He's waisting away? please help!

[emmilou]

Hi all,
im now getting very worried about my 5year old gelding.
about three weeks ago he was looking fab and weighed around 560-570 lb.
over the last 3weeks however, his coat has gone fuzzy and dull, he is badly depressed and his weight has dropped to a worrying 440!
he was wormed two weeks ago and his dropping apper clean plus i have massively increased his feed and hay?

does anyone have any suggestions or advice before i call the vet tomorrow?

thanks

 

[rema]

It sounds abit like what my boy had.Is his colour good or pale?????

 

[emmilou]

His colour is good although his eyes are blood shot? but i think that may be something separate x

 

[Moggy in Manolos]

Not the foggiest i am afraid,could be alot of things,but you have the vet coming tomorrow so thats good,am sure he will help solve the mystery,hope your horsey is feeling all better soon

 

[Maesfen]

I think it goes without saying that I think your vet should be your first port of call.
This does not sound good at all and I would want blood tests taken for a start; very few horses lose that much weight so quickly unless they are seriously ill.
Please let us know what the vets says as it could be any manner of thing and we would only be plucking things out of fresh air without more detail.

 

[Happy Horse]

This is something only a vet and blood tests can diagnose. Let us know what the vets says?

 

[henryhorn]

This could be a number of things, but yes, definitely call the vet.
Firstly have you wormed him for tapeworm? These symptoms can be caused by this.
Are his teeth ok, as he may not be chewing his food properly.
The dull coat and loss of weight could indicate exposure to ragwort (sorry but it is a possibility) plus the depression can also be a symptom.
Without blood tests all of the above are just speculations but are serious enough issues to make you need to eliminate them as causes.
I would put yourself in your vet's hands and allow him to find the cause.
He could even be harbouring a low level infection or a virus..Have you taken his temperature?
Good luck, I hope it's sorted quickly.

 

[lilym]

if he was mine i would call the vet and ask for blood samples, good luck and let us know how he goes.

 

[selina25]

ok I would check his gums if they are pale and also as you said his eyes are blood shot this can mean pain or something going wrong (i.e. check how blod shot your eyes are the next time your ill or in pain) the vet should be able to help you I am sure and if they say they cant or wait I would get another vet out just to make sure....

 

[emmilou]

Thanks everyone.

I will let you all know how it goes tomorrow.For now, he's tucked up in his stable sleeping! x

 

[bizzygirl101]

Make sure your vet listens to his heart as well as taking blood, could save the time waiting for the results to come back, if he can gear any abnormalities

 

[JadeWisc]

could be a hundred things.For certain let us know what the vet says. I am not so sure I would "greatly" increase the feed though as this could lead to many other problems. Good luck to your boy and glad you are having it looked at.

 

[Sags_Deer]

get a blood test done and def call the vet. lol