Please Help!

[rabbitsfizz]

I am tending to agree about the ulcers, I think you need to get her on medication and keep her on it for at least a month, and also to use all three meds, as suggested.

I am also highly suspect of the cat food thing...whilst horses will often eat stuff,( especially stuff they are not supposed to eat!!!) it makes me suspicious that she may be lacking in something that appears to her sense of smell, to be in the cat food, in the way that horses will sometimes chew if they are short of certain vitamins or minerals.

I would be inclined to just throw everything at her, give the gastroguard, the ranitidine and the sucralfate, give her a good mineral lick , get her out on a bit of good grass and give her some nice alfalfa and some nice soft grass hay for night time.

I would also stop offering her any sort of grain for a week, at least, she may just be sick and tired of you trying to get her to eat, I have had success with anorexics in the past just by leaving "snacks" lying around all over the shop and letting them "graze" on them (this was humans BTW!)

 

[Janis]

Thanks so much for all the good advice. Although we've treated her for ulcers MANY times - I'm going to try again.

I'm not sure what her thing is with cat food - I think MOST of it is she KNOWS she's not supposed to have it. We've tried all kinds of food. When we give her something new, she loves it, for a day or two, then she won't eat it. She's had access to grass most of the summer. She'll graze a little while, then come to the gate and want out. I soak alfalfa cubes and beet pulp for her at night - sometimes she eats it, sometimes not. She has access to salt & mineral and I've also bought her a sweet, soft mineral block.

I haven't had her mouth x-rayed. We did have Carl here this summer. He did a little work on her, but didn't see a problem.

Thanks for all the advice. We'll keep trying as long as she will. It's just SO frustrating!