Roxane Martin
Well-Known Member
Well, I did a search for weight loss on this forum and didn't see anything like my problem (but I didn't look thru all 22 pages!)
Here's what has happened. My mare (7 years old) began losing weight over this last winter. I had had her over a year and she had gone thru most of a winter with me before fine. There are 3 other minis in our "herd" and all are fed the same grass hay. At this time, she was fed 1/4 cup Legends 12 texturized (has beet pulp) twice a day and grass hay 3 times a day, as well as free choice vitamin-mineral loose salt mix (Equi-Min). This is the same amount the others were fed. She is slab-sided and had not been prone to being overweight, but still nice weight. Around November she started to feel like she was losing weight--muscle loss in neck in front of shoulder, chest, back and hips. Gradually upped grain to 3/4 cup and her weight loss slowed, but did not stop.
Her teeth had been floated in Nov, and she was in herd rotational deworming system every other month, including double dose/5 day Panacur in Jan. In March, her teeth were floated again and hooks were found--dentist thought that should do it. Mare continued to lose weight. Vet came for shots in April and I expressed concern over mare's weight--was told she was fine.
In June, she had lost even more (around 273 lb., 36 inches) and I called vet out again. Now she agreed that mare was too thin and took blood samples for Selenium and Vitamin E. Vet thought was due to deficiency in both and I was to supplement. When test results came back, she was over normal range in Selenium but low in vitamin E (119, normal >200, desirable ~500). Vet said that vit E needed for muscle development and that I should see a difference in 2-3 weeks. Had upped her grain to 1 cup per feed, using Vit E supplement and started Weight Builder (couldn't feed much, she didn't like).
Called a different vet out in late July for second opinion. Mare had not gained any weight and this was about a month from starting VitE supplement. Took more blood samples, which showed normal thyroid but muscle damage evident in results. Vet suggested starting with ration balancer for grass hay, Buckeye Grow N Win, which has higher protein and bio-available amino acids. After 2 weeks weight is up a bit, but haircoat is definitely darker (she is a silver dapple), more energetic and doesn't look as gaunt. Have not asked any exercise of her during this time so she not lose any calories.
So, looks like she's mending, but my question still is--what started this? She'd been in a stable herd with the same treatment for over a year. The others did not have an issue--in fact there is always a fight to keep from gaining too much weight. Second vet thinks that hay may have been too old for nutrients (even though still green) and that she is just a poor doer. Just seems odd to me that if it was a hay nutrient issue, why after feeding this, and why not the others?
My intuition tells me that there is some other cause, and that the weight loss is a symptom, but don't know what to look for, or if I want to spend a ton trying to find out if this program is working (the blood tests were about $500).
Ideas????
Thanks.
Here's what has happened. My mare (7 years old) began losing weight over this last winter. I had had her over a year and she had gone thru most of a winter with me before fine. There are 3 other minis in our "herd" and all are fed the same grass hay. At this time, she was fed 1/4 cup Legends 12 texturized (has beet pulp) twice a day and grass hay 3 times a day, as well as free choice vitamin-mineral loose salt mix (Equi-Min). This is the same amount the others were fed. She is slab-sided and had not been prone to being overweight, but still nice weight. Around November she started to feel like she was losing weight--muscle loss in neck in front of shoulder, chest, back and hips. Gradually upped grain to 3/4 cup and her weight loss slowed, but did not stop.
Her teeth had been floated in Nov, and she was in herd rotational deworming system every other month, including double dose/5 day Panacur in Jan. In March, her teeth were floated again and hooks were found--dentist thought that should do it. Mare continued to lose weight. Vet came for shots in April and I expressed concern over mare's weight--was told she was fine.
In June, she had lost even more (around 273 lb., 36 inches) and I called vet out again. Now she agreed that mare was too thin and took blood samples for Selenium and Vitamin E. Vet thought was due to deficiency in both and I was to supplement. When test results came back, she was over normal range in Selenium but low in vitamin E (119, normal >200, desirable ~500). Vet said that vit E needed for muscle development and that I should see a difference in 2-3 weeks. Had upped her grain to 1 cup per feed, using Vit E supplement and started Weight Builder (couldn't feed much, she didn't like).
Called a different vet out in late July for second opinion. Mare had not gained any weight and this was about a month from starting VitE supplement. Took more blood samples, which showed normal thyroid but muscle damage evident in results. Vet suggested starting with ration balancer for grass hay, Buckeye Grow N Win, which has higher protein and bio-available amino acids. After 2 weeks weight is up a bit, but haircoat is definitely darker (she is a silver dapple), more energetic and doesn't look as gaunt. Have not asked any exercise of her during this time so she not lose any calories.
So, looks like she's mending, but my question still is--what started this? She'd been in a stable herd with the same treatment for over a year. The others did not have an issue--in fact there is always a fight to keep from gaining too much weight. Second vet thinks that hay may have been too old for nutrients (even though still green) and that she is just a poor doer. Just seems odd to me that if it was a hay nutrient issue, why after feeding this, and why not the others?
My intuition tells me that there is some other cause, and that the weight loss is a symptom, but don't know what to look for, or if I want to spend a ton trying to find out if this program is working (the blood tests were about $500).
Ideas????
Thanks.