Lost appetite

Fimbacob

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 October 2010
Messages
293
Visit site
My friends horse has totally lost her appetite and were desperate to help her. She is a 24 y/o shire mare who normally has a very good appetite. She was a rescue horse about 10 yrs ago and was only ever used as a broodmare previously. She was broken to ride but only ever did a 20 min walk hack around the block but has been retired for about 12 weeks.
The last 2 or 3 weeks she has dramatically lost weight and almost looks like a welfare case again! Shes tucked up with her ribs sticking out. She is turned out in a well rested pasture with lots of grass and used to be fed a scoop of mollichop but is now on sugar beet, chop and weight gain mix, but will leave the feed overnight so my friend is hand feeding it to her. She will eat the carrots out of it though. She has regular dentist checks, last one 6 weeks ago and vet has checked again for blockages, thorns, cracked tooth etc but nothing found. Blood tests done and everything normal. She has collected large pools of drool that restrict her eating and drop onto stable floor but we cant find out why! The main things that jump to my mind is dentistry or gastric ulcers but these have both been ruled out.
Can anyone help? Has anyone ever experienced this before? Thanks!
 
I'd be asking for her to be scoped.

Or could she simply be depressed now she's not being ridden? I know it doesn't explain the drool, but some of them get really upset after being retired.
 
She was only ever ridden about once a month anyway and she was retired a few months ago so I dont think it is that.
What will scoping look for? Ulcers have been ruled out but is there anything else to check for?
Thanks!
 
Just a general look about, the drool has to be coming from somewhere?

Saying that I take it the vet had a good took down her throat when they did the teeth. Definitely weird.
 
Top