fuzzy horse won't eat her medication

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tikino

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help my mare has just had surgery monday 21st july 2008. the problem is that she is costing me a small fortune. she is on antibiotics and bute and wont eat anything. i have tried using sugar beet, appetisers mixing fruit with feeds biut still wont eat it. i am therefore having to injected her twice daily IM and she is getting bute by paste so she is getting it. she is becoming a pin cousion and getting a bit grumpy at getting injections. it is also costing more than double price. any suggestions on how to get her to take meds much appresh as at my wits end as still got a lot of meds to get
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She will be feeling like you or I after surgery, no appetite!
The apple juice is a good suggestion , try a sugar lump pushed inthe side of her mouth, sometimes the taste stimulates their taste buds and gets them to eat.
I would ring Saracen up and ask their advice, out of all the feeds theirs seems the most tempting I've found, it's quite moist too.
The easiest method with medication is to grind it up and dilute with something sweet and use a big syringe minus needle to squirt it in the side of their mouth.
I don't know if your vet can suggest anything, they used to give vit B12 for poor appetites but not sure if it would interfere with her treatment.
 
Hi. I have a few suggestions, as I have had this problem in the past. Firstly adding garlic to the feed disguises the taste of most things pretty well and most horses love it!
I used to mix my bute in some pop (fanta or something) and then syringe it into my horses mouth. He loved the taste of the pop and it disguised the bute taste. The antibiotic powders are sometimes too big to give like this, but it depends on the antibiotic. If it is too much, then try the garlic. Hope this helps.
 
herbal tea. make as normal then put in there food! My mare will eat anything with apple and cinnemon tea in and doesn't a super high sugar content or additives. Is your vet aware she isn;t eating the medication. they always have a few good ideas
Hope it helps
Elle
x
 
Could you swap the bute for Danilon? That has a sweet taste to it.

You could also try adding mint into her feed, thats good for hiding medicine up or a jam sandwich or honey sandwich if she has a sweet tooth.

Luckily, my horse is greedy and will eat anything, but I have heard good reports with apple juice too.
 
When my horse wouldn't eat his antibiotics I added sugar and peppermint essences. I think the smell of the peppermint convinced him to eat it.
 
If it's really desperate, grind up the medication (if it's not already a powder) and mix it with either Tesco apple sauce or apple baby food and suck it up into an empty worming tube. Syringe it into the mouth as you would a wormer.
 
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