Loss of appetite after antibiotics

[caketopcreations]

My boy has been flushed after being found to be a strangles carrier.
On Friday the vet did another flush and he's looking all clear. He was looking swollen so vet gave an antibiotic which was flushed into him.
As the weekend has gone on my boy is looking very down and not eating anywhere near as much as usual. He's in his own grass paddock with hay. He doesn't usually have hard feed.
Trying to get in touch with the vet for advice but wondering if anyone has experienced this and how long it lasted, what was recommended?
Many thanks

 

[Melody Grey]

Definitely talk to your vet.

Just wondering if he’s gone off hay as the grass is coming though and it’s difficult to see how much he’s actually eating?

Do you have somewhere to bring him into so you can monitor more closely?

 

[deicinmerlyn]

A Gut balancer, pre and probiotics should help

 

[saturdaygirl]

Call the vet to discuss and if he is very dull, get a temperature or starts having profuse diarrhoea then vet as an emergency. Very rarely horses can swallow the penicillin instilled into guttural pouches and the effect of this can cause a huge imbalance in hind gut flora can cause colitis which if severe needs prompt treatment. Don't panic though many horses are just a it sore after GP flushing and so lose their appetite a bit with a 'sore throat'

 

[holeymoley]

Yes. Mine wouldn't eat after being on anti biotics for cellulitis. Trimediziane to be precise. I put everything down to him and he would nibble or refuse blankly. He began to look awful(it was January and we'd just changed yards) He's also an EMS laminitic so I had to choose options carefully. I ended up buying bagged haylage and mixing it in with hay, yard big bale haylage, and another hay supplier. Also a tastier chaff and some speedi beet amongst other things although these all became un interesting after the first or second feed. I think I also used Protexin gut balancer too-I always have a tub of this for worming/vaccination time, and he began to pick up. I'd say roughly after 4-5 days.

 

[caketopcreations]

Thanks
I moved his fence line last night and he was quite happily eating the fresh grass. This morning I gave him some nicer hay and left him eating that.
So although he's not eating quite as much as normal, at least he's eating something.
Fingers crossed he's back to normal in a day or 2.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

The flushing can make the face and nose area sore my horse didn't eat properly for a few days either.

 

[SEL]

Thanks
I moved his fence line last night and he was quite happily eating the fresh grass. This morning I gave him some nicer hay and left him eating that.
So although he's not eating quite as much as normal, at least he's eating something.
Fingers crossed he's back to normal in a day or 2.

I'm glad he's improving - I ended up with 3 emergency callouts after a guttural pouch flush. I'm not sure if she had a reaction to the antibiotics or she wasn't heavily sedated enough but for a horse who never, ever says no to food it was worrying. She ended up with 2 steroid injections which for a good doer in summer shows how concerned the vets were.