Today Miss Bonnie is sassy and vibrant, not wanting to lead politely, spooky and snorting coming in from pasture.
Also showing early signs of mild dehydration. Her urine spot in her stall was a bit smaller, but still significant. Her manure while same amounts is dryer in consistency. She is VERY sunken in the flanks.
She did eat the entire flake of hay, there were quid balls but I'd say 98% of the flake from last night was eaten.
Now if only she'd drink. I started electrolytes yesterday evening. She drank a very small amount from her buckets over night. No idea of she drank in the field.
I'm open to ANY idea's to get her drinking. Already tried the gatoraid straight in a bucket - she showed no interest.
I'm also not entirely sure the swelling in her chest is a from a kick. It wasn't localized to one area - her entire midline from throat latch to chest was swollen. I also had started exactly 4 feedings before the quiding started was topping her pellets with Tribute's Essential K. It's a feed dressing of minerals and protein. I stopped the EK with this past Monday's evening feed and Tuesday the swelling in her neck had gone down and is completely gone today.
If anyone had kicked her it would have been Rosie. They are turned out together and no one else is with them.
Thanks to everyone for your well wishes, thoughts, prayers and advice, it is greatly appreciated!
Are you feeding soaked beet pulp? If not you might try.
ReplyDeleteI feed 2.5 lbs (dry) shredded beet pulp (no molasses) soaked in a gallon of warm water for at least two hours, and stir in two TBSP of salt for my evening feeding. That's a gallon of water right there, plus the salt encourages more drinking.
Hope things improve from here on out. :)
Could be that sucking in water hurts more than taking in food.
ReplyDeleteMaybe try putting some molasses in her water (warmed up so it will actually stir in and not just drop to the bottom in a lump) or dissolve a handful of peppermints or a candy cane in boiling water or water in the microwave and put that water in with the rest of the water in her bucket. It doesn't just taste good, it also will be soothing.
You could also soak her regular grain in water for a little while.
apple juice? I have heard that can work in the water , hope she continues to improve , maybe add water to her feed (wet the hay and make any grain mix more of a mash with added water) Might be an idea to slip a little mineral oil into the feed as well to prevent an impaction
ReplyDeleteI don't have any advice but I am thinking about you and hoping she starts drinking soon.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Beth that it may be more painful or difficult for her to drink water.
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of flavorings you can try. Some others are a partial packet of apple flavored Koolaid, apple juice, one clean bucket and one of her of her soaked hay pellets/cubes (but mostly just grassy flavored water!) since she drank that pretty well before.
She won't want to try flavors she hasn't already tried and liked, well usually.
Could she have some sort of infection, even pigeon fever (not to be an alarmist) - the swelling in the chest makes me think of that. Did the vet draw blood to check on infection, etc.? Sending best wishes and thoughts to you both.
ReplyDeleteMy horses get beet pulp too, but not as much as those above. I use pellets and soak overnight, then mix with their grain. Morning and night they get about 2 cups. Lots of nutrients as well as adding moisture.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope she improves quickly.
My thoughts ran along the same lines as Kate's, but what I read said the horse 'may' have an elevated temperature and you said Bonnie's was normal. Additionally, they say that the horse with pigeon fever will have a normal attitude and appetite. But... there could be exceptions.
ReplyDeleteI agree about soaking the food to add some moisture. Hmm... would a bit of salt make her thirsty and cause her to drink?
What a worry this is for you. Sure hope you get it resolved soon. I've read that apple juice added to warmish water can encourage drinking, but I haven't tried it. Also, the ideas of soaking food sound good - beet pulp, alfalfa cubes, bran. We do this at the barn where I'm working for Feb., in order to get more water into the horses. Good luck. Keep us posted.
ReplyDeleteHeather adds mineral salts to feed. I know it helps Jaz, who goes thru times where he doesn't drink enough.
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