Irresistible horse feed ideas needed

EB83

EB83

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My mare had an accident in the stable on Sunday and has gone off her feed (think from the antibiotic being put in it). She's happy with a net but is losing weight already, anyone have any ideas for something that will tickle her tastebuds?
 
if she is good to syringe i would mix the antibiotic powder with some apple juice and syringe it separately and then give her her feed. my boy won't touch food with anything in it but he is good to syringe so i do that
 
My lad would eat a brick it you put butter on it - but won't touch a feed that has been anywhere near antibiotics. Mix them into as thick a paste as you can get away with and syringe it. If you still need to increase palatability of her regular feed try adding dried mint.
 
Elf On A Shelf said:
Give her her food back with no additives - maybe add some warm water to bring out the sweeter smells and syringe the drugs down her throat instead.
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She's refusing all feeds even without the antibiotics, we managed to syringe some down her this morning but she got wise and dragged us around tonight. Unfortunately the injury is to her poll so she can't have a headcollar on and she has previously reared with the dentist so our concern (vet included) is that she could injure herself again, we're in agreement that we may have to stop the antibiotics and deal with an infection if it occurs.
 
Could she cope with a worming bit? It might require some jiggling to avoid her poll - but it can be an effective means to get paste into something otherwise reluctant. Something akin to a foal slip perhaps?
 
How is she to twitch? I would hesitate to inject or syringe a horse who has a poll injury who is also known to rear without a head collar..twitch may help get it syrgined quick and easy.
 
equi said:
How is she to twitch? I would hesitate to inject or syringe a horse who has a poll injury who is also known to rear without a head collar..twitch may help get it syrgined quick and easy.
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I've never twitched her so am not sure how she'd react.
 
Treacle sandwich with the drugs in it?

Pink mash
Copra
Releve is supposed to be appealing but have never used it
Cheap pasture mix as its covered in molasses

Use warm water to soak
Apple juice mixed through
Dried mint (NAF do tubs of it)

Mums old horse fractured his skull at the poll and ended up needing surgery to remove the chip. Getting drugs into him was fine but keeping it clean was a nightmare. We ended up having to get him sedated a lot as it was just impossible.

Good luck and I hope your horse recovers soon
 
Dodson and Horrell used to do hedgerow herbs, not sure if they still do, but they were very tasty apparently. That or dried mint might tempt. Most of mine also love linseed.
 
elliejhb said:
My mare had an accident in the stable on Sunday and has gone off her feed (think from the antibiotic being put in it). She's happy with a net but is losing weight already, anyone have any ideas for something that will tickle her tastebuds?
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I mix mint, garlic and cornish sea salt (from Aldi) into a tub and then have a little teaspoon sized scoop that I put in the feed, not because my horse is fussy about eating bute but because I think its nice for her, lol.

If you want to disguise food you can also add mint cordial or apple juice, molasses or strong mints or liquorice dissolved in boiling water.

The trouble is if you disguise it too much there is even more chance your mare will know something is amiss so just try a little feed first without the antibiotic in to see if she will take it, save wasting it.

If you go to Pets at Home, B&M, Poundland, etc you can see those little packs for rabbits, they are around £1.99 and have Dandelion, Mint, Chamomile, Marigold and Nettle -my horse loves that in moderation as a special treat.
 
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my mare had antibiotics last week, we put it In Keep Calm mash. She loved it. Actually all of ours love this stuff too. I let Little Lily have a bit the other day, she seriously loved it, ive never seen a tongue so big in such a small one, it was like watching scooby doo
 
milliepops said:
some antibiotics are more palatable than others. May be worth asking vet if there is another that is suitable.
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I asked, apparently this is the most palatable of the lot, I don't think it helps that its 50g twice a day so quite a large amount to smuggle into a feed. It's also quite thick when mixed so was a large amount to syringe in.
 
TPO said:
Treacle sandwich with the drugs in it?

Pink mash
Copra
Releve is supposed to be appealing but have never used it
Cheap pasture mix as its covered in molasses

Use warm water to soak
Apple juice mixed through
Dried mint (NAF do tubs of it)

Mums old horse fractured his skull at the poll and ended up needing surgery to remove the chip. Getting drugs into him was fine but keeping it clean was a nightmare. We ended up having to get him sedated a lot as it was just impossible.

Good luck and I hope your horse recovers soon
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She's not keen on bread (my boy loves it).
I've ordered some re-leve which should arrive today so hoping that will tempt her to eat as molasses and apple juice have both failed.

Thank you I'm worried that she's fractured her skull as is sore around the wound but hoping it's just bruising as must of been a fair old whack to split the skin. It looks a bit gunky today so will attempt to give it a little clean and have a good look tonight.
 
Asha said:
my mare had antibiotics last week, we put it In Keep Calm mash. She loved it. Actually all of ours love this stuff too. I let Little Lily have a bit the other day, she seriously loved it, ive never seen a tongue so big in such a small one, it was like watching scooby doo
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She's been on that before and liked it so may give that a try if Re-leve doesn't work.
 
hopscotch bandit said:
I mix mint, garlic and cornish sea salt (from Aldi) into a tub and then have a little teaspoon sized scoop that I put in the feed, not because my horse is fussy about eating bute but because I think its nice for her, lol.

If you want to disguise food you can also add mint cordial or apple juice, molasses or strong mints or liquorice dissolved in boiling water.

The trouble is if you disguise it too much there is even more chance your mare will know something is amiss so just try a little feed first without the antibiotic in to see if she will take it, save wasting it.

If you go to Pets at Home, B&M, Poundland, etc you can see those little packs for rabbits, they are around £1.99 and have Dandelion, Mint, Chamomile, Marigold and Nettle -my horse loves that in moderation as a special treat.
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That mixture sounds lovely! May try it myself ?
I put some imperial mints in her feed the other day she literally rolled them out with her lip so avoid any feed ?‍♀️
Good idea with the rabbit feeds! I've ordered some munch blocks to give them a try.
I've almost given up with the antibiotics, although it looks like she's eaten what I left last night (or kicked it around her bed!). It's the weight loss that worries me as she was skinny when I got her and took me a while to get her upto a healthy weight and she's dropped it in days.
 
I had a fussy one on antibiotics recently, and she refused all the concoctions I tried to tempt her with. I gave up, and gave her nuts and speedibeet! Much to my astonishment, she happily ate it, laced with karidox, which is not very palatable at all.
 
The one thing that has never let me down with medicine is porridge oats and treacle, mixed together with the medicine and fed in small treat sized pieces. I make some dummy ones first and make sure I can be seen feeding other horses, then slip my horse the medicated one.
 
elliejhb said:
He says she is not a safe candidate as she may hurt herself or the person administering the injection.
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Is the antibiotic injection IV or IM? If IM, could the vet not administer the shot via a 'mule punch'? Or possibly administer IM sedative that way and then inject antibiotics via IV? I'm not sure if that's the correct name for it, 'mule punch', but it's what my vet called it when she had to sedate my youngster when she was in her 'I hate vets and I will kill them' stage by basically hiding the syringe in her hand and quickly stabbing her and injecting in a 'punching' motion.

Not particularly pleasant, but better than dealing with an infection because well, if she does get an infection, how are you supposed to treat it? With antibiotics. Either orally or via needle.

(FWIW, youngster is now totally fine with the vets and no longer tries to eat them ;) )
 
elliejhb said:
She's refusing all feeds even without the antibiotics, we managed to syringe some down her this morning but she got wise and dragged us around tonight. Unfortunately the injury is to her poll so she can't have a headcollar on and she has previously reared with the dentist so our concern (vet included) is that she could injure herself again, we're in agreement that we may have to stop the antibiotics and deal with an infection if it occurs.
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Gosh, youre going through it.
If your vet isnt too far away can they make daily pop-in visits while on their rounds and inject the antibiotics instead? Or maybe every other day do this? I realise you may we out in the wilds and this isnt possible.

This is the reason i believe that animal owners should be given injection training. I would go on a course if it was offered, so i knew i was capable with all my animals to get medicine in them that they really needed, if there’s no other way to get it into them orally. Cats are the worst at trying to give disgusting-tasting medicine too, they are masters at spitting everything out!
It could be highly regulated so that owners can only get the injectibles from a vet, and have a vet supervise the dosage etc, and the owners have to produce their certificate of training to every vet. Many injectibles can be intramuscular, so much easier to administer than having to find veins under fur.

My gelding is the same, he plays with food when theres a new ingredient, and then doesnt trust any subsequent meal i give him, even if theres nothing ‘new’ in it!

Does your horse like brewers yeast? With it being such a strong pungent taste, like marmite, that might help mask the antibiotic?
 
Jeni the dragon said:
Roger, who can be incredibly fussy, loves the mashes from Top Spec! May be worth trying the linseed one if she losing weight.
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I did actually think about linseed mash as one of the horses on the yard always struggled with his weight and bloomed on it, he actually kept the weight on when the owner stopped giving him it during to struggling to get any.
 
baby food worked for M when he was on antibiotics (for a few days at least, we had to keep finding new ways as he got wise to them) Pear was the number one choice although banana went down well too. That's more to get the drugs into her than to encourage her to eat, although she might go back to eating once she realises there's nothing else in there if you can separate the two.

A has a small feed with bute in when he needs it and then his normal feed separately. That way I can get the bute in quickly, (he's a very slow eater and can take up to an hour to eat his normal feed, picking at it for a few minutes, leaving it and going back again a few minutes later) I don't have to hang around to see it's gone and he doesn't waste his normal feed. Somehow that small mouthful with bute is gone before he'seven realised it's in there.
 
Sorry phone playing up and can't get it to accept multiple quotes, regarding the antibiotic being given by injection I'm not sure if it is via IM or IV- if IM the lady I share the yard with can do this and would be happy to but vet is not willing to supply- Dolly can be sharp and when she gets stressed she reacts in I guess the only way she knows how so I always warn people so that they are aware, but I guess its now giving her a label of being a difficult horse.

If she does get an infection then that will have to be dealt with, how I am not sure, but the vet was quite happy to try her without the antibiotics as he felt that the wound had been thoroughly cleaned out and is stitched and she is currently staying in her stable so hopefully it should stay relatively clean. I will continue trying to get some antibiotics down her- even if its a third of the dose it will hopefully reduce the risk of an infection occurring.
 
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