Teeth problem, or box rest boredom?

[now_loves_mares]

My mare broke her pedal bone last week and has been on box rest. She’s been remarkably fine but in the last 24 hours particularly has gone off her food. I suspected it might be the danilon, even though she was eating it fine in the first few days. However now she doesn’t even eat that many treats. I’m quite suspicious it might be teeth. The reason being she is chewing very very slowly when she does eat something, and I experimented by putting alfa, sugar beet and balancer in her feed in separate piles, and the only thing she went straight for is the balancer, which is very small pellets. She had some of the beet, but none of the alfa. She is eating some hay, but much much less than normal. She just seems to be moving food around her mouth quite a bit and yawning after she has eaten.

Her teeth were done a year ago, so she is due but not really overdue (she’s 9). I tried the dentist but he can’t do that quickly, so will get the vet to come back and check. However, does this sound like teeth? Would it get so bad so quickly? If not, I will buy some apple juice and try that, and maybe also get some soft fruit like pears to see if she is more interested in eating that.

Any other thoughts/ideas welcome. The only other thing I can think of is last night for the first time I put cosequin in her feed. However I have laterally tried tempting her with various things in hand and even straight from the feed scoop, so they aren’t “tainted” by the Danilon or the supplement.

 

[Flir]

Might be worth getting the dentist out. My mare has been on box rest and did start grinding her teeth on the stable door and chewing the walls.Shes got plenty of toys etc so i couldnt work out what it was.

Dentist said her teeth were fine, just gave her a tidy up

Mine never went off her food though even when she was on painkillers so i would suggest getting the dentist out to be safe.

Shes probably just bored and in a sulk

 

[TarrSteps]

It's always tricky if you've changed something to not refer everything else back to it so, yes, just because she's gone on box rest doesn't mean she might not need her teeth doing.

Two other things I might consider . . .

Ulcers/stomach upset. If she's had ulcers in the past (which they now think the vast majority of horses do at some point in their lives) they're likely to reassert under stress/change of conditions. There is also the medication to consider. Danilon is supposed to be easier on horses than some of the older NSAIDs but as far as I know it acts similarly and it's the action of the drug - it's a prostaglandin inhibitor - that irritates horse's stomachs, not just the drug itself, if that makes sense.

Depression presents as anorexia in some horses. She may just not want to eat. Have you tried offering her any other food options? How about a herbal mix of some sort? (Horses with free choice access to varied forage will often pick specific herbs when they're ill/under stress so it's worth a shot.) I try to find dandelions (obviously fresh ones are not an option now) with the roots on for horses on box rest as they seem particularly appreciated but even picking a bit of fresh grass for them can help.

 

[K27]

I think you are doing the right thing by getting the teeth looked at- a year is quite a long time since she was last done so may be some sharp edges or hooks which is making it difficult to eat - my horse did exactly the same and he kept moving his jaw like he was chewing toffees after he had been eating- turned out he had a bit of a sharp edge which had made the inside of his cheek a litle bit sore (he is a drama queen), he had been rasped 3 months earlier (they are done twice a year), but my dentist re did his teeth and it sorted the problem out.

My horse used to be difficult to get bute in to years ago before Danilon came out!- we used to have to buy the bute in wormer type syringes!- my vet said that Danilon is one of the most palatable bute type medications- my horse eats it no probs at all! if you find after the teeth being done she is still not eating it you could maybe ask your vet to give you bute in a syringe so at least you know she is getting her painkiller.

I hope your horse gets better soon and she makes a good recovery- must be quite worrying for you.

 

[splash30]

My mare is on box rest has completed 7 weeks so far from surgery due to a puncture would in the foot into navc bursa and coffin joint - she is a 3 rising 4 year old, has never wood chewed but she is trying to eat her way out through bordem, we are putting cribbox every where to discourage her, she does not do it when she can go out every day.

I give her constant hay, and a nut ball to play with, with the odd swede and uncle Jimmys hanging thingy to break the day up.

I would recommend getting your horses teeth looked at as the normal gap is 6mth to a year and that would rule it out, mine is getting hers done for the first time shortly as she is still teething.

 

[now_loves_mares]

I'd forgotten I'd put this thread on here, as life got rather more complicated after I posted it. However, just wanted to say, Tarrsteps, you are really prescient.....

My mare is about to spend her 27th night in the vet clinic Turns out she developed Colitis, and got a caecal impaction, as a result of the Danilon. She has coliced a couple of times since, so was also scoped last week, and also has gastric ulcers (a couple are very severe/grade 4). Again, probably caused by the Danilon. She has been very poorly, although hasn't shown much pain in the last week since she went on the Gastroguard - no actual colic, just a couple of 20-min periods of "ouch". Fingers, toes, legs, arms, hair, ears and eyes crossed...

And, for completeness, we've checked her teeth, they were basically fine. But the yawning is apparently a sign of gut pain.

Just wanted to reply to this incase anyone else has a similar problem. I'm trying very hard not to berate myself, constantly, but I should have listened to my gut. I KNEW this horse was a greedy monster, and should have called the vet the second I noticed her off her food.

ETS - for what's it's worth, I've subsequently been doing a lot of research, and Danilon/Bute is a fairly non-specific painkiller. The latest is Equiox (I think it's called) which is very new, but Metacam is the alternative painkiller they have been giving her intravenously. Though she's had no pain meds for the last week as she was getting more comfortable on the foot. From what I can tell, the ONLY advantage of Bute is that it's cheap. If only I'd known that before, I'd have used the drugs that focus on the Cox-2 (layman's interpretation of veterinary articles); and will think long and hard before letting Bute pass any of my horses mouths in the future. I've also established it is much worse if given to dehydrated horses (so for example if you have a horse competing that gets a bit footy afterwards, and you tend to give bute, that would be a bad combination). Also, best to give it to them just after they've stuffed themselves with hay.

I have promised not to become an anti-bute campaigner, and it will continue to have uses for long-term low-dose usage; but I wonder how many people realise there are better, safer alternatives?