Horse still not eating normally 10 days after teeth floating

[Bristol_Bay]

Help. My beloved 19 year old had his teeth floated ten days ago, and for the first time ever, his mouth is too sore to eat…except alfalfa and carrots. His behavior is awful on full alfalfa so that’s not the answer. In the short term, I’m giving him soaked timothy pellets to replace the hay he’s not eating.

Tomorrow I’m going to spritz his mouth with salt water as I’ve heard that helps. He’s on previcox already.

What else can I do? It’s kind of been off and on, with some days eating all his grass hay, the next he leaves it.

Also, I really think the vet may have screwed up.

[ThreeWishes]

Poor sweetheart! Was he hand floated or power floated? Could he have a tooth loose or broken from the float? I would call the vet asap or another vet for a second opinion because this doesn’t sound normal at all.

[wsmoak]

I would get the vet back out to look and perhaps take some x-rays to see if there is a broken or cracked tooth or something else causing pain.

One of mine ended up with a tooth root / sinus infection after a normal float… it happens sometimes, bacteria can get in and set up an infection. He had to go to the clinic to have his sinus flushed and be on antibiotics, but all is well now.

[cayuse]

Also might want to consider his TMJ, sometimes being in a spec for the float can make them pretty sore there. I have an older one with arthritis changes in his TMJ and we have to be careful.

[Posting_Trot]

You should definitely talk to the vet who floated him, if you haven’t already. Ten days of soreness seems not right at all. It may be that it wasn’t the float at all that is causing the soreness, but that there’s something else going on in the mouth–like an abscess, for example. But the vet should probably come back out and take a look.

Good luck!

[Bristol_Bay]

He was power floated with some use of the file at the end.

I’m headed to the barn in a few minutes and hoping his morning hay is gone.

He did seem to be eating well on bute, but the vet advised me to switch to Previcox. I know sometimes they get spoiled by one type of hay and just pick at the rest, but his response on bute makes me think it’s just discomfort.

I did also take his temp just in case but it’s normal.

[CindyCRNA]

Any update?

[Bristol_Bay]

He had only eaten half his hay when I was there late morning, but he had finished it by the afternoon feeding. He vacuumed up his one flake of alfalfa, and was working on the grass hay. In the morning if he hasn’t eaten, I’m calling the vet.

So better, but not all the way back like he was prior to the floating.

[Texarkana]

I had a vet who was terrible at dentistry yet I kept making appointments for the vet to do floats anyway (what’s wrong with me?).

One year the vet irritated my older TB’s TMJ joint so badly the horse couldn’t eat for days.

Another year (the last year) the vet overfloated the older TB’s teeth so badly he could never eat normally again. The horse died a few months later and I don’t doubt the dental problems took time off his life.

Hopefully you are dealing with the former and not the latter.

[Bristol_Bay]

That poor horse.

My horse has pretty bad parrot mouth and gets his teeth floated annually. This same vet has floated him since I bought him 12 years ago. This is the first time there’s been an issue.

Five horses got their teeth done in the last few weeks, so next time I’ll get the equine dentist who did my other horse (at a different barn) to come out.

[walktrot]

My horse is fine with hand floating without sedation. His started with his equine dentist in 2009. He comes on barn day and works with most of the area vets. He has an amazing relationship with the horses. We had a new young QH a couple of years ago. Owner said he needed 2 shots of a sedative. This dentist is able to do a test to see if they are okay without drugs. That little QH not only went without sedatives but relaxed more than any horse I’ve seen in 18 years of running barn day.

We are doing two floats annually now because he’s 28. Last tall we had a nice sunny day and my horse was sunning himself in the middle of his run out. I started to get his halter, but don’t the dentist said don’t bother. I’ll do him right here. He did. He put his bucket down, put the speculum on, did the exam and float. The horse was fine. He returned to enjoying the sunshine. I prefer to avoid sedating animals.

Remember years ago when everyone was all excited about power floats? One of the local vets showed up at a barn with a shiny new case. She put it down, opened the case, and took the instructions out. She started to read. Then she took out the shiny new tool.