New and needing feeding advice re. Laminitis / rescue pony

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Opticalillusion

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Hi guys :)

I'm new here and just wondering if you could help me out.

Last week I rescued a shetland pony from a home of neglect. The vet said that he was in 'ok' condition barring one thing; his hooves were badly overgrown and like aladdin's slippers. Unfortunately, once we had him sedated and the farrier got to work, we realised his laminae had grown too, and caused his hooves to bleed when trimmed. He has a history of laminitis, and although he isn't overweight at the moment, it's something i'm really concerned about because of the state of his feet.

We're trimming his hooves every 2 weeks to allow the laminae to heal before we trim them again. He's on bute for the pain, but i'm having a problem - he doesn't like hard feed so i'm having to mix the bute with apple juice and syringe it into his mouth (with varying success).

The vet suggested fibre pellets, which he doesn't like. I'm also trying speedibeet, but he doesn't like that either. He won't eat jam sandwiches, apple sauce, or anything that bute would stick to.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to a lami-friendly feed I could try him with that he might like?

He's 19 years old by his passoprt, but his teeth look a few years younger. He's only 35 inches, and I don't want to put wight on him. He goes out through the day but is stabled at night.

Hope this is in the right place and thanks in advance!
 
Are you giving him bute or danilon? if bute change to danilon they prefer it as it tastes better.

As for feed if he is not used to hard feed it may just be trial and error and time to get him eating, the bute could be putting him off so try giving him a little without any bute in, most will eat speedibeet or a little HiFi mixed with apple juice once he is eating try using danilon and hopefully he will continue.

The syringing may work better with something thicker like apple sauce, it wont run so easily.
 
is he on bute under vet supervision or is your own choice because shetties due to the size of them should not be on bute for more than a day or two (it causes them endless tummy problems with ulcers and liver problems) and then only 1 bute per day and not more per day. Happy Hoof or Horse and Pony cubes my shettie cant get enough of them but try and add some normal chaff with them so that he doesnt just get used to eating the nice stuff because obviously the cereals in them isnt good for them either.
 
If he has been neglected I suspect his teeth will need attention too which might make it difficult for him to eat anything like pellets.

Fast Fibre is a soaked feed with low sugar and starch that laminitics can eat safely, and his hay should be soaked to reduce sugar too and it should make it easier to chew, or maybe try some hi fi lite moistened.

I hope he's soon on the road to recovery bless him.
 
I was also going to suggest fast fibre. You could try adding extra mint to it. The other thing is your pony could be stressed especially if he's been badly neglected and this could cause the lack of appetite. When I got my girl she was so stressed that she didn't eat anything other than hay for a long time and in the height of a very cold winter she lost tonnes of weight. Unfortuately you might just have to go with the flow on this one and just do what you can and hope that he will start feeding soon.
 
OP you can get Bute in a tube. It's more expensive but it makes life a lot easier, especially in the short term:
Beeswax... My Shetland had to have Bute for 4 months due to shoulder lameness. He was under vet supervision, and he never had tummy problems, and they vet had no issue with it either - he was happy for the pony to continue, thankfully he came sound when the weather warmed up and I was able to stop it - gradually
 
tried any of these??

Garlic
Diabetic jam
no sugar apple/blackberry etc squash – diluted
mint tea bags split open and sprinkled in feed (or dried mint but i think mint tea bags is cheaper option
marmite
Grated carrot,
grated apple,
slithers of parsnips,
apple juice,
mixing in half a pint of beer tempts lots of fussy horses
Yogurt and putting it in a syringe worked very well
treacle sandwich
cider vinegar
molasses
apple puree
peppermints? If so then buy a large bottle of peppermint oil
Sherbert.
Core an apple
Apple juice
Mint powder
angel delight
get a stud muffin put bute in middle seal the top
http://www.horsehage.co.uk/AppleTreats.html
 
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Thanks for all of the suggestions guys! Yeah he's already on danilon, at the vet's advice. She came out straight away and did a full examination for any problems; his teeth look fine so it must be stress / him not being used to anything other than hay and carrots. He's on it for 2 weeks because his feet were so bad that he couldn't walk and was in a lot of pain, hopefully he'll be able to come off it after friday when he has his second farrier visit (or when his hooves have stopped being open and sore from that). He's on 1/2 a sachet morning and night.

i tried a little bit of speedi beet with a couple of chopped carrots last night, and they were gone this morning! Must have been the fibre pellets he didn't like, so gonna keep syringing the bute so it doesn't put him off the speedibeet! If he doesn't like fibre pellets do you think he'd like something like happy hoof? or is it a similar taste?
 
Opticalillusion said:
If he doesn't like fibre pellets do you think he'd like something like happy hoof? or is it a similar taste?
Click to expand...
I would be wary about happy hoof for laminitics i took my lami mare off it and gave the rest to her son or so i thought :rolleyes: sent him loopy

so used it up on my pony wont but it again i would go for safe and sound

or fibery / hifi with handfull of speedy beet
 
Thanks! he's actually piling weight on just through the soaked hay i'm giving him and the little bit of sppedi beet so just gonna keep him on that at the moment. Cheers for the advice :)
 
I was doing some research on the sugar and starch content of a number of feeds for my horse. Here's what I found out from the suppliers:

Good Doer - 9% sugar, 1.3% starch
Alfa A Original - 10% sugar, 2% starch
Alfa A Molasses Free - 4.5% sugar, 2% starch
Alfa A Lite - 8% sugar, 7% starch
Hi Fi Original - 9% sugar, 1.5% starch
Hi Fi Lite - 7% sugar, 1.5% starch
Hi fi Molasses Free - 2.5% sugar, 1.5% starch
Happy Hoof - 5% sugar, 4% starch
 
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