Horse still not drinking water, unless it is well flavoured, am I missing something??

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be positive

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Since he returned from a 3 night stay, over 4 weeks ago, at the vets, he had a lameness work up, suffered an injury to his mouth during that procedure, an operation, standing, not GA so his windpipe should have suffered no injury, he returned very dehydrated, sore in his mouth, reluctant to eat or drink.

I have tried everything, he will drink grass nut water, sugar beet water but not any plain water, warm, from the trough, apples floating, nothing will get him to even really try, he will lap a little from my hands but will not continue if I put them into the water:confused:

He is well hydrated, has had kidneys and liver functions tested, all ok, he is passing normal droppings and urine so not really worried about him in that way any more but whenever I try to dilute the flavoured water he refuses to drink it, it could be that he is clever, that I am making life easy for him but he is a horse not a child and should drink if he is thirsty, he often is very thirsty in the morning despite having a choice of 3 types to drink overnight he seems to wait until I take him fresh in then will drink a fair amount.

The vets are as perplexed as me, he has been checked as far as possible, a scope will be next but trying to avoid this if we can, are we missing something obvious??

Just to add, the vets he went to are being very unhelpful, they will not say if anything happened while he was there despite attempts to find out more, he could have had a fall, his mouth was seriously damaged at some point, which they seem to have no knowledge of and not attended, any ideas or suggestions, not so much how to get him drinking but more why he will not or cannot.
 
Wasn't quite sure if you meant he does or he doesn't drink water from the trough ? Is it just in the stable that he's not drinking ?
Just a random though, but have you tasted the water from the tap or is there a taste from the bucket itself that is putting him off ?
If its the trough in the field, have you checked it for any contamination/dead bird etc. that could be making the water tainted ?
 
horserider said:
Wasn't quite sure if you meant he does or he doesn't drink water from the trough ? Is it just in the stable that he's not drinking ?
Just a random though, but have you tasted the water from the tap or is there a taste from the bucket itself that is putting him off ?
If its the trough in the field, have you checked it for any contamination/dead bird etc. that could be making the water tainted ?
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He is still on box rest, different buckets have been used, the others are drinking from the same source and so was he before he went away.
 
A few further thoughts, he seems to be thirsty but rarely drinks deeply now, he has a short drink then waits before returning a minute or so later, he seems to either find it hard work or maybe unrewarding, taking on the flavoured water or sloppy feed seems to be easier or the reward is greater, if that makes sense.
He sometimes seems to stand with the "lights out" when he is getting thirsty, is this remembered pain, trauma or just my imagination, once he has drunk he becomes brighter and more interested.

Being on box rest for so long is not helping, we are hoping that once he can get out in the field, 3 weeks time weather permitting and the all clear from the vets, he will be happier but he is as content as he can be for now, relaxed most of the time and eating very well.
 
Silverfire said:
What injury has he actually done to his mouth?
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This is actually hard to define due to unhelpful vets where it happened, he returned with a swollen face in general, the ride hand side worse, under his jaw was a hard lump in chin groove, bruising under the tongue the main concern was a laceration to the lower bar on the right, this was about 1" long seemed to be very deep but was not seen until one week after it must have happened.
It has pretty much healed now, just some bruising left.

The injury he went in with was to a hind leg, not the mouth, that injury was inflicted during treatment, although obviously hard to find out exactly what went on:(
 
Sounds like he has developed a taste for the slightly sweetened/tastier waters.
He will not drink much if he is still getting highly wet feeds. Perhaps he is going through the motions?

Dare, and have you, tried making his feeds less wet? Add salt to them too if you don't. He might have an electrolyte imbalance which can cause them to drink less I believe. Something to do with potassium/sodium balance I think but I don't understand the detail well enough.

ps. Have you tried collecting rainwater?
 
amandap said:
Sounds like he has developed a taste for the slightly sweetened/tastier waters.
He will not drink much if he is still getting highly wet feeds. Perhaps he is going through the motions?

Dare, and have you, tried making his feeds less wet? Add salt to them too if you don't. He might have an electrolyte imbalance which can cause them to drink less I believe. Something to do with potassium/sodium balance I think but I don't understand the detail well enough.

ps. Have you tried collecting rainwater?
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Thanks, I have tried reducing the wet feeds, he is getting electrolytes and salt added, rainwater has been tried.

Have had a pm which may be the answer I was looking for, although not hoping for, sorry rather cryptic but at least I have something to go on now.
Will update if it comes to anything.
 
Oh good luck.

Please let us know what if it works. I can file away for possible future reference.

Oh and in case it's a mechanical issue have you tried water buckets at different heights?
 
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If the horse was sedated is it possible he came down due to to much sedation? Would he have had a chiffney in his mouth during the surgery? If he did come down this could have caused the damage in his mouth. ...

Are you having tp hold buckets up for him to eat or drink?
 
amandap said:
Oh good luck.

Please let us know what if it works. I can file away for possible future reference.

Oh and in case it's a mechanical issue have you tried water buckets at different heights?
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amymay said:
If the horse was sedated is it possible he came down due to to much sedation? Would he have had a chiffney in his mouth during the surgery? If he did come down this could have caused the damage in his mouth. ...

Are you having tp hold buckets up for him to eat or drink?
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He will drink and eat from the floor but likes to have the "water" held up for him, especially when he is really thirsty. He has 4 buckets in his stable 2 are raised 2 are on the floor, it doesn't really make much difference but I do move them round to see if it helps. Not that he's spoilt :rolleyes: but at the moment he needs some special treatment;)

i have sent you a pm amymay.
 
Sorry if this has been covered already.
Is your horse eating hard feed ( dry ok ? )
Has someone I dependant of the vet where his mouth injury happened assessed his mouth?
Is he on pain relief for his leg/ mouth?
K
 
Circe said:
Sorry if this has been covered already.
Is your horse eating hard feed ( dry ok ? )
Has someone I dependant of the vet where his mouth injury happened assessed his mouth?
Is he on pain relief for his leg/ mouth?
K
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He is eating hay and haylage well, although had apparently not done so at some time during his stay at the vets, no more info from there about what he ate or drank during that time, they are remaining unhelpful on all aspects:(
His feeds are soaked, not sloppy now, he gets fast fibre and speedibeet 4x daily.
I had a dentist to examine him, as well as my vet, he was sent to a clinic for the op and I have no idea if it was seen, examined or just not noticed, it must have bled so unlikely someone did not see it, they have all closed rank now.

He is on pain relief for the leg, the op seems to have gone well, it is just the issues surrounding how he was cared for in other ways that seem to be more problematical, they now say it is in his head but after 4 weeks he should not be having difficulty drinking and I do not see that he is using it as a way of getting attention horses do not think like that.

I have not really tried taking all other options away as he barely drinks overnight despite eating a huge net, this morning he drank as soon as I took some grass nut water in, very well soaked I am trying to make it more dilute but he seems to be taking less each day:confused:.
 
Well, I was hoping it would be something simple like dental pain, but that seems very unlikely from what you say.
I agree with you that it's not in his head. He might prefer flavored water but I don't believe he would deprive himself if he was thirsty.
Personally I wouldn't take any water options away from him.
Bloods are normal, so that's one good thing.
Does he seem like he's not thirsty or like he is having trouble physically drinking?
I'd be extremely upset and angry if a vet was so unforthcoming with information on how my horse had been injured, situations like yours call for full and open disclosure.
I feel for you.
Kx
 
Circe said:
Well, I was hoping it would be something simple like dental pain, but that seems very unlikely from what you say.
I agree with you that it's not in his head. He might prefer flavored water but I don't believe he would deprive himself if he was thirsty.
Personally I wouldn't take any water options away from him.
Bloods are normal, so that's one good thing.
Does he seem like he's not thirsty or like he is having trouble physically drinking?
I'd be extremely upset and angry if a vet was so unforthcoming with information on how my horse had been injured, situations like yours call for full and open disclosure.
I feel for you.
Kx
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All this is my view, especially how the vets are now behaving:mad: More questions are going to them but I dont expect to get a proper response, the more they deny anything happening the more suspicious I get.

He seems thirsty, often very much so but finding it hard to drink for long, he stops then starts again but not in a "normal" way it just seems too much like hard work to take enough in one go and does not seem to be improving, this is 5 weeks tomorrow since he went, most minor injuries should have resolved in that time.
 
be positive, I am intrigued by your post as I am in the same position.
My horse had colic last Oct and was taken into vet hospital.
He was a horse that was very difficult to inject and they didn't find him that easy to deal with, however I don't think anything happened. His gut was scanned at least once a day, he was sedated into the vein via a catheter for this.
I was there when he was admitted and they got the catheter in. He was put in the stocks for this but nothing really happened. Once the catheter was in they easily got the sedation in.


He had no treatment it was just a case of wait and see. They were unable to pinpoint the cause of the problem other than thickening of the bowel wall.

Whilst he was there I watched him drink out of his water bucket. I visited daily and led him out to graze and stretch his legs. I fed him titbits, he was happily eating their sloppy hard feed and hay. I don't think they paid much attention to his mouth as that wasn't the problem so I don't think there was any possibility of them causing an injury there and I have no reason not to trust the vet hospital and his treatment. He wasn't happy there but that was because he hated indoor barn stabling when he was used to having a yard to roam around.

I didn't study how much water he drank when he came home, ours get soaked hay, wet feed and grass in the daytime so many of them don't drink much.

After about 3 weeks when his bloods became normal we started to lead him out in hand for an hour and moved onto riding. By chance he had a pee out riding and there was very little urine and it was very concentrated.
This was on the week end and after a panic he could have a bladder infection which seemed strange as his temperature was normal and he was happily riding around the lanes I decided to give him extra water and wait till Monday.
Extra liquid and very quickly his urine returned to normal and normal quantities.

However he will not drink bucket water nor I don't think from the field troughs.
The rest of the horses and me are drinking the water which tastes great. The height of the bucket doesn't make a difference. All he will drink is sugar beet water. Recently he has had small drink from puddles out riding but what he wants is the sugar beet water. I tried changing it for liquid molasseed water but it has to be SB water. The sugar beet water is cold. I leave him a bucket out each night and top it up as required. He is clearly thirsty as he will go out and drink a third of a bucket.

Asked the vet who didn't really know. He gets a tablespoon of salt and the same of bicarb of soda daily which is exactly what he had before vet hospital.
He eats well, rides well and is happily grazing each day. Eats all his hay up, is a bit of a glutton and clearly has no mouth or swallowing problems.
My problem is that I simply cannot get him onto water.

The only thing that happened was that he was given several lots of sedative both into the muscle and into the vein over a period of about a week. Other medication was no more that half a dozen sachets of bute and a syringe of buscopan.

Like you be positive I would be grateful for any help. Like you I see no possibility of weaning him onto tap water.
 
Crikey paddy555 that is such a long time, I keep being told it is in his head and once he goes out he will be "normal" again.

He had 3 days sedating, he is very easy to inject but did have a lot for various reasons, he has been on danilon now for 10 weeks, 4 a day initially now down to 1, at the moment he is on box rest so it is easy to monitor what he gets, once he goes out it becomes more difficult and also a potentially ongoing management issue.
I am trying to get answers but they are denying even the obvious mouth injury, thinking of trying for a 2nd opinion but he is still ongoing re insurance and it could become rather complicated, not sure where to go really but cannot imagine what to do if it continues.
I will post if anyone comes up with the answer or I get an explanation from the vet, unlikely:(
 
Golly...you are having a horrid time with your boy.....I feel for you.
Have you considered that he may well have damaged his 'suck' mechanism with the nasty vets? If his mouth was damaged...this is entirely a possibility. The fact he can take water with bits in may indicate this. It would not interfere with his chewing feed/hay.
Perhaps it might be an idea to have an independant vet...perhaps a specialist...look at him.
I wish you all the best with your boy.
Bryndu
 
OP, if I was in your position I would be asking for the an endoscope so the mouth and oesophagus can be assessed thoroughly.
The being thirsty but finding it hard to drink suggests either pain or a neurological cause.
Kx
 
Bryndu said:
Golly...you are having a horrid time with your boy.....I feel for you.
Have you considered that he may well have damaged his 'suck' mechanism with the nasty vets? If his mouth was damaged...this is entirely a possibility. The fact he can take water with bits in may indicate this. It would not interfere with his chewing feed/hay.
Perhaps it might be an idea to have an independant vet...perhaps a specialist...look at him.
I wish you all the best with your boy.
Bryndu
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Circe said:
OP, if I was in your position I would be asking for the an endoscope so the mouth and oesophagus can be assessed thoroughly.
The being thirsty but finding it hard to drink suggests either pain or a neurological cause.
Kx
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I do think it is mechanical, it is proving it when the vets say it is in his head, a scope is being considered, as is an unbiased 2nd opinion.

Thanks for all the thoughts, they are all helpful in getting a picture, questions to ask and hopefully a resolution not just implying it is all in the mind and will go away, as I am sure they are hoping I will:rolleyes:
 
Could it be some sort of nerve damage affecting sucking/taste/sensation? Would it be possible to try him on water from the same source as the vet hospital?
 
Beausmate said:
Could it be some sort of nerve damage affecting sucking/taste/sensation? Would it be possible to try him on water from the same source as the vet hospital?
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Possibly nerve damage, he had a lot of bruising under his tongue and on the bars of his mouth, he returned very dehydrated so more than likely was not drinking properly while there. I dont think I will be going there to ask for water, they are being no help whatsoever just saying it is in his mind, whatever that is supposed to mean:(

He has to work really hard to drink, I held some for him this afternoon and the concentration on his face was clear, he took ages to drink 1/2 a scoop, I then tried with another horse who finished it in no time.
 
Random bit of input. Has you had his urine tested? Is it concentrated or normal?
Also my dad was in hospital for a length of time and because he was bed resting drank very little and as a result had poor urine output. Once he got home and started moving about again everything came back to normal.
Box testing the horse may not be helping the situation.
 
Britestar said:
Random bit of input. Has you had his urine tested? Is it concentrated or normal?
Also my dad was in hospital for a length of time and because he was bed resting drank very little and as a result had poor urine output. Once he got home and started moving about again everything came back to normal.
Box testing the horse may not be helping the situation.
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Urine, kidneys and liver were checked, he is passing plenty of clear, normal urine now and actually getting enough fluids to maintain a good out put.

Box rest is definitely not helping him, although he is coping really well considering it is now 10 weeks with a few more to go, he is relaxed most of the time, has company to annoy over the wall and eats like a horse:rolleyes:
 
I would not reduce the fluids in his feeds. if this is the only way in which you can get fluids into him let him have it that way.

My horses will drink but as Endurance horses they have to learn to drink at any time.

I feed all mine sloppy feeds to ensure they get enough fluid into them.

If your horse is have a problem with the sucking then wet feeds will help him.
 
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