Horse wont eat after bute trial - suggestions?

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Zoeypxo

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On my vets recent advice i was told to start a one month bute trial for my horse, this is for a ridden trial.
After 3 days of bute she stopped eating her feed all together. Ive stopped the bute now as i cant get any of it into her but she still wont touch her feed without the bute in there.
Ive tried apple sauce/apple juice and treacle and none make a difference.
The only thing i can get her to eat is sugarbeet.
She is usually fed thunderbrooks chaff and agrobs gut restore mash which she usually gobbles up.
She is fed an ulcer friendly diet due to previous history with ulcers. (Currently clear)
I only need her to eat feed for her gut health supplement and biotin for her feet, she doesnt need weight gain.
Is sugarbeet ulcer friendly? Its only a small amount.
Is there anything else i can try feed wise that wont upset her tummy?
 
If she hasn't been scoped since the bute trial it's possible that the bute brought them back and her stomach hurts. One of mine got ulcer symptoms a couple of days into a bute trial.

I would give her 25ml a day of pure aloe vera juice.
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Bute isn't a great idea for ulcer prone horses so I would suspect that she's got tummy ache.

Aloe Vera is a good shout as you can syringe that in rather than making her dinner taste funny. I would ask your vet for an alternative to Bute that is kinder to the stomach and use marshmallow root for a few weeks to help protect/heal the stomach.
 
Zoeypxo said:
On my vets recent advice i was told to start a one month bute trial for my horse, this is for a ridden trial.
After 3 days of bute she stopped eating her feed all together. Ive stopped the bute now as i cant get any of it into her but she still wont touch her feed without the bute in there.
Ive tried apple sauce/apple juice and treacle and none make a difference.
The only thing i can get her to eat is sugarbeet.
She is usually fed thunderbrooks chaff and agrobs gut restore mash which she usually gobbles up.
She is fed an ulcer friendly diet due to previous history with ulcers. (Currently clear)
I only need her to eat feed for her gut health supplement and biotin for her feet, she doesnt need weight gain.
Is sugarbeet ulcer friendly? Its only a small amount.
Is there anything else i can try feed wise that wont upset her tummy?
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You can always use one of the aids to worm horses to give bute/danilon mixed with water rather than going without. I'd wished I had one when worming mine especially having to sedate him every day prior to turn out for a period.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323861282531?hash=item4b67a2fee3:g:XZoAAOSwYoRdMC3D
 
i agree i never put anything in a feed. i use a syringe with bute and apple juice. you need to make feeds really tasty to get over this. my boy won't is fussy anyway and definitely wouldn't touch a feed if i had tried to "poison" him with bute!!!
 
If I try to put any medication in my horses feeds they then won't eat anything I try and give them, i always syringe any medication that way I know they have had it and there feed is not ruined with stuff that tastes rank, I can't think of anything worse than putting paracetamol in my dinner then being expected to eat it.

Get some syringes buy some peppermint essence from the supermarket it's got no sugar added so it's not bad for them, and add that with water to the syringe and I find after a few times horses actually look forward to having anything syringed mine love it.
 
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