Loss of Appetitie

[nomis]

Have a 3 year old horse that has lost her appetite over the last couple of days. Started with her feed, which I changed to see if she would eat another mix, this worked for a day and then she is not touching it either. Now not eating her haylege that much. Eating her straw bed instead. Although this morning she is not even doing that.

Peeing and passing dung. Noticed this morning that she has really quite bad breath.

Am away to give the vet a call but wondered if anyone had come across this before.

 

[Happy Horse]

It sounds like she needs checking my thoughts are a tooth problem or perhaps a virus of some sort.

Let us know how she gets on?

 

[TGM]

Echo Happy Horse - sounds like a tooth problem to me - especially the bad breath.

 

[fjudge]

Just as a cheap suggestion before getting the vet out...get the fried apple bits and sprinkle some in her feed, and see if she will eat things like carrots, polos, etc..

If its teeth or something like that, then she wont be keen on carrots or polos as they are both hard and would surely hurt her teeth.

Just a suggestion, may not be much use! x

 

[Marnie]

My youngster did this, including the bad breath, and she had some problems with her caps on her back teeth and her front teeth, the vet had to come and remove them as they weren't coming away on their own. She was about the same age, as well.

 

[GTs]

[ QUOTE ]
Just as a cheap suggestion before getting the vet out...get the fried apple bits and sprinkle some in her feed, and see if she will eat things like carrots, polos, etc..

If its teeth or something like that, then she wont be keen on carrots or polos as they are both hard and would surely hurt her teeth.

Just a suggestion, may not be much use! x

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't really see the point of this - regardless of the outcome the horse is not well and needs veterinary care.

 

[seabiscuit]

I have no doubt she has a virus.

 

[fjudge]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Just as a cheap suggestion before getting the vet out...get the fried apple bits and sprinkle some in her feed, and see if she will eat things like carrots, polos, etc..

If its teeth or something like that, then she wont be keen on carrots or polos as they are both hard and would surely hurt her teeth.

Just a suggestion, may not be much use! x

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't really see the point of this - regardless of the outcome the horse is not well and needs veterinary care.

[/ QUOTE ]

As i said in my post, it was only a suggestion.

 

[nomis]

Hi all,

Thanks for all your suggestions. Had vet out and she cannot see anything wrong with her. Temperature is normal, eyes and colour of gums all fine.

We did get her to open her mouth and the vet looked down with a torch and could not see any inflammation or ulcers. No tenderness down her gullet, and no swelling in her glands.

I picked some grass for her and she ate it no probs. I also purchased different mix yesterday and Alfa-a. She ate that all last night and then half this morning.

Doing plenty of dung, peeing and drinking normally. Looks bright enough in her personality.

Vet thinks it could be teeth, and she also thinks she is taking a bit of a strop because she is not getting outside as much as she was in the summer, so think that is not helping.

Any other thoughts then keep them coming, otherwise will get the teeth properly checked with the vet tomorrow afternoon.

 

[VictoriaEDT]

Hi

If she is 3 she will be losing some of her deciduous teeth (baby teeth). As these teeth are quite loose, she will get feed packing in between her permenant teeth and the deciduous teeth so this will explain the smell. This is quite common, I have seen it is a quite a few of my four legged clients.

You just need to have regular dental checks every 6 months as it is very important that her teeth are monitered during the change from baby teeth to adult. If there are any deciduous teeth that are retained (havent fallen out when they should), this can cause lots of problems in the future and is painful for the horse.

Hope this makes sense!!