Getting a veteran to eat

[chickflick1066]

Hello. I am just writing on behalf of my friends horse. Due to worsening health, her once fit, healthy gelding has been retired. He has rapidly got worse :( Here is what he is fed.
One scoop of veteran mix
Chaff
Sugar beet
Cortavet
Anemia supplement
Cod liver oil
and water.

Only problem is - he wont eat it. It breaks my heart to see his mum trying desperately to put some weight on him, yet he wont eat :( Someone suggested treacle in his dinner - what do you think?

[Sam and Blake]

does he eat his hay?is he on hay or haylage?if he enjoys this more then i would feed him unlimited amounts of haylage.obviously its not very nutritious sohe will still need some feed.i think anything sweet like treacle as suggested would definitely encourage him to eat!or just seeing if he will take handfuls at a time.sorry i hope you can some up with something!

[chickflick1066]

No, he's not on hay...he's out 24/7. I am really worried, because he needs these drugs to keep him healthy and he just isnt eating them...What can I do, I wanna help but at the moment I am help-less.

[Sam and Blake]

Whats his grass like?you could hide the drugs in the middle of an apple.whats his favourite thing to eat?will he not eat anything?is the drug a pill?if they are pills you may have to force him.just slip it in th eside of his mouth and try and hold his mouth shut.

[No_Angel]

My mare is very picky, she a veteran, just. I started her on old faithfuls and that got her eating, then I changed to spillers senior conditioning mix, with added glucosamine and it worked wonders with her.

[chickflick1066]

The grass isnt too bad, my Stumps has a muzzle to stop her putting any more weight on! He cant eat succulents, poor man, he hasnt got many teeth left. Can anything be done....his drugs are just an anemia thingy and cortavet for his arthritis, if he doesnt eat these, hes gonna get worse :(

Arent molasses supposed to help palatibilty?

[happy herman]

wonder if it could be the cod liver oil in his feed? i wouldn't eat that stuff either...tastes awful and i can only imagine how it smells to him. :(

[Moomin]

Take out all the odd smelling and tasting gumph, and start again with the basic feed. Add each thing in one by one and you'll soon find out what it is he won't eat. If he doesn't really need it don't put it back in, if he does then find it in another form - for instance cod liver oil is an evil smelling and tasting oil so why not try capsules of it?

I used to have a very fussy old gentleman - he needed lots of things for joint and wellbeing - what he liked to disguise the taste was Chamomile flowers brewed into tea and then the whole lot (cooled) on his feed.

Baileys No 1 cereal mix is great for weight gain - easy to eat and digest as its kind of like flour, (gets round the no teeth problem) and apparently tastes marvellous. I think this would be a good choice if he hasn't many teeth. You can make it into a think mash he can eat quite easily, although I used to mix it with chaff for some substance. I never got anything but a clean bowl back!!

Older horses are renowned for suddenly becoming fussy. I imagine he would love more molasses or treacle, but that much sugar is not good for horses at all.

[virtuallyhorses]

I'd definitely ditch the cod liver oil and replace it with molasses. You could also try the old favourite - a warm bran mash. bran isn't a great feed but for veterans who are a bit picky it can be great. Add a cup of bran with the beetpulp and use warm-hot water when you soak them, by the time its fluffed up it should still be a bit warm and this helps it smell good.

[Jessey]

My old timer was really struggling at the begining of the winter, he is now fat as a house. He has hardly any back teeth left and couldn't grind the feed to be able to digest it properly.

If your's can't manage succulents the chances of him being able to chew chaff are slim and as it has limited use as a feed, I would cut that out to start with, I would also try and swap his vetran mix to vetran nuts, cubes or pensils as you can soak them and they go like a mash but still have all the goodness and are easier for them to digest. I would also recomend Baileys No 1, it soaks really well so dosen't need chewing to do its job of pileing the weight on, you could also try a feed balancer which should also help.

Oil is really good for condition and is also very easily digested by the body so its a pretty good bet when you need weight on, I probably wouldn't cut it out unless he really objects to it.

I often put a little honey in my chaps feed if he is a little off it, a table spoon full seems to do the trick, I know its not the best thing for him but he hardly has any teeth left to rot!!
I would also suggest getting his teeth checked, even though he hasn't got many left those that he does have become doubley important :p .
Best of luck

J x

Edit: Meant to say you could also try some apple juice in his feed to entice him :D

[andreaB]

Has He Had His Teeth Done Recently , It Can Make A Big Difference , Worth A Try If Not Had Them Checked Out For A While

[chickflick1066]

Ahh thanks everyone for all your help - muchos apprecatiated :D I shall pass the info on :)

[chickflick1066]

Has He Had His Teeth Done Recently , It Can Make A Big Difference , Worth A Try If Not Had Them Checked Out For A While
I did mention this but she didn't actually say anything... :rolleyes: I shall let her no, even if he has no teeth left!!

[rusk]

I used to leave my old boy a bucket of soaked sugar beet to pick at during the day and he loved it. I think it was so easy for him to eat.

[chickflick1066]

I used to leave my old boy a bucket of soaked sugar beet to pick at during the day and he loved it. I think it was so easy for him to eat.
Ahh the owner would leave the food in the field...only problem = my pony! Stumpy is on a diet and will eat Barnaby's dinner in a second. Not only is this bad for her, its full of medication she doesnt need. Which is why leaving the food in the field sadly isnt a option.

Good idea though :)

[chickflick1066]

Hello.

I spoke to the horses owner today and she said the reason he isnt eating his dinner is beacause he isnt hungry. He is on grass 24/7 so she thinks him not eating is due to him not being hungry.

I did suggest some ideas to her but she didnt seem that bothered by suggestions :rolleyes:

[Stiltz]

...

[happy herman]

Hello.

I spoke to the horses owner today and she said the reason he isnt eating his dinner is beacause he isnt hungry. He is on grass 24/7 so she thinks him not eating is due to him not being hungry.

I did suggest some ideas to her but she didnt seem that bothered by suggestions :rolleyes:

what a shame. don't see how he could be filling up on grass with his teeth the way they are. even my healthy strong ones want their feed when they come in off grass. seems to me like he's just getting to be too much trouble for her...sad. :(

[Grace O'Malley]

As I understand it, he may be able to fill his tummy with grass and not feel hungry (though I can't recall ever having met a horse who thought they had enough food :rolleyes: ), but if he can't chew or digest it properly he won't be getting any nutrition out of it.

Hope she decides to have another think about this for his sake.

Grace