled with her weight last summer, I added in Calm and Conditon, which is also Allen and Page. She had a half a scoop of each, twice a day.
Some people don't like the Calm and Condition, but I also have my ridden TB cross on it. She loves it and looks fab.
I'm so glad none of mine are fussy eaters; good luck finding something she likes.
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Well as everyone seems to be suggesting Allen and Page, will see if my feed merchant stocks it to give it ago.
She used to be fed C&C in the dim and distant past and I never found it very good at the condition part of it, so don't think that would work unfortunately.

Thanks for the ideas guys!

x x
 
Might it be the time of year? Mine can get a bit fed up with his food and eating hay in Feb\March, seems to have a grass craving but won't eat grass nuts! He is out 24\7 but we have no grass to speak of until spring paddock is opened. I have just started adding dried spearmint to his bucket and chucking the odd whole swede in the field shelter for taste\texture and he's better for it.
 
Yep veteran vitality I'm thinking of switching my old boy back to it if he will eat it, he had it for years then started refusing to eat it so we switched to alfalfa cubes and ERS pellets with beetpulp and spillers conditioning fibre :)
 
I recently swopped my 24 year old onto Spillers Senior Fibre ,it has glucosamine for the joints and live yeast for the digestive system. She has always been a fussy feeder, preferring grass. I also added micronised Linseed. I also added the Turmeric mixture and she now finishes all her feeds.
 
AngieandBen said:
Another fan of Veteran Vitality :) you could add a chaff like the Dengie Alfa Oil with it
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:) Great stuff, will be picking up a bag at the weekend I think! Though the cross-patch has decided that she will eat a small amount of the grass nuts for the time being :rolleyes3:.

The Boy said:
Might it be the time of year? Mine can get a bit fed up with his food and eating hay in Feb\March, seems to have a grass craving but won't eat grass nuts! He is out 24\7 but we have no grass to speak of until spring paddock is opened. I have just started adding dried spearmint to his bucket and chucking the odd whole swede in the field shelter for taste\texture and he's better for it.
Click to expand...

It's just very odd for her to decide to go off a feed like this? But it could be the time of year, adding spearmint could work, but she doesn't really like swede's :o.

Black Beastie said:
Yep veteran vitality I'm thinking of switching my old boy back to it if he will eat it, he had it for years then started refusing to eat it so we switched to alfalfa cubes and ERS pellets with beetpulp and spillers conditioning fibre :)
Click to expand...

Well hopefully she will like it the fussy beast!

paulineh said:
I recently swopped my 24 year old onto Spillers Senior Fibre ,it has glucosamine for the joints and live yeast for the digestive system. She has always been a fussy feeder, preferring grass. I also added micronised Linseed. I also added the Turmeric mixture and she now finishes all her feeds.
Click to expand...

She already has a supplement for joints that I wouldn't take her off, but if the veteran vitality doesn't work, this could be something to look at and adding the linseed, thanks.

x x
 
Another fan of Veteran Vitality, my old boy (32) has it together with my youngsters (21 and 22 ;)).

My old boy only gets this, just more of it and when he started to loose a bit of weight (on vets recommendation) I just added half a loaf of bread a day (soaked too) and he looks great now.
 
dianchi said:
Another option you can try is soaked high fibre cubes, will all come down to the type of consistency they are happy with!
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Used to feed high fibre cubes as well which never did an awful lot for her condition either :o, though it could be more to do with how settled she is now and the routine we keep her in, that she keeps her weight better?

I think you might be right with getting the consistency right... She's eating her feed now with less grass nuts, more oats and no speedi-beet, but I'm not convinced she will hold her weight...

MissGee said:
Another fan of Veteran Vitality, my old boy (32) has it together with my youngsters (21 and 22 ;)).

My old boy only gets this, just more of it and when he started to loose a bit of weight (on vets recommendation) I just added half a loaf of bread a day (soaked too) and he looks great now.
Click to expand...

lol youngsters at 21 and 22 :D, V&V is definitely at the top of my list to try. Not sure about the bread though, we tend to give it as a treat occasionally but thought it wasn't good for them?

x x
 
AlexHyde said:
Used to feed high fibre cubes as well which never did an awful lot for her condition either :o, though it could be more to do with how settled she is now and the routine we keep her in, that she keeps her weight better?

I think you might be right with getting the consistency right... She's eating her feed now with less grass nuts, more oats and no speedi-beet, but I'm not convinced she will hold her weight...



lol youngsters at 21 and 22 :D, V&V is definitely at the top of my list to try. Not sure about the bread though, we tend to give it as a treat occasionally but thought it wasn't good for them?

x x
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Yeah me too, but it was my vet that recommended it so thought it was worth a go and it most certainly was ;)

I have to say even my "babies" (10 and 14) have a bit of Veteran Vitality :)
 
Well after your recommendations we have sourced some V&V and Doodle seems to love it :D, so that's the first hurdle over! Now we will have to see how she does weight wise on it..

Many thanks for taking the time to relate your experiences, it is appreciated!

x x
 
dianchi said:
You could try adding in Micronised Linseed on top of the VV?
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Yes I think this would be the next step if she drops weight on it.

We still have quite a bit of oats and grass nuts to get through, so will be slowly changing her over, and might keep the oats as we add and reduce the amount of these anyway in relation to her weight. Fingers crossed she will continue to eat them!

x x
 
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