I have 20 yr old mare that has been very picky in eating for the last 8 mos. She had a foal in April 2009 with no problem. I increased her grain and hay while the foal was nursing and the mare was doing great. The foal was weaned at 6mo when I noticed the mare started losing a little muscle on her back. She was still in very good weight though. I put her in with some other mares last fall and she seemed to do well for several months. By spring 2010 she had started to lose a little weight and would not eat more than a mouthful of grain. I had her checked by my vet and she wasn't too worried. The mare did very well on grass this summer and would eat some grain off and on, but not like she would have previously. Now that the grass is buried under snow, she just eats maybe 1/4 flake of hay (free choice) each day and has lost probably 30-40lbs in the last 2 months. She won't eat afalfa, bran, carrots or anything other than grass or a little hay. She acts hungry but then just picks at her food. She eats slowly for maybe 10 minutes and then goes to stand in the corner of her paddock for a couple hours. I'm not sure if she's eating enough to make it through winter, so I really need to get this figured out.
She's had teeth floated and been wormed in rotation with Ivermectin and Strongid. I put her on gastroguard for 10 days with no change. When I put her on a week of oral antibiotics toward the end of summer she seemed to go off feed even worse. I'm thinking I may need to be more aggressive with ulcer meds and also try a more aggressive worming with double dose of Panacur. If this doesn't bring her around, I'll assume it must be one of these: kidneys, liver,intestinal tumors/disease, or maybe complications from Cushings.
I had another vet out today who was more helpful. He mentioned kidney and liver issues, encysted strongyles, and intestinal tumors, but also suggests that Cushings is a possibility. The decreased appetite makes me think it is not Cushings. Has anyone had a Cushings horse with poor appetite? She does urinate small amounts more frequently than my other mares, but seems to drink only a little more than them. I plan on getting a full blood panel after the holidays. Any other ideas?
She's had teeth floated and been wormed in rotation with Ivermectin and Strongid. I put her on gastroguard for 10 days with no change. When I put her on a week of oral antibiotics toward the end of summer she seemed to go off feed even worse. I'm thinking I may need to be more aggressive with ulcer meds and also try a more aggressive worming with double dose of Panacur. If this doesn't bring her around, I'll assume it must be one of these: kidneys, liver,intestinal tumors/disease, or maybe complications from Cushings.
I had another vet out today who was more helpful. He mentioned kidney and liver issues, encysted strongyles, and intestinal tumors, but also suggests that Cushings is a possibility. The decreased appetite makes me think it is not Cushings. Has anyone had a Cushings horse with poor appetite? She does urinate small amounts more frequently than my other mares, but seems to drink only a little more than them. I plan on getting a full blood panel after the holidays. Any other ideas?
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