Rapid weight loss

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Hexx

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My poor boy is a shadow of himself.

He had colic about 5 weeks ago, and lost a little weight but nothing significant.

However, his weight loss has continued, he is ribby, his shoulders are pointy and so are his hip bones, and he's lost his thick neck. Bearing in mind he has always been a BIG chunky cob, it is very worrying. He is 24 so getting on a bit, but has always been really healthy and fit.

He's been on extra feed (hay ad lib, and increased hard feed, plus and extra lunchtime feed) for the last three weeks, but still seems to be dropping.

I am going to get the vet out to do some bloods and have a look this week - but any ideas on what this could be?
 
Hi it would def get the vet to your boy for bloods further investigation , dramatic weight loss isn't good especially for a cob too !! Fingers crossed update us when the vets been x
 
Hexx, please feel free to message me, I have pics of my boy from beginning to end... His weight loss was literally over 4 weeks... from being a cresty chunky cob to super thin. Get blood tests ASAP, if he has been on the red cell he should show signs of improvement... mine didnt. I am keeping everything crossed for you... any questions or you want to talk let me know xxx
 
Hexx said:
My poor boy is a shadow of himself.

He had colic about 5 weeks ago, and lost a little weight but nothing significant.

However, his weight loss has continued, he is ribby, his shoulders are pointy and so are his hip bones, and he's lost his thick neck. Bearing in mind he has always been a BIG chunky cob, it is very worrying. He is 24 so getting on a bit, but has always been really healthy and fit.

He's been on extra feed (hay ad lib, and increased hard feed, plus and extra lunchtime feed) for the last three weeks, but still seems to be dropping.

I am going to get the vet out to do some bloods and have a look this week - but any ideas on what this could be?
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Sounds obvious but worm for red worm ASAP if you haven't done so - mine has lost 120kg in 3 weeks and I just kept feeding more until vet identified the problem. Fatal if not caught in time :(
 
Same thing happened to my horse, he went from chunky arab to almost skeletal over 5 weeks despite eating well. It turned out to be liver damage, you need to get his bloods done ASAP.
 
Fingers crossed it's nothing sinister, but I think you're doing the right thing getting the vet out asap.
 
I would be inclined to have the vet asap and hold off before worming. If your horse has coliced recently and does have an infection than the wormers may cause a repeat- I would speak to your vet and go with their advice. My old horse had rapid weight loss a few years ago and his blood work came back as a tapeworm infection and he had been wormed; we decided he must have built up an immunity to tape wormers and now he has to have Equitape or Equest Pramox to tackle this as the vet told me there is no known immunity to these. Fingers crossed
 
Colic and weight loss ,I would also think tape worm,beware the Pramox wormer has caused some horses to colic.
Fingers crossed for your horse .
 
Vet is coming tomorrow.

He's bright in himself and eating well. I would be a bit surprised if it is worms as the yard has a very strict worming routine - and this summer we have made a concerted effort to poo pick our field. But I guess you never know.

Will update tomorrow.
 
So, vet been. His heart is OK. She cleaned his sheath out, nothing to worry about there, seems to be a collection of fluid in the tissues that should go down with exercise. She's taken bloods for a full spectrum and a poo sample. He does have a high temperature - this could point to an infection. She is thinking digestive system problem - not absorbing proteins - or liver. He is on broad spectrum antibiotics and steroids until we get the bloods and worm counts back.

So just a case of waiting until the bloods come back.
 
Hi,

I do hope your boy has picked up now! I just wanted to post my support as I'm going through a similar thing with my almost-26 year old pony.

She was absolutely fine and then suddenly she dropped 15 kgs over about 5 days. I had vet out to do bloods. Her ACTH level had risen so she is now back on Prascend but she was also showing a high level of inflammatory proteins. This is a bit of a worry as she is showing no signs of infection or virus or anything. In fact she seems absolutely fine. Her one and only symptom has been weight loss. I think we are going to do some further investigations to try and find out what's going on as neither of those blood results entirely explains the sudden, dramatic weight loss. Plus I have a big problem in that she has very few working teeth left so can't eat much in the way of hay. I upped her feed rations, added oil to her feed, supplemented her diet with Hi Fi Senior and gave her controlled access to grass but her feet were raging hot this morning.

To be honest, things don't look good for her right now. If her body can't cope with extra volume of feed/grass/extra calories, I can't see how I can get her through the Winter.

Thinking of you, it's such a worry isn't it? xx
 
southerncomfort said:
Hi,

I do hope your boy has picked up now! I just wanted to post my support as I'm going through a similar thing with my almost-26 year old pony.

She was absolutely fine and then suddenly she dropped 15 kgs over about 5 days. I had vet out to do bloods. Her ACTH level had risen so she is now back on Prascend but she was also showing a high level of inflammatory proteins. This is a bit of a worry as she is showing no signs of infection or virus or anything. In fact she seems absolutely fine. Her one and only symptom has been weight loss. I think we are going to do some further investigations to try and find out what's going on as neither of those blood results entirely explains the sudden, dramatic weight loss. Plus I have a big problem in that she has very few working teeth left so can't eat much in the way of hay. I upped her feed rations, added oil to her feed, supplemented her diet with Hi Fi Senior and gave her controlled access to grass but her feet were raging hot this morning.

To be honest, things don't look good for her right now. If her body can't cope with extra volume of feed/grass/extra calories, I can't see how I can get her through the Winter.

Thinking of you, it's such a worry isn't it? xx
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Was there a reason for the pony to come off the Prasend? could that be the problem now,with our pony the vet said once they start Prasend they have to stay on it.
with our pony
 
shergar said:
Was there a reason for the pony to come off the Prasend? could that be the problem now,with our pony the vet said once they start Prasend they have to stay on it.
with our pony
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Hi,

We tried her on it 2 years ago when she was first diagnosed but she had a terrible reaction to it. We tried for 6 mths to get her right on it but even on a quarter of a tablet she wouldn't eat or drink.

However, the vet has suggested trying it alongside another drug which is an appetite stimulant. Fingers crossed it works!
 
So, my boy was admitted to Horsepital yesterday after taking a turn for the worse. He's due a scoping and ultrasound this morning, so will hopefully know what it is by lunchtime. Fingers crossed.
 
So - not good. It is either Inflammatory Bowel Disease or tumours in the small intestine. The vet didn't want to do a biopsy as that would have meant putting him under, and he didn't feel he was stable enough.

So treating for IBD with strong steroids for two weeks. got to feed him lots of protein and additional oil. If he picks up, then will be IBD, if not then probably cancer.

Feeling a bit wobbly - but trying to focus on the positive, hoping its the IBD.
 
Hexx said:
So - not good. It is either Inflammatory Bowel Disease or tumours in the small intestine. The vet didn't want to do a biopsy as that would have meant putting him under, and he didn't feel he was stable enough.

So treating for IBD with strong steroids for two weeks. got to feed him lots of protein and additional oil. If he picks up, then will be IBD, if not then probably cancer.

Feeling a bit wobbly - but trying to focus on the positive, hoping its the IBD.
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Hi hex, I've just read this update, I'm so incredibly sorry, I've been exactly where you are. Your vet has probably told you this, but even if it is cancer on steroids your boy will temporarily pick up. I don't know how good your boys appetite is, but ebony struggled with hers, as such she had five meals a day And I found feeding from a door manger was the only way she was comfortable to eat. I also swear by haemavite b plus blood tonic, I believe that it gave me a couple of extra weeks with her. In terms of feed, I would be wary of over feeding oil, certainly add it to the feed but not too much, I was advised to feed high calorie feed such as endurance/racehorse/youngstock type feeds, milk pellets/grass pellets basically anything that my horse would eat that had high level calories.

The feed companies were absolutely wonderful as my girl kept going off food and sent me an amazing array of feed.

I really don't know what I can say, other than my thoughts are with you and your boy and I have everything crossed for you both.
 
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Thanks everyone.

He's back home now, and looking very sorry for himself, but not sure if that is for my benefit or not - as he perked up when I took him down the lane for a graze.

He's going onto a high calorie mix with lots of sugar beet to hide the taste of the tablets! I will be careful with the oil - just sticking with linseed for the moment.

He ate his tea, but seemed to be a bit sore - probably from the scoping. Plus he made this really funny noise that had me reaching for the phone - general concensus was he probably had a bit of food stuck. Anyway, the other liveries are keeping an eye on him - one at 7.30 and then one at 9 - it's great when you have other people to support you.

I am off to count steroid tablets now - 130 per day!!
 
I shall stop moaning now about having to count out a paltry 14 tablets a day!! :)

Glad he's doing ok now he is home. Big (hug) for you. It's such a horrible roller coaster ride when they are ill.

x
 
A quick update.


The vet came on Friday - he thinks the boy is looking much better, has put on a little weight and the blood tests are improving - nearly back to normal. He's enjoying the food - loves the new hard feed that he has been put on, but not really tucking into hay/haylage, so I have got him some ready-grass which seems to go down well.

So another four weeks on a reduced dose of steroids (hope that means the wee-ing for England will reduce!) and ultrasound again in three weeks.

So looking more like it is IBD and not "the c-word". Keeping positive thoughts though.
 
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