Horse not eating - very worried....

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CPW

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Thursday of last week, my horse stopped eating, he would pick at his dinner and play with his treat ball but would not eat hay. Completely out of character as will normally eat anything put in front of him. Thought it might be a bad batch of hay so gave him some fresh stuff and in the morning he still had not eaten much. My instinct was that he had pain coming from his mouth/jaw.

Vet came out on Friday couldn't find anything. Checked him over completely.

Saturday still wouldn't eat anything apart from tentatively eating his breakfast/dinner. Took him for a graze and ate well.

Sunday wouldn't eat in the morning but took him for a long graze in hand and he ate very well and then got him back to his stable and he ate a good three slices of hay throughout the afternoon.

Got down this morning and he has hardly touched his hay from overnight and barely ate his breakfast. The vet is coming out again.

Had communication with the vets over the weekend and put him on bute but this has not made much of a difference. He is usually out during the day but due to having next to no grass he was just standing looking miserable so kept him in.

He also has diarrhoea, but at least is going to the toilet and drinking well.

What could it be????
 
Share your concern CPW - I'd be worried too. One thing I have experienced is that about this time of year some horses can go on hunger strike. They start responding to longer days and (normally!) milder temperatures and they "know" that the grass is starting to come through. So they hold out for grass.

Have you tried making his brekkers irresistably yummy by slopping a cupful of cheap Tescos apple juice over it? I've never known that not work! Obviously wouldn't work on the hay although I suppose you could try lobbing another cupful over an armful of hay in a tub trug, see what he makes of it. My feeling is that if he's tucking into grass, there's not too much wrong, although the diarrhoea could be a concern. It might just be because he's not eating his usual ampount of forage.

Let us know how he does x
 
I think you need the vet back out to do more investigation. This sounds like pain to me and some horses can become so miserable with it they just pick at the odd thing and refuse even the nicest of offerings. Often all they will eat is grass and it might be an idea just to find somewhere to try some in hand grazing just to see if your horse can physically graze, that may help point you in some sort of direction as to the diagnosis..
 
Could be a type of colic. Colic can be a chronic problem, not just acute. If its out of character not to eat then there is definately something wrong. Emergence of encysted cyathostomes can happen at this time of year, and they cause diarhoea. They dont show up on a worm count, only blood test.
Another thought is stomach ulcers. They can occur if a horse isnt getting enough food going through due to being out with no grass and limited or no hay for several hours. There is acid in the stomach but nothing to digest so it attacks the lining of the stomach. They are very painful and can cause horses to stop eating which just makes them worse! Bute can also make them worse unfortunately.
 

I'd be asking for a blood sample - even if he isn't old.

Not to worry you, hope I'm wrong, but my neighbour had problems a few years ago with hay that had ragwort in it - caused liver damage in 3 - but they caught it and realised what was causing it so all 3 fine once off cause and given a little tlc and time etc.

good luck - hope I'm wrong
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I would def get bloods. Let us know how you get on. Worried for you as my horse started off like that, but he had something very rare indeed so it hopefully isn't that. xx
 
Thanks for all your suggestions and thoughts!

Vet came out yesterday gave him a thorough MOT, scoped him and took bloods - couldn't find anything apart from some slight inflamation at the back of his thoat. Awaiting blood results - will let you know what they show up.

Depending on the bloods - if nothing comes to light they want the horse to go to the surgery to have a head xray done to see if there is a problem with teeth/jaw.

My poor little baby!! It is one thing after the other.
 
My first instinct would be to say colic too. My horse is very prone to colic so i notice immediately if he is not eating up as usual. I have to say he does not immediately eat his tea if I put his snackaball in at the same time, he just picks at it then goes and plays with his ball. He might not touch it again for a few hours but will turn to his haylage net instead. However, normally by morning its all dissapeared although there are bits of chaff left in the bottom. He hasn't had as much appetite as he normally does recently, and went through a stage a fortnight ago where he went right of his feed. I put my horse's loss of appetite and general demeanour down to the never ending winter, I think horses suffer from seasonal disorder syndrome as well as humans. Also the haylage is very rich at the moment at our yard but you say you feed hay so it can't be that.
 
That's interesting CPW about a bit of inflammation at the back of ned's throat. I wonder of he's just had an episode of choke when you weren't around and it's cleared on it's own but left him a bit sore and a bit worried about eating whatever it was that caused it in the first place? Coz you say he grazes in hand like there's no tomorrow but the hay is still a worry for him and so was his dinner at first. Just a thought x
 
Have you tried another source of hay, or even get a bag of hayledge. Sounds to me like your hay is tainted and he doesn't like it (cats, rats, mildew????)
If he eats everything else I find it hard to believe its him thats got a problem, I reckon its the hay.
I would definitely try this before getting him sent to the clinic.
 
Hi, my horse went off his hay and it turned out to be a fractured tooth. This was missed at first on the xrays as the fracture was so fine.
 
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