keeperofthehorses
Well-Known Member
I read on the mini forum that grinding teeth is a sign of an ulcer. My yearling shetland filly has been grinding her teeth for the last few weeks. Not often, usually when I am serving supper, and I've only heard her do it a couple times per week. But when she does it, I can hear it clear across the barn. She's eating fine, acting fine, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, no changes in her intake or output. There have been no recent major diet changes, other than increasing everything when it was so danged cold and we've now cut back to normal winter rations. She gets good grass hay, equine senior, mare & maint and beet pulp. Just this week I started adding a very small amount of either oats (5 days/week) or wheat bran (2 days/week) to the beet pulp. (I've been reading about the Cahos ratio and figured I needed to make the change.) But the grinding has been going on for several weeks now, so I don't think it's that.
Is this always the sign of an ulcer? I imagine (hope) that it could be dental? I poked around and didn't feel any hooks or anything that stood out to me as abnormal. She's not spilling feed, other than when she dumps her buckets.
Spring rounds will be in March, and that's when everyone gets their annual dental exam and float. I'm hoping it's her teeth and not her belly. Could it be boredom? They've been spending more time in the barn than normal due to my pasture being either flooded or icy. Are there other signs of ulcers that I could be missing?
Suzanne (the paranoid-pony-nanny)
Is this always the sign of an ulcer? I imagine (hope) that it could be dental? I poked around and didn't feel any hooks or anything that stood out to me as abnormal. She's not spilling feed, other than when she dumps her buckets.
Suzanne (the paranoid-pony-nanny)