How to safely get weight on a horse with liver disease?

M

myhorsefred

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 June 2008
Messages
1,118
Visit site
Hi all, could I ask what you would use to get weight on a horse with liver disease please?

I understand you need a low fat <5%, low starch, low sugar and low protein (>12%) diet for this disease. So, the normal alfalfa oil, linseed, sugar or speedi beet, etc that I would normally use for getting weight on a horse are out of the window!

How do you get weight on with such a restricted diet? Obviously adlib hay or haylage. But would you feed, say, fast fibre in large quantities? Was also thinking of using global herbs restore, which is a liver tonic/detox.

Any ideas would be a huge help please.
 
I would have thought that speedi beet would be ok at 5% sugar, no starch and only 0.7% oil?
It has more DE/Kg than fast fibre, (12 Mj DE/kg versus only 8 Mj for FF) but it is slightly higher in protein at 9%, though still under your target of 12% protein. Why do you feel it would be unsuitable? :)
 
Milk thistle is a proven aid to recovering liver function.

Also, as said above, unmolassed sugar beet such as Speedibeet is low sugar and starch and high in fibre, so an ideal feed.
 
Sorry, think I made an error, meant to type <8% protein.

I had always thought protein should be less than 12%, but spoke to someone yesterday from Allen and page helpline, and they said current thinking is that it should be less than 8% protein, so speedi beet is slightly over this limit.
 
My pony has liver problems.

Speedibeet, in fact even sugar beet is fine. Starch is also recommended at around 20%. Protein should be less than 10% and oil less than 4-5%. You should feed several small meals throughout the day. An ideal diet would consist of something like high fibre cubes, a small amount of starchy straights, such as flaked maize and a high quality vit supplement. Spillers have a very good fact sheet on their website about feeding horses with liver problems.

Whilst replying, I will add then when I recently spoke to a well-known nutritionist on this subject she said any horse or pony will get far more protein from the grass it eats than anything you're likely to feed it. I assume she was referring to usual standard feeds.

Don't forget the milk thistle of course.

Mine put on weight having hi fi, high fibre cubes, Speedibeet, milk thistle and vits.

Good luck, and maybe speak to Spillers or D & H.
 
Get some good quality high fibre cubes. You can soak them into a mash and this should help her put weight on. Milk thistle as has already been mentioned and apple cider vinegar should be supplemented.
 
I can recomend Restore. I had a horse with liver damage a few years ago and used Restore. She went from being a very poorly horse to making a full recovery. She was fed sugar beet with high fibre cubes and ad lib hay.
 
Found this on the Fast Fibre page, hope it helps ;

Horses and ponies with liver problems-yes, these types of horses need a diet that is low in protein and fat (oil). Fast Fibre has a low protein content of 8% and is also low in oil.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top