Wont gain weight-Ideas please!

[oscarwild]

Right my mare dropped weight in December and I have been struggling to get it back on and wondered if you had any ideas on what to try.
A little history that might help. She has been off ill since July with many issues. It started off with swelling in her throat which may have been caused by her allergies. She had a allergy test at the same time as the swelling and bloods taken. Allergies were 5 out of 6 types of grasses, outdoor allergens were barley, wheat, rye, oats and maize. A couple trees and couple weeds. She also allergic to certain feeds, soya bean, linseed, cold fish oil and couple other things I cant quite remember of the top of my head. haha. The bloods came back to say she had tied up and also her liver enzymes were high. The muscle enzymes returned to normal and liver enzymes went down and came back up. She had a liver biopsy and it showed the liver was ok. In Nov/Dec time she was scoped for snot/mucus. It comes out the left nostril and she can cough it up in large sums. We have no explaination yet for what causing it.

She is back in work but we are struggling to build muscle up and we cant get any weight on at all. she looks ribby and her bum is a little sunken in from the spine. Would condition score her at a moderate at the most. Will get pics and put up tomorrow.

During her liver issue etc vet advised she was put on barley and speedibeet (handful of each to get foot supplement in and adjust when working) She was doing well on this but Dec time dropped weight. Her feed was upped from 1 feed of 150g barley and 100g speedibeet to same quantities twice a day. She put no weight on so was upped to 200g speedibeet and 250g barley twice a day. Still not put on much weight and wont go any further. She is also in work and working correctly but no gaining muscle either.
She is out 9-5 during the day and in at night and eats 1 and half haynets a night a quarter net for breakfast and if you giver her more she leaves it. Can get weights tomorrow if helpful.
What would you guys do. As its hard to find anything she can eat due to allergies and need to do something. Have left a message with vet to contact me back too.

Well done to you all that have go that far. Wine and chocolate for all.

 

[minniemouse]

wow she is allergic to alot of things! I have a very gut sensitive horse and have done alot of research into feeds, usually it is recommend a high oil and fibre diet and low starch/sugar diet but if her liver is compromised a high oil diet is not recommended?

therefore i would probably try a grass diet i.e readi grass,alfa a and the speedi beet, high energy content, and i would also try and feed 4 feeds a day, little and often is the key, when my poor doer wouldn't gain weight last winter i fed adlib hay/haylage and also put a large tubtruck full of readigrass and speedibeet in overnight for him to pick and i also feed activated charcoal, as this carries toxins from the body which reduced the pressure on the liver. It also stopped his cowpat droppings, i also added a good pre/pro biotic to help his gut utilize the fibre feed and he now looks good condition wise, are her droppings loose? also alfa a pellets(as long as alfa isn't one of the grasses she is allergic to?) in his bucket feed and snack ball, hope this helps x

 

[Andalucian]

After being ill, I've found horses to struggle to gain weight because the good bacteria in their stomachs have been killed by the drugs they've been given. I've found a good course of probiotic does the trick, but make sure its safe for her given her allergy issues.

Protexin is the brand most vets recommend, or you can feed YeaSacc (Brewers Yeast) which is just as effective.

If the bacteria aren't there, you can feed all manner of things and they'll pass straight through, so its a good idea to start with getting the gut flora right.

 

[popularfurball]

Was she tested by serum? (bloods) for allergies?

If yea, take it with a pinch of salt. Personally it doesn't hold a lot of use for diagnostics - trial and error are much better methods of diagnosis.

Are there any other symptoms? Hair loss? Itching? Other swellings? Joint swellings?

Linseed (micronised) is fairly safe to feed - whilst it is oil based it is not processed as a liquid oil is.

I have a pony with severe allergy problems - she has speedibeet as a base feed as its such a simple feed. Mollichaff do the best unmollased chaff I've found (with least "junk" in it).