Thin laminitic-what to feed?

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Hi all,

My 17 yr old 14hh laminitic cob is looking quite thin/ribby even through his winter woolies. I kept him trim over the summer aiming to keep him at a lower condition score and he was fine. He is in at night, has as much hay as he will eat and he has 3 large scoops of hifi lite for his tea. Work wise we do a bit of hacking/schooling 3-4 times a week. Hes not clipped and he's in a mediumweight rug, had teeth done and has been wormed. Does anyone have any advice on what would be suitable to feed him? Prior to him having laminitis 6 years ago he was on Alfa a for a while and it sent him barmy!
 
Kwikbeet is only 3% sugar. Micronised linseed is also good. Don't get the linseed lozenges - they have had the oil extracted and sugar added.
 
you can get non mollassed speedi beet and also alpha a /oil is good as low or no sugar content. I think my friend uses pink powder on my old mare also, to help her digest the food.

go for anything with low sugar and steady release energy. I think I used dengi hi fi senior as well to bulk up the feed without bulking up on sugar.

oh and only hay, no haylage! x
 
As featherpower says, Alpha A Oil is mollasses free and brilliant for weight gain. Speedibeet is also considered safe for laminitics as it's 95% sugar free and can be fed as up to 40% of a horse's diet.
 
My laminitic's are fed Happy Hoof. It is a complete feed with added Biotin/vits/mins and other stuff and mine do well on it and stay lami free.
Does he have any vits/mins with his chaff?
 
I had this issue myself last year and fed 2 scoops of Firebeet, a scoop of Spillers Hi-fibre cubes in a ball and two scoops of Happy Hoof along side adlib soaked hay to my 13.2hh pony.

The Laminitis Trust have a list of approved feeds on their website and are very helpful.

Several other companies also produce feeds for horses prone to laminitis.

After speaking to the Laminitis Trust, my vet and several equine nutrionists I added a mug og Bailey's Lo-cal and also a mug of Outshine to my horses feed as these are low in starch so suitable for laminitis prone horses.

This really helped my pony keep her condition through the winter, she was regularly weigh-taped and her feed adjusted accordingly.
 
May I suggest you contact an independent nutritionist like Claire McLeod? My boy had exactly the same problem - he is laminitic and I wanted to put a bit of meat on his bones and build up his topline. I got a very thorough consultation from Claire, for very reasonable money, and the important thing is that it was unique and individual to him. He looks heaps better now.
 
Anything fibre based, no cereals. Suggestions-
Ad lib hay
Unmollassed sugar beet
Allen and Page Fast fibre
Badminton Fibre nuggets
 
I find Baileys Outshine is good, along with Lo-Cal. TBH I would call either an independent nutritionist, or one of the companies such as Baileys or Top Spec and talk to their nutritionists - you can get some useful free advice that way (although obviously the company nutritionists only promote their own products!!)
 
Spillers suggested for our cushings pony (same diet requirement as a laminitic) who struggles to keep weight on, the equilbrium growth, it sounds weird but its high in protein and low in starch so has worked really well for helping her to gain weight and keep it.

might be worth a try?
 
I used to use Spillers Hi fibre cubes on a laminitic and cushins pony. I had to soak them and he used to have bowlfulls of them in the end as he couldn't eat hay. However he kept very good condition on them.

Also, even the fussiest of horses will eat them, mine seem to love them like I do chocolate!
 
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