Horse won't eat haylage! His lungs are going to break!! :(

seoirse

seoirse

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Anyone got any bright ideas to encourage my horse to eat haylage?! He's 15 years old, has eaten haylage his entire life and has decided since last weekend he won't eat it anymore. Quick background, he's COPD, recently diagnosed with cushings, and spent 4 days at the vets last week with spasmodic colic, thought to be brought on by antibiotics given for a persistent cough, thought to be caused by poor immunity due to cushings, and ingestion of sand, caused by eating haylage off the ground in the field - due to the flaming cough!!!

He's been the easiest horse all his life and now is going all out to make up for it. When I got him home from the vets I put him on a straw bed as I thought he'd only be in for a week or so and he can usually tolerate a week or two in on straw, as he usually lives out, but all he's done all week is eat the flipping straw and cough like fury. I'm putting him out in the day but again, he won't eat haylage in the field. He will eat soaked hay but that makes him cough after a couple of weeks too. I have opened 5 different bags of haylage, our home made stuff is crap this year so I don't blame him for not wanting that, but he won't touch any of the feed shop £7 per bag stuff either, I've tried 3 brands! I've got some fast fibre and speedy beet (thanks Oberon!) to try and bulk him up a bit, and I'm changing him onto paper bedding tonight as it looks like he's going to be in for a while til I can stabilise him and get him eating better. How in the world do I pursuade him to eat the haylage though? We are never going to make any progress til he eats it and gives his poor lungs a break. I have never had this problem! Usually they can't get enough of the stuff and I have to double bag it to make it last! :confused:

Will someone please go and talk to him cos we are close to falling out!!! :o
 
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He may have a sore throat due to coughing. How about a big trug of well soaked fast fibre? Just to get him over the thought that swallowing will hurt.
 
If he's got a sore throat it's cos he's eaten his own weight in horrible rough straw! :rolleyes:
He's not actually coughing at the mo cos he's on ventipulmin but I know it's just masking things and as soon as we stop it he'll be coughing like mad again. I am going to up the amount of fast fibre now I know he likes it though and give him soaked hay, so at least I know he's getting enough through him. I wonder if this is all post colic weird appetite and perhaps his 'normal' appetite will come back? He seems hungry enough, but just not for the right things! :(
 
It could well be post colic reluctance to eat healthily

When my big chap has a virus I found that the blood/vitamin tonic the vet recommended which was green and gloopy made him wolf down his feed much much better. It was called Visorbin and altho its not made anymore there are other ones that might be worth trying eg equine americas Propell or there is a NAF one I cant remember the name of.

It was literally just a sprinkle on feed or hay/haylage but it made a lot of difference to his appetite and certainly wouldnt harm your horse.
 
could you feed hay replacers for a while? fast fibre, calm and condition, chaff etc?

i miz chaff with soaked sugar beet to dampen it a bit as my mare has a bit of a cough - also dunk hay so its damp but not soaked so not much goodness is lost
 
If he's eating straw, why not think about either giving him hay or good quality barley straw to eat instead.

Is there a reason he can't go out 24/7?
 
If feeding straw, oat is the best (if you can get it that is) as barley has spiny whiskers which could aggravate any throat irritation. You can get chopped oat straw or most chaffs are chopped straw mixed with alfalfa.
 
lachlanandmarcus said:
It could well be post colic reluctance to eat healthily
Click to expand...

There definitely seems to be an element of this. It's totally bizarre. Vet says its probably a combination of post colic messed up appetite and the cushings/prescend also doing weird things to him. He does seem happy enough in himself, though he is lethargic.

I remember the Visorbin stuff, I've used it before. He is on a whole host of potions and things so I'm not sure about adding anything else but I'll check and see if its something that might help.

I am feeding him some fast fibre but he tends to go off his bucket feeds if I overface him with too much.

In reality he could go back out 24/7, but its cold and wet and he really isn't on great form so I'd be worried about leaving him out until he is eating better and generally has a bit more energy. He's the sort who prefers to be out, but at the moment he is happy to be coming in, so I'm going to keep bringing him in til he shows me he wants to be out, as if he recovers from all this I have no doubt he will!! He banged his head last winter and had to have a spell in, once he was feeling better it was very apparent he didn't want to be in anymore!!! He's good at communicating with me! Hence the point blank refusal to eat haylage! He tends to make his feelings known!

Anyway, for now I've caved and I'm going to feed him soaked hay and give up with the haylage, and maybe try presenting it to him in a week or so again and see what he thinks?
 
My horse has COPD and had colic at the beginning of the year. He took a good week or two to get back into eating haylage, he just picked at it a little bit. I gave him small frequent feeds which were mainly chaff and soaked lucie nuts - made it quite sloppy. Turned him out by day and in at night but with a shaving bed so he did not eat it and it did not upset his breathing. I over rugged to keep him warm as his COPD is worse if he is at all cold and he was extremely tucked up after the colic episode.
I also did a lot of massage, as this seemed to help with the tucked up areas and breathing / COPD problems.
The main thing is not to panic. He is not going to starve himself, if he is eating his bed then I would think about changing that to a non-edible type as this will encourage him to eat what you want him to have. Have you tried sloppy warm bran mash? Again a good one after colic and most horses seem to love it!!
Good luck. Having been in your shoes i know how worried you must be.
 
thanks guys, he's a bit picky about fast fibre and the like, he does like them but there is a limit to how much he will eat, if I give him too much he just leaves it. We've actually got some lovely meadow hay in which he is enjoying, but I'm soaking it like mad before giving it to him to try and help his cough, but it is still making him cough a bit. At least he is eating though. Long term I need to get him back onto haylage if his breathing is going to improve but for now the main thing is to get plenty of food going through him. His tum seems back to normal now which is a relief and I've left him out the last 2 nights as being in was aggrevating the cough too. He seems to be fine. Fingers and toes crossed! Now we've just got to somehow deal with the persistent cough.
 
I wud turn out, fresh air, movement re colic, eat grass shoots will encourage eating hay, he will eat it, and agree give the soaked fiber
 
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