Wits end with anorexic horse, ideas please.

ycbm

ycbm

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This is a horse who always stops eating in summer, but this year is worse than usual. This is a matter of life and death, not just a few minerals to prevent me having to put shoes on him. He needs vitamin E and alcar to keep him on his feet at all.

So far I have tried:

bran
Oats
Linseed
Nuts
Sugar beet
Pink mash
Apple juice
Orange juice
Grated carrot
Grated apple
Fenugreek
Mint

His favourites are bran and linseed.

Some of these things will work for a day or three but not longer.

I have tried hand feeding him, including shoving it in the bit gap, which he is now refusing.

The most successful recently was giving him one handful and no more till that was gone. That's now failed.

I've split out the vitamin E and alcar which are essential and removed the nasty tasting copper, zinc and magnesium, but he still won't have it. There is too much alcar and vitamin E to hide in anything like an apple.

I had to leave him in on his own all last night with nothing but his bucket feed to force him to take the first stuff he's eaten in 48 hours.

He's in again now instead of in the barn with his haylage, but ignoring the bucket on his door. He will only eat from a door bucket, not from the floor.

If he doesn't die anyway, I'm going to rip his bloody head off if I don't find a way to feed him.

Ideas please!
 
Mine are big big fans of soaked grass nuts, they are a great carrier for all sorts and quite strongly scented. Does he like grazing when he's out?

And Saracen Re Leve is weird but apparenlty nice smelling and appears tasty enough to even get Millie the highly suspicious fuss pot to eat bute... also got Kira onto the lorry when she was in her absolute refusal to load period.

if you're prepared to go for the commercial feeds option I bet most manufacturers would send out samples for you to try... if he is one that likes novelty then having lots of different ones to try could be a way forward.... :wink3:
 
Really feel for you, I know how you feel - my oldie does this sometimes and it's horrible.

Have you looked at Equidgel? It's an entire feed which goes in the water, really high in fibre and vitamins etc - can be used in veterinary hospitals and things. They literally just drink it. So I guess if you needed to you could provide it in place of water? The lady who runs their company is super friendly and v happy to talk and interested in difficult cases like that, so I'm sure would be happy to help and give you some samples. I've been surprised at how much they like it.

Molasses isn't on your list, have you tried that? Or alfalfa nuts and as someone said earlier grass nuts?? Both soakable. Let us know how you get on, good luck!
 
When I couldn't get mine to eat her ulcer related supplements and meds (turned her nose up at everything), the only thing she would eat was soaked hay cobs (thunderbrooks). I use them for all fine now as they can be used as a mash or unsoaked in chaff I'r as treats. They love them and not full of sugar.
 
I know you say you give too much alcar for putting in an apple but would either mixing it into a paste (if it isn't already a liquid, sorry I don't know much about it) and syringing it down him be an option to get it into him? Alternatively, we used to give honey/marmite/treacle/marmalade sandwiches to a horse who wouldn't take meds, could you put it into a sandwich? Then he could have a seperate bucket feed just for the sake of getting calories into him.

I know molasses are usually a no go but I might be tempted to try a glug of molasses in the feed if separating the meds out entirely isn't an option (I guess it comes down to whether the harm of a sandwich or a small amount of molasses is outweighed by him getting the supplements/meds he needs)

From a feed perspective, have you tried grass chaff/nuts? Do you have any horsey friends/kind hho-ers nearby who can let you borrow some of their feeds to try- I'm wondering if some sort of mix (whilst nutritionally not desirable but again going with whether it would be outweighed by the benefit of getting the supplements) Or a mash like fast fibre or veteran vitality might help? Saracens releve is relatively low in sugar and starch which I think you need for pssm (again, knowledge not that great so apologies if not!) But it's the only thing my usually non fussy mare will eat her ulcer supplements with so palatable too.
(Happy to post you up a good bags worth of releve if you wanted to try it without committing to a full bag but need more than the tiny sample the feed company would send if it helps)

Randomly, and possibly really thinking outside of the box, I presume having another horse nearby when he eats doesn't help? (Whether he then eats as he's worried his mate will pinch it or if he feels safer to eat it if a friend is nearby)

Hope you get to the bottom of things.
 
Third soaked grass nuts, although the best ones I've found for disguising (or ones that Nugz will deign to eat when he's being fussy, albeit not to the extreme of yours) is by Emerald green Feeds (be aware than one of their pellets is 50% alfalfa I think).

Or (as I don't think you're too far from me) I could arrange for a zippy bag of Thunderbrooks muesli to try?
 
When my old boy refused virtually everything the one thing he did eat was GWF fibregest no starch. It can either be fed dry (small pellets) or mash

And I got meds into him using mushed baby food pouches decanted into gastroguard syringes
 
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I also feed emerald green and my girls find them the yummiest - the grass pellets are just that, they do make alfalfa pellets as well. The grass chaff they make is also apparently way nicer than graze-on but I have to get it delivered as my local shop only sells the nuts :lol:
 
Is he getting grass, and what's his condition score? Does he need feed as a supplement carrier only, or to keep his condition. What does your vet say, is there something metabolic or with his GIT going on?
 
My horse is very fussy, partly I think due to the fact we have rich, yummy haylage so he'd rather eat that!
I tried all sorts to get mine to eat his feeds (for some suppliments and calmer etc) tried expensive stuff, the lot. He really didn't think anything of any of the grass pellet feed.
Turns out he's actually quite easily pleased, and he now goes crazy for his scoop of Happy Hoof. Cheap and cheerful and he will eat anything that's in it!
Another thing that helped mine was Justamint by Simple Systems. It's 100% pure, finely cut herbal spearmint. It has a really strong smell (and taste I'm guessing!) You can feed as much as you need to to get them to eat their feeds. It has been specifically advertised as a feed appetiser.

Hope something helps. They like to worry us.
 
Alcar tastes vile - will he eat the vitamin E in his normal feed?

One of the Rowan and barbarry mashes is designed for PSSM horses. I'm not a fan of mixes due to Shiloh's sensitivity, but both horses gobbled it up when they tried it and I offloaded the bag onto the owner of a very fussy eater. I bet you could hide Alcar in a small amount of that (for a week at least!)
 
My new young horse didnt seem to know what a bucket feed was, wasnt interested at all, tried a few different feeds then I bought some Baileys Fibre Nuggets and she loves them! She was nervy at first so the bucket feed was purely a treat to come in to.
 
liquorice which has had boiling water poured over it so it has melted and been allowed to cool. Or the same principal with polos or strong mints.always worked with my horses.
 
dont know what your grass is like but if not great it might be cheaper to rent some land with very good grass and stick him on it with a friend or even walk the eejit in hand to let him eat the verges - not a practical solution as you would have to spend hours each day walking the twit.
 
Sorry if it's already been said. Instant custard was the only thing that worked to get my old fussy horse eating his feed when he had to have antibiotics etc.
 
My Shetland is like this in the summer, insulin resistant so he has to come in during the day and be muzzled overnight. He's already pretty trim due to his very restricted diet and he will just refuse to eat when he is in during the day for pining to go out!

Currently I am feeding him a teeny breakfast of speedibeet mixed with linseed and happy hoof. I give him a fresh slice of hay ever day, he only picks at it but if I leave him the same slice he didn't eat from the day before then he won't touch it! I also leave a small bucket of topchop lite as a hay alternative and he will pick at that a bit too. He then gets an evening feed which is the same as the above but includes his vit &min powder and is a bit bigger. I tie him up outside next to my piggy sec D so they can eat together, sec D always finishes first and looms over Shetland which seems to make Shetland eat! Muzzle on and then back out.

Is your horse turned out, could you find somewhere for him with very good grass?
 
I don't know if this applies to horses but I had a Burmese Cat almost die, when he suddenly became anorexic. The cause was Potassium Deficiency which is not unknown in Burmese cats. Has your vet done a blood test?
 
I would imagine the alcar will dissolve in water and be easy enough to syringe in. I feed 10000 iu vit e (equimins oil) in a bread sandwich. If he doesn't like bread try something else like cake, currant bun, malt loaf. Spend a few days pampering him along with the others with tasty household treats. Once someone likes something the rest will get jealous. The PPID gets his prascend in a small handful (by hand) of his copra/soaked alfalfa nuts feed.
 
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