feeding help!!

annunziata

annunziata

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My horse had surgery in November and has had a lot of drugs, over the months he has gone off his feed. He is a sensitive soul and has to have a couple if supplements. I tried to give him sugar beat with chaff (can't feed him anything with sugar or to much energy) but now won't touch it.do at the moment I have cut out all supplement and giving him Allen and Paige fast fiber which he likes, but he gas lost some weight through the surgery, he is out and has haulage, what is the best thing to give him to try to get some weight on him and how do I vet him to eat his supplements??? He has the following:
Magnesium- he has this as a calmer
Forage plus- for natural mineral balance
MSM and glocousimin for arthritis
garlic and mint- help breathing does not need it now as cough gone
 
Micronised linseed is always a good place to start. Build it up to around 100g per 100kg of bodyweight for weight gain. If that's not doing the trick, I'd look at something like rice bran.
 
if he is having fast fibre and eating it, then i would add some oil into it to add the weight on. I have a very stressy ex-racer who drops weight very easily. the only thing that keeps weight on him is molasses free feed, low starch and low sugar - i use Spillars hi fibre cubes (has added stuff for gut health) and dengie healthy hooves (this has added mins and vits and also biotin for feet).

Dengie now do a new feed called healthy tummy that has vits and mins and also mint in - we have a v fussy eater here on the yard who gobbles this up and it smells fab - its no good for my boy though as its really high in alfalfa which makes him a bit fizzy.
 
After surgery my TB was really knocked back we gave him Protexin for six months after two months at the stress level amount and the rest at maintainence level , I am sure all the drugs does affect them and he's really only just blooming now, the surgery was in July .
 
FiFord said:
protexin is added to happy tummy too:)
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But I think you would need to feed an awful lot to be giving anything like the amount you give when adding the supplement straight.
This is why I hate any chops with things added you need to know and feed exactly how many kilos to feed to give the correct amount.
 
Fenugreek is really good for stimulating the appetite. My horse is a poor doer TB who struggles with eating much of anything been using fenugreek for a few years & it works really well. It smells quite strong & mines very fussy but he always eats feed fine with it in.
 
First of all, I would take him to get scoped.

Horse going off his feed + box rest + drugs + weight loss = ulcers.

If it is ulcers, than as soon as you start treating he'll begin putting on the kg and will be fine in no time.
 
SCMSL said:
First of all, I would take him to get scoped.

Horse going off his feed + box rest + drugs + weight loss = ulcers.

If it is ulcers, than as soon as you start treating he'll begin putting on the kg and will be fine in no time.
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Sorry he is eating if I take out all his supplements which I have but he lost weight and muscle mass from surgery and I am trying to get him to put it on, vets said not to scope him yet as when I take the supplements away he out s fine also he has had sooooo much done vets want to leave him alone to recover. I have no idea how I am going to get him to eat his supplements
 
Another vote for Healthy Tummy, my friend started feeding it to her TB when he was on some medication and she was struggling to get him to eat. It smells lovely and seems to hide the taste of the medication. I am pretty sure that it is molasses free but might be worth giving Dengie a call to double check
 
Have you tried mollichaff showshine (its cherry flavoured) I think it is quite high in sugar but it smells wonderful and has soya oil, maybe a handful or two might encourage him to eat when he isn't feeling it? Smells very nice, and quite strongly so may disguise the taste of his extras.

I have a fussy TB and when I first got him he was very skinny and stressy and didn't want eat and cherry chaff was very motivating along with loads of carrots. It may just take him a while to get back in the swing of things.
 
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