Operations on the older horse?

Girlracer

Girlracer

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Basically Nim has lost a few teeth meaning that he finds it hard to eat most forage, it balls up in the gap then he spits it out.

I've recently noticed that he's now doing it with the only thing he could eat before - grass.

The dentist/vet etc have said the best thing to do would be put him under and re-arrange his teeth so he can eat again. This would obvioulsy help his weight etc to which he does struggle with.

But he's 24 now, i've had him 8years and couldn't bare the thought of anything happening to the Noo. What is your experiences etc with the older horse and how risky is it?
 
I had a 36 year old who had lost all of his teeth. He "gummed"the grass but couldn't really eat it. Was quite happy mooching around the field though. I just gave him huge feeds of Baileys No 1 nad sugarbeet to keep his weight on. He could eat that quite easily. He was pts only because he had cancer. RIP Lancer.
 
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I'd rather find something else for an older horse to eat. I nervous of ops on older hosses.

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Agree. In the first instance I'd look at alternative feeds. Perhaps phone the various feed companies and see what they have to offer.

Whilst equine anaesthesia has improved significantly in recent years it is still more risky compared to other animals. This is due to horse's size/physiology. A recent study showed a perioperative fatality rate of 0.9% or around 1 fatality in 100 for non-colic surgery. (GM Johnston, JK Eastment, JLN Wood & PM Taylor - Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge).
 
As a vet student I have seen plenty of horses go under general anaesthesia. Yes, there is a risk- whatever the age of your horse- and that risk does get higher the older the horse is.

However, the first 2 horse anaesthesias I ever saw were on a 25 year old and a 28 year old and both recovered fine.

I'm assuming he's in good health other than his teeth? The riskiest anaesthesias come with anaesthetising very sick horses, ie colics, where their circulation is compromised.

Chat it through with your vet and get him to explain it all to you and put your mind at rest. Is there nothing that could be done under standing sedation? I've seen quite a lot of dentistry done with the horse very doped up but standing in stocks.
 
He's extremely fit and healthy, i think i'll chat to the vet see what they say.

I just worry about him but i don't think it's any good not actually being able to eat but i'll look into alternatives to
 
Sunny had a GA for surgery to remove his eye at 19/20 and was fine. It took about an hour. If I understand the problem, you said the ONLY thing left that he could eat was grass. I guess if that's the true position, then your choices are really limited. Has the vet said what the success rate of the surgery is, ie realigning all his teeth? It would be a shame to put him through that for no real improvement. Can't it be done with heavy, standing sedation?
 
My elderly donkey is on soup due to loose teeth and the risks from GA are greater in donkeys than ponies
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His soup is based on soaked sugarbeet, soaked high fibre cubes and soaked chop. Mollichop lite in his case as he is a little too plump!
Change the chop to alfalfa, the high fibre cubes to conditioning cubes and use mollassed sugarbeet. This should sustain your beastie whilst you decide whether or not to have his teeth done.
 
I care for a 43 year old pony. I was told she had no teeth apart from her front nippers but was rather surprised to discover not one but two misshapen teeth at the bottom of her feed bucket on separate occasions this summer. I shall ask our dentist to have a look when he comes in the spring. She seems to manage the grass fine, although I think it suits her better if it is a bit short, and she likes to suck haylage, then spit it out. I soak economy nuts and sugar beet for her which she has twice a day in the winter (just the nuts in the summer, and less of them) and she can manage very fine cut chop as well although it slows her down alot. I put the weigh tape on her every fortnight and give her ribs and backside a good feel. Sloppy food is definitely the way to go with the elderly.
 
My old gelding had an op at 29 and he was fine - I think he was under for about 20 minutes.

By the time he was pts at 34, he was also balling up grass in his mouth as he had lost 6 of his molars and couldn't chew very well. He was on 3 feeds a day - I gave him sloppy speedibeet and some pellet things for fibre - which I cant remember the name of, but they had to be soaked.

My horse dentist told me of a 40 yr old horse he knew who just lived off liquidy food because he had no teeth. Can't imagine the poor pony enjoyed that very much
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Three weeks ago my 21 year old mare was operated on her teeth. One of her back molers (3rd from the back on under jaw left side) had grown at right angles to the rest of her teeth! Unbelievably it seems she had had this for at least 1 year. Consequently the inside of her cheek was also damaged.

My vet used a sedative drip instead of gas. He prefers not to put older horses under gas (depending on the extent of the surgery of course) and with a drip he can increase of decrease the sedative depending on the horse's constitution. Every horse reacts differently to sedation, some need more, others less. With a drip there is also no chance of any lung or throat infections.

She was operated on in the morning and I was allowed to take her home in the evening. Having read up on sedation with older horses I decided (more for my peace of mind) so let her stay at the vets just in case she had an adverse reaction or started to run a temperature. No such thing! Goldy is a real trooper and demanded to go home two minutes after she heard my voice next morning!!

The vet prescribed mash and grass for the next week, no 'hard' feed. After 3 days of mash she definitedly wasn't having any more of it!!! I had to give her antibiotic powder. Every morning her mouth was rinsed out by pushing a hose in her mouth with a slight spray of water. After the first day she actually liked the hose and water rinse and even went so far as to open her mouth so that I could get in to the right place!!
Mind you after 5 days Madame had decided that she no longer needed any treatment and indicated this in no certain terms.

She is fully removed, no longer any props of feed/hay/grass, no sensitivity on her cheek.

Only thing I have to do is get the dentist in twice a year to check the tooth above the gap (rasp it down because there is now no surface beneath it) and the teeth behind the gap (may move to fill up the gap).
 
I would actually speak to one of the horse and pony societies first to see how they manage with their oldies and their teath problems.

I would be unhappy about putting a horse of that age under a GA - but even unhappier at the extent of the surgery that it sounds as if he's going to have to undergo.
 
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