What to feed a poorly horse off his food

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spottydottypony

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My poor old boy whos 36 yrs old had a really bad accident in the field on sunday. He managed to impale a wooden fence rail into his chest through his pectoral muscle. It was touch and go but he seems to be on the mend. He is off his food though, i have tried most things, slobber mash, bran, sugar beet, mollasses, carrots but he wont eat. He is eating a very small amount of slobber mash and bran. He cant have hay either as he has hardly any teeth. He is also off his chop. Im worried about him is there any feed that can encourage him to eat or supplement? He is still under the vet too so he is being monitored closely.
 
May be an obvious suggestion, but are you feeding him off the floor? It maybe he is just too sore to bend down - have you tried holding the bucket at waist height. Sorry I hope this answer doesn't sound patronising, but sometimes the simple things are easy to overlook . Poor old horse - rotten accident. Wishing him well :)

Afterthought - you could try adding shredded carrots and maybe some applejuice to the mash? My oldie gets Allen & Page Calm and Condition.
 
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Definitely feed from a door manger this should make a big difference... Also, check out haemavite b plus, it is a really good blood tonic, palatable in a syrup, its designed for horses who are convalescing or in high work loads. The b vitamins aid digestion helping your horse to make the most of what it is eating, its also designed to increase appetite, support immunity and combat anaemia. It's not a bank breaker at 17 pounds, feed at the max rate of one full measure a day... You will see an increase in general well being (it adds a spark to the eyes) an increase in appetite, I Really can't rate it highly enough. I was recommended it by my vets.
 
Adding spearmint to his feed miht get him to eat, if not honey and bananna tends to get them eating!:D hope he gets welll soon!
 
Go and pick bucketfulls of grass, it's coming up now so should be east to find somewhere that has long enough grass to pick. When my old mare was ill, the only thing I could get her to eat was grass. If you can take him out to graze, then maybe find a bank or somewhere raised where he doesn't have to reach right down. Antibiotics can make them go off their food as well.
 
Thank you for all your replies. He was grazed in hand for an hour or so tonight but hes very wobbily on his legs. The vet checked him today and said he was ok. I have grated him apples and carrots in bran mash tonight so hope fully he will eat them. Hes only got one more day of antibiotics then hopefully he will start to eat
 
spottydottypony said:
My poor old boy whos 36 yrs old had a really bad accident in the field on sunday. He managed to impale a wooden fence rail into his chest through his pectoral muscle. It was touch and go but he seems to be on the mend. He is off his food though, i have tried most things, slobber mash, bran, sugar beet, mollasses, carrots but he wont eat. He is eating a very small amount of slobber mash and bran. He cant have hay either as he has hardly any teeth. He is also off his chop. Im worried about him is there any feed that can encourage him to eat or supplement? He is still under the vet too so he is being monitored closely.
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We have a livery here who has been off her feed- hay- grass. In fact she stood all day for a week not eating anything she has lost so much weight ribs show spine shows. We finally got her to eat with haylage and calm and condition, along with her antibiotics.

I suggest you do what we did, ask other liveries for a hand full of what they are feeding their horses till you find something her will eat. Its what we did for G. She is still on this diet along with colikare
 
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A warm linseed mash if you can cook some,most horses like linseed ,warm feed is more tempting , I do hope he is soon recovered.
 
You could try home-cooked linseed, turned while still quite warm into whatever else you are giving him?
Or syrup?
Can you put a really good doer next to him, or vice versa, while he is eating? We had a pony recovering from purpura haemorrogica (sorry can't spell it) years ago - completely off its feed, until the vet suggested this solution. We borrowed a really greedy pony, who used to slam his food and his rock salt round the manger, and ours was inspired to eat.
Also agree about picking handfuls of grass - or the cow parsley that's just starting to come up - or young willow leaves, if any are out yet round you (great horse self-doctoring thing - ours always go straight to the willows when they're poorly)
Do hope he starts to eat soon. What a horrid accident.
 
Last night i grated some apples and carrots into his slobbermash, bran mash and sugar beet (all separate buckets). They were only small portions but he ate them. I also used fresh apple juice to wet his feeds. He has been grazed for an hour in hand and i am going to do the same tonight. Poor boy hes getting more swollen by the day and only doing one poo a day. The vet is monitoring him closely but hes not out of the woods yet.
 
have you tried soaked grass nuts or alphalpha beet? not feeds i would usually suggest butif he is only pooing once a day you need to try anything to get his gut going and the advantage to both the above is the high water content to try and prevent a blockage.

good luck its c**p when the oldies are hurt
 
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