Tempting a fussy eater on a low sugar low starch diet

[BBP]

He used to be on happy hoof plus pelleted balancer and loved it. I switched to unmollassed Timothy chaff and he gave up eating it so I took the chaff out and just gave the balancer, all fine. Added linseed for fat as diagnosed with a muscle myopathy and he won't eat oil. Again fine, not mad keen but will eat it.

Now there a couple of suppliment she needs to be fed. Add in these two suppliments and it's like his dinner is laced with cyanide. He would rather go hungry all night than eat it (having tasted one of them it's really sour citrusey).

Any ideas for tempting him? I can't syringe them into him as this is daily for long term potentially. Am wondering whether to add a small amount of molassed chaff in order to gain benefit of the suppliment, figure a handful can't affect his body that much but am I wrong?

 

[TGM]

Have you try mixing with something soaked like Speedibeet?

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Would it syringe in apple pulp? Is that practical for the short term and maybe feed one thing in the morning and another at night?

 

[mightymammoth]

this is the only thing my very fussy eater on ++ amounts of powders/supplements will eat I feed a large coffee mug full http://www.saracenhorsefeeds.com/driving/23-re-leve if you contact them first they will send you a sample to try.

 

[Llee94]

I have always found that adding some garlic granules always seems to tempts my fussy eaters to eat their dinner. No idea if it would fit a low sugar low starch diet though.

 

[BBP]

Some good ideas, thanks. Given he is so good at turning his nose up to things it sounds like I might be best trying to get some sample size bags of a few things like speedibeet and re-leve and see if any make it worth his while. I did try garlic oil but as soon as I added anything else to it he gave up! I think doing 1 suppliment am and 1 pm is a good idea, rather than too many different things in one bucket.

 

[nuttychestnut]

Mines very fussy but loves fast fibre plus I can easily hide meds in it if needed

 

[paulineh]

Ask Baileys for a sample of their new feed "Keep Calm" My 25 year old mare can be fussy and we have just started to add "Keep Calm" and she seems to be happy eating that.

 

[tabithakat64]

Try adding apple juice or mint powder. Mine will eat anything if its in a slop, so fast fibre, speedibeet or fibrebeet might be worth a try. Ring and ask for samples, most manufacturers are happy to send some out.

My one that's not keen on linseed will eat Outshine.

 

[JillA]

Spearmint is supposed to be a good appetiser, I bought some dried any my lot did like it. Or soaked unmollassed beet seems to disguise taste well. Are you giving micronized linseed or the oil?

 

[ester]

apples not so great for the low sugar front

mint/cider vinegar better for masking. beet or fastfibre? copra? time to get a few samples going I think!

 

[nikkimariet]

Try adding powdered fenugreek.

 

[whizzer]

Mint? Just put my fussy old lad into veteran vitality & he's practically hoovering it down! He's absolutely ridiculous when it comes to eating,have tried fenugreek to stimulate his appetite but at the moment he won't eat feed with it in! Think the veteran vitality would fit your criteria & no reason why it can't be fed to a non veteran, it must taste good the rate mines eating it at!!!

 

[stormclouds]

I put mine on timothy chop and he wouldn't eat - literally would pick out the bits of soaked grass nuts! Silly thing. Added spearmint to his feed and it's made a HUGE difference - eats everything. Was considering putting him back on lucie chop/molassed chaff but so glad I tried spearmint first. Ditto fenugreek, he looooves that in treats too.

 

[BBP]

Mint sounds like an excellent idea, I might try that first, thanks!

 

[wench]

I've had a fussy horse before. Didn't really need any feed apart from a token with balancer in it. Wouldn't eat any form of chaff. I tried everything. Mint, mint tea, fenugreek, nope wouldn't touch it. In the end I looked for a different feed and came up with D&H equine sensitive. She hoovers it up, and it can be soaked to form a mush to hide things.

Equifeast also do a product called more tasty which might be worth looking at, helps disguise the taste a lot.

 

[criso]

How urgent is it to get the supplements in. I have one that is fussy as he doesn't do change. I have to do everything very very slowly. With his minerals it took me about 6 weeks to get from 1/4 teaspoon to the full dose.

That's fine for the longterm of course but not good if you have to get medicines into him in the short term.

 

[BBP]

Thanks everyone, lots of good suggestions for me to look into. He does ideally need them right now but today I reduced the amount even more, put a sprinkle of happy hoof on it and it went down okay so fingers crossed if I introduce it slowly enough and if something to tempt him it won't mean dinner time is completely ruined for him!

 

[Doris68]

My veteran wouldn't touch timothy chop at any price. It was far too dry, brown and untasty!! The only way I can get her to eat it is with Cool Fibre mix and just a small handful of timothy chop. Initially, I tried it with apple juice and dried mint but to no avail - decided she was far too old at 29 to change to an (almost) sugar free diet. However, I do sprinkle dried mint on the very poisonous(!!??) home-grown hay - the occasional bale which she finds totally inedible. Bless..!