Frustrated, Horse still not drinking!!

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LadyRascasse

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Ok I posted in CR last week about way to make a horse to drink as mine wasn't. It ended up with him being stomach tubed by the vet to rehydrate him. He has been ok for about a week with me making very very very wet feeds, soaked hay and head to toe hosing down. I also gave him another section of his field so he had long grass. He is starting getting very frustrated with his feeds and kicking them every where so losing alot of the water across the field and not eating the hay as well, I feel he is starting to lose hydration as he seems like before with the pinch test etc.

What can I do to get this stooopid animal to drink!?! We have tried apple bobbing (he can get them out without getting wet!!) apple juice, horse quenchers with no joy. I need to be careful with his food intake as he is on the porky side but if it gets him to drink and doesn't give him lami I'll give it a go. Rather not go through the stomach tubing again as neither of us enjoy that experience. He was blood tested last time and nothing obvious came back :/

Help pretty please!!
 
No experience of it myself but does he have access to running water? Stream or river for example. If not can you try offering him some. Or even rain water collected in a water butt?

Not too sure if it will help, just a thought. It must be truly frustrating :(
 
Electrolytes/salt to make him thirsty? Have you tried different temperatures of water? One of mine won't drink cold water.
 
Electrolytes would just make the situation worse as he will not drink so will just make him dehydrated quicker (i checked with the vet ;) ). I'll try sponging and I am going to see if I can scrounge some sugar beet off someone to try that tonight as I don't want to buy a 25kg sack (I know I am tight but I've already had a £170 vet bill)

We have tried different water with him, he currently had tap water and his drinker water but he is not drinking from either.

Thank you for the tips :)
 
Has he had his teeth checked?( sorry to ask but maybe something going on in his mouth) if he's getting frustrated with his feeds and hay, it seems a reasonable check to do..Does he have access to a salt lick to maybe encourage drinking?otherwise I haven't a clue...Sorry! What does the vet recommend?
 
His teeth were done last monday :) and yes he has a himalayon rock salt block in the stable and the field. I am following the vets instructions to the letter(wet feed/hay, cold hosing). I haven't rung him about this potential relapse yet as I want to make sure first and really don't want to go back down the stomach tube if we can help it would rather get him to drink.

Thanks again :)
 
When did he stop drinking?...Does it coincide with him having had his teeth done and do you perhaps think his mouth/teeth are sore as a result or maybe further damage has been done.
 
_HP_ said:
When did he stop drinking?...Does it coincide with him having had his teeth done and do you perhaps think his mouth/teeth are sore as a result or maybe further damage has been done.
Click to expand...

+1

There could be a chance that there is exposed nerve or dentine. If there is, cold water will be almost unbearable. You could try offering tepid water but I would say, if this is since his teeth were done, get an EDT out and get him properly checked.
Other than that, sponging or syringing water into the mouth and a trick I used to use was putting crushed ice in the hay and feed. Small enough not to cause choke, but big enough to be crunched on and get water in.

Good luck and keep us updated.
 
He has never been a great drinker, I noticed he wasn't right before the dentist came (sunday/monday felt he wasn't right tuesday I rang vet we tried a few things wednesday vet came out and tubed him). dentist didn't comment about anything in his mouth but I will contact him now to just check :)
 
As others have said get teeth checked again, get him sedated and get a dental vet if possible.
My horse has teeth problems and she can't stand watery feeds or salt in her feed. If i give her
watery feed she will constantly grab hold of side of bucket (rubbing the sides of her mouth or something),
or she will tip it over. She is quidding on hay at moment because shes just had some diastema's made
wider, she quids when they are bad. She is drinking water funny at times too, mouthful at a time.
To get more water into my filly i feed Speedi beet, handful of wheat bran and 100g of micronised linseed
with small flask of hot water (she can't stand cold feeds either) and a senior chaff to mop up any excess
water -this feed really works well on her.
 
Strange suggestion but have you tried changing the water bucket or whatever you are using atm. I only say this because my pony wasn't drinking and was off his hay at the end of last week. I had the vet to see him and take bloods and nothing abnormal in results. Anyway I remembered when he was a youngster he used to submerge his head in an old water trough he doesn't have anymore (have been using big buckets). In desperation I managed to find one similar and set it up for him and its worked oddly enough. He's been playing with the water in it and thankfully has decided to start drinking again.
 
Thank you for all suggestions, I have spoken to my dentist who said there is nothing untoward when he did him but he is happy to come back out and look. Also he did say horses with mouth issues tend to drink more and eat less as it more soothing them. He has been eating fine I think he is just getting annoyed with the amount of water in his feed. I have hopefully sourced another paddock for him with some trees and grass so fingerscrossed that works out as I think that is half the battle. I also have scrounged some sugarbeet and have that soaking so well see if that works in the morning :)

Thank you again for all the advice :)
 
I would get the vet to check teeth not the same person as originally did them. My vet said he has seen a few cases where an EDT has filed down certain teeth that shouldn't be filed as they have nerves in them unlike the other teeth, horses may then be reluctant to drink etc due to pain and that would apply to eating too. Not sure if it would work but speak to vet and see if a huge trial to see if it helps is worth a go. Good luck.
 
Thank you for all the advice and help, we have had a breakthrough today. I brought him in with gave him sugar beet water, soaked fibre nuts and haylage and left him to it. When I got back this evening he has drink maybe an inch of his water but eaten his feed and most of his haylage. I took him out to his field (he pulled me and tossed his head the whole way) trotted off to check on his harem then trotted back and had a long drink out of his field drinker, was very satisfying to witness. I shall be doing the same tomorrow and fingers crossed we have found what makes him happy.

If this doesn't work long term then I will get the vet to check his teeth but the way he is eating and now drinking then I am happy his mouth is fine. I should also say I brought him new feed buckets he did have the taller tubtrugs and now he has the tyre shallow ones and that seems to have made him happier too. Re his pee I haven't seen him wee this week but when he tried before he was tubed he was straining to wee and what was coming out was very dark.

Thank you all again :D
 
Try giving him extra strong mints ,it worked for one of ours because they are strong the pony always drank after eating them/
 
Having just read this thread it's great the problem seems to be resolving itself. I've heard that when horses start to become dehydrated, unlike us, they become more reluctant to drink, so it becomes a bit of a vicious circle. Loads of great tips here. i like to know how much my horses are drinking which is why I don't really like automatic drinkers, as it's easy to miss the early signs that something is wrong. i hope everything continues well for him.
 
LadyRascasse said:
Electrolytes would just make the situation worse as he will not drink so will just make him dehydrated quicker (i checked with the vet ;) ). I'll try sponging and I am going to see if I can scrounge some sugar beet off someone to try that tonight as I don't want to buy a 25kg sack (I know I am tight but I've already had a £170 vet bill)

We have tried different water with him, he currently had tap water and his drinker water but he is not drinking from either.

Thank you for the tips :)
Click to expand...

Hi, good to hear your horse is now drinking. Re electrolytes, it's actually the opposite to what your vet has said. Thirst is controlled by the electrolyte concentration (mainly sodium) circulating in the blood (plasma) so if your horse is not drinking there may be a lack of stimulus to make the horse drink. In this heat as electrolytes are lost in higher proportion and it can take weeks to build back up to normal levels. Unless your horse as a clinical problem, feeding electrolytes will NOT make it more dehydrated. In fact, it will encourage the horse to drink and hydrate.
 
Have been having the same trouble with a four year old at my yard. He was hardly drinking at all in both field and stable, plus the grass was minimal... In this weather it was very worrying!!! I reccomended installing a Himalayan salt lick in his stable (he is stabled during the day) he now drinks at least half a medium-large tub trug (about 3-4 standard buckets) a day, huge improvement in 24 hrs.


Edited to say:

I see you have tried a Himalayan salt lick, try putting salt in the feed, you have very little to lose by experimenting with this, I know many vets who would suggest this. Sugar beet water is also a good idea, its used to excellent effect in endurance, when the horse has a 'pit stop' to encourage it to drink.
 
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Is there a stream or river nearby that you could ride him or lead him into? No experience of this - just a thought that some horses like to play with the water, and that might persuade him.
 
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