Darkwater
Well-Known Member
I am writing this in the hope that someone may have a similar experience but I appreciate any idvice/ideas that anyone may have. Please bare with me this may be quite a long post but I want to give you as much info as possible.
Earlier this year, around March time, after having previously had no problems at all with teeth/eating etc my 19 year old mare started having the odd reaction to her hay now and again; either moving sharply away, rubbing her face or being in obvious pain when chewing. We had very recently (just days earlier) had teeth checked when this started so originally thought it was something to do with the hay rather than teeth (nothing was abnormal during her tooth rasping - and think the timing was a total coincidence). As the problem became more frequent and it became clear it wasn't the hay that was the problem we had her teeth checked again, but no problems were seen.
She did, and still does have some diastemas (small gaps) that get food stuck but these have never been a problem before, have not been infected and are not believed to be the problem - have tried cleaning them regularly, filling them etc but this made no difference. On vets advice we turned out 24/7 from this point as she could manage grass and we thought leaving her to just graze over summer may give the 'problem' time to heal/fix itself (it was worth a shot money wise as we are not insured for this sort of problem so funds sadly have to be a factor).
All fine over summer, teeth checked again about 6 weeks ago, all clean and fine. I soon after this started giving her small net twice a day as grass is becoming limited (she is still out 24/7 but although a good do-er does require something on top of this and she will soon be in at night - yard rules). All fine with the nets for a couple of weeks, and I watched her like a hawk, but all has gone wrong again since I had to bring her in for two nights last week as the weather was foul and everything else was in. She ate up from her hay bar both nights but when I went back to the tea and breakfast nets she started showing the same symptoms as before. I took hay off her as soon as I realised she was in pain and called vet who also brought along another vet who specialises in teeth for her opinion but- as before, no obvious signs in her mouth, no changes of any kind.
But there obviously IS a problem - and I feel at a total loss. Both vets that saw her last week believe it must be a sensitivity of somekind, probably related to the diastemas but not directly caused by them.
What I don't really understand is why she was okay for 2 weeks on small nets but after two nights on larger amounts the pain has returned, and also why it is only hay that causes it? And also, I don't know what to do in terms of feeding her now. I have not given hay since, she has been on fastfibre instead but i don't really want to see hay replacers as a long term solution if possible. This is partly because of cost, partly because of weight management (lami prone type), partly as she will become bored (and can be fussy) and partly as from experience she will eat it too quickly to last the night as she thinks it is just a feed. Also I am aware the turnout 24/7 all year would be ideal but this is unavailable at the yard and I am not in a position to move at this time.
Vet has suggested that other options to hay replacers mixing hay with chop so she doesn't get large mouthfulls of hay at once, or tiny holed double nets for the same effect - but this still worries me in case she does still get pain and ends up eating nothing over night, but perhaps I am wrong? Does anyone else have other suggestions/thoughts/experiences, both on the problem itself and on how to feed?
So sorry for the essay of a post, and thank you if you have read this far. And appologies if I have missed out any info, I wrote this post once and manged to lose it so this my second attempt!
Earlier this year, around March time, after having previously had no problems at all with teeth/eating etc my 19 year old mare started having the odd reaction to her hay now and again; either moving sharply away, rubbing her face or being in obvious pain when chewing. We had very recently (just days earlier) had teeth checked when this started so originally thought it was something to do with the hay rather than teeth (nothing was abnormal during her tooth rasping - and think the timing was a total coincidence). As the problem became more frequent and it became clear it wasn't the hay that was the problem we had her teeth checked again, but no problems were seen.
She did, and still does have some diastemas (small gaps) that get food stuck but these have never been a problem before, have not been infected and are not believed to be the problem - have tried cleaning them regularly, filling them etc but this made no difference. On vets advice we turned out 24/7 from this point as she could manage grass and we thought leaving her to just graze over summer may give the 'problem' time to heal/fix itself (it was worth a shot money wise as we are not insured for this sort of problem so funds sadly have to be a factor).
All fine over summer, teeth checked again about 6 weeks ago, all clean and fine. I soon after this started giving her small net twice a day as grass is becoming limited (she is still out 24/7 but although a good do-er does require something on top of this and she will soon be in at night - yard rules). All fine with the nets for a couple of weeks, and I watched her like a hawk, but all has gone wrong again since I had to bring her in for two nights last week as the weather was foul and everything else was in. She ate up from her hay bar both nights but when I went back to the tea and breakfast nets she started showing the same symptoms as before. I took hay off her as soon as I realised she was in pain and called vet who also brought along another vet who specialises in teeth for her opinion but- as before, no obvious signs in her mouth, no changes of any kind.
But there obviously IS a problem - and I feel at a total loss. Both vets that saw her last week believe it must be a sensitivity of somekind, probably related to the diastemas but not directly caused by them.
What I don't really understand is why she was okay for 2 weeks on small nets but after two nights on larger amounts the pain has returned, and also why it is only hay that causes it? And also, I don't know what to do in terms of feeding her now. I have not given hay since, she has been on fastfibre instead but i don't really want to see hay replacers as a long term solution if possible. This is partly because of cost, partly because of weight management (lami prone type), partly as she will become bored (and can be fussy) and partly as from experience she will eat it too quickly to last the night as she thinks it is just a feed. Also I am aware the turnout 24/7 all year would be ideal but this is unavailable at the yard and I am not in a position to move at this time.
Vet has suggested that other options to hay replacers mixing hay with chop so she doesn't get large mouthfulls of hay at once, or tiny holed double nets for the same effect - but this still worries me in case she does still get pain and ends up eating nothing over night, but perhaps I am wrong? Does anyone else have other suggestions/thoughts/experiences, both on the problem itself and on how to feed?
So sorry for the essay of a post, and thank you if you have read this far. And appologies if I have missed out any info, I wrote this post once and manged to lose it so this my second attempt!
