Horse Wasting Away??

[Mesa2010]

Hello everyone! I have a 6 yr old Quarter Horse mare who has a strange medical condition. It started two years ago and has continued since. I can’t figure out if it’s a wasting disease (like Cushing’s) or if she’s got a different problem. Help!

Basically, she loses weight at a dramatic pace starting in early October and continues to lose it until around Springtime, about mid April. Our other horses do perfectly fine during the winter, but she always looks awful. Her ribs show, her hips pop out, and her neck resembles that of a giraffe. I’ve tried weight boosters, alfalfa pellets, beet pulp, all kinds of oils, top quality grains, ect! I just cannot get her to gain a pound. Meanwhile, the other horses get fat and plump from the diet she is on, but she still somehow looks like a skeleton. She has access to unlimited grass/alfalfa hay and gets measured grain twice daily. I don’t understand her problem!

She is on a regular worming schedule, and I’ve even switched brands a few times, thinking maybe that was part of her problem. Our vet doesn’t know what is wrong with her. Oh, and after the grass starts growing again, she gains some weight and is fairly normal, although she doesn’t gain her full bodyweight back. She is still a bit thin through the summer, but her ribs don’t show and she looks healthy.

I’m going to get some blood tests done on her, but does anyone know what this is? Or has anybody had similar issues? I don’t think it’s Cushings, and it’s not muscle Atrophy or motor neuron disease. Help!

[snowrider]

How cold is it where you are located and does she grow a decent coat? Blankets? How are her teeth? She might not be able to chew hay well enough but can chew grass, for example.

[AKB]

I would get the vet out to check her teeth and run some bloodwork to make sure her kidneys and other systems are normal. Then, I would try adding Purina Equine Senior or other complete feed to her regular/usual diet. 10 lbs per day of Equine Senior adds easy to digest calories and will usually make them gain some weight. Some horses need a huge number of calories to maintain their weight.

[Mesa2010]

The temperature drops to about mid 20’s during the winter, so not too cold. She grows a terrific winter coat, very long and thick. She also has 24/7 access to shelter during the winter months, so she is able to get out of the wind and chill if she wants to. Blankets are only used in fairly extreme conditions, like snow and icy rain. They usually don’t need them.
You know, I had the vet out to look at something else with her a few months ago, and he said her teeth were fine. However, I’ll take her to an equine specialist to get the bloodwork done, and I’ll have him take a look at her teeth while she’s there. Our local vet may have missed something important.
Equine senior is a good idea as well. I’ll get some of that and see how it works. Seems like I’ve tried just about everything else!

[SuzieQNutter]

A rug is equal to a feed.

A course of Nitrotain will help kickstart her to getting goodness out of the feed you are giving her.

If her ‘jaw is out’ it hurts to chew. A chiropractor putting her jaw back in can help.

Getting her teeth checked can help. I just bought a horse who belonged to a vet nurse. The vet always did his teeth for her. My guy did a lot of work on him. He said vets (Australia) do a health check. He does a riding check.

Worming can help.

Boiling barley as a feed can help.

[Weluvhaha]

I had a horse that lost weight every winter and I live in California. One year in September during an early rain, he was shivering so hard that I thought he was having an epileptic seizure! I blanket the wazoo out of him (starting at 50 degrees dry, 60 degrees wet) and he stopped losing weight. Try it. Every thin horse I’ve ever dealt with benefited from lots of blanketing. How can you say “they don’t need it” and then talk about how much weight she loses?

[RedHorses]

Given her age Cushings does seem unlikely, but it is a disease that causes heavy coat growth and muscle wasting in many cases. It would be worth ruling it out.

A long, thick coat is not necessarily a warm coat. Haircoat and skin are considered least important by mamal bodies and often show the early signs of something amiss inside. Haircoat is not the only thing that keeps horses warm - their fat layer and muscles do a significant amount to keep the horse warm. A thin horse will need more help to stay warm. A blanket would be an easy thing to test to see if it helps. Some horses just run colder than others and need more help to stay warm than the average horse.

Have you checked for vitamin deficiencies? Done a complete blood count (CBC)?

Regarding the working schedule - you said you have “even switched brands…”. Did you switch drug classes regularly throughout the year? Did you do fecal samples to verify the drug’s effect, or lack thereof? Did you use a drug to kill tapeworms once or twice a year (depending on your location)? Have you used a drug that would kill encysted strongyles?

[merrygoround]

Abslutely time to call the vet, this requires a complete physical, an educated eye, and obviously some blood work. None of which is available over the internet.

[RedMare01]

My Cushings mare has become a very hard keeper in the winter like this, but she’s 22. I agree a thorough vet check is in order; if your current vet doesn’t have an idea try another.

I minimize the weight loss in my mare with Purina Ultium (highest calorie feed on the market) 5-6 lbs per day and absolute free choice grass hay. She came out of this winter the best she has in years.

[WildandWickedWarmblo]

Check her for EPM. It is a devastating disease that causes weight lost. I saw it at one barn where a young horse had it. The owner was clueless until it was so advanced that the horse collapsed.

[findeight]

It’s time for the vet on this one. Don’t wait too much longer trying this or that. Dramatic weight loss is not normal.

[ReSomething]

![](n 2013 I had to leave for a month for a family emergency and not long after I got back my old horse was looking pretty darned bad. This was in the summer, so really a cause for worry, because winter is a time when they need more calories anyway. We had the vet out and he did a blood test, everything in the range of normal, and he sold us a Powerpak, OK fine, and I was tearing my hair out until I read the bag and GOT OUT THE SCALE. My nice little 3 qt scoop that should have had 3 lbs in it had maybe 2, 2 and a half depending on whether they were heaping or not. I’d changed to TC Sr because he wasn’t as thrifty on my home mix of beet pulp and pellets and 12% sweet feed, and supposedly it was better so I started with the 5 pounds, well the qt to pound conversion was all off and I was the problem.
So I sat down and made darned sure to do it right.
I separated him at feeding time. None of his food was able to be eaten by any other horse. I weighed it out. I increased it dramatically, up to 10 lbs (they only want 5 lbs per feeding) I added oil to up the calories, and finally because he was leaving feed behind I made sure to give him his medication separately instead of trying to put it in his feed, and we went from this, [IMG]https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/1146505_628193067214058_1798358440_n.jpg?oh=ed205decaa737081409c9456bf03f823&oe=57A10D20)on August 3rd, to this on October 15th[IMG]https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/1380381_664922073541157_642793153_n.jpg?oh=0d7aba051ceec08eea649ff95e2a179a&oe=579EA210)and then this on December 4th.[IMG]https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/1465356_695150737184957_1024554569_n.jpg?oh=2bf56d7005147f6f8d5ba24cce0736d7&oe=57AA99F5)
(And I’d like to thank Cother LauraKY who gave me her vet name and watched my photos as he gained weight. It is very hard to see it going in either direction until it is a large change.)
We kept that diet up and his weight until last January, when he started having problems and eventually passed. This was Fall of 2014, just before my Dd started college.[IMG]https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/12919785_841945095932353_2355469378315492835_n.jpg?oh=e94ba6622b775c705f29b5e5280e6847&oe=57BC509D)
I remember that when the old guy got that skinny my old vet was “so what, he’s old, the other one is fat, you must be feeding them fine”. So there is a difference in vets. My suggestion is to get the vet out and see about something like cancer, get the blood tested, make sure she isn’t driven off her food and gets all of it, and weigh it out. Best of luck to you and your horse.
ETA Blanketed. He had Cushing’s, so a ton of hair, but blanket anyway, and we also offered heated water and house temp feed in winter. The problems that led to his demise came on after the power to the shedrow failed and the buckets began to freeze, ie, frozen water was likely related to his colics. Or maybe not, he was almost 30 at the time.

[Hermein]

I’ve had success in feeding OLD horses a straight mush diet, even though they may still have teeth. I think that their digestive system can no longer utilize dry feed, even though they can still chew it.

My neighbor has a 39 yr old qh that gets two large feedings of mush every day because he has no molars at all. He looks great.

I hope you’re able to find a cause of the problem for this horse–you’ve been given some good advice.

One more thing: If you can, you could feed three or four times daily to see if that helps.

Another one more thing: I blanket at 40 degrees & use a rain sheet when it does rain.

[SummerRose]

Has she had a recent Coggins test?

[dacasodivine]

How much feed is she getting?

Even thought 20’s isn’t that cold for some horses, I would blanket. I have 3 horses. One furs up like a polar bear and needs no blanket. One doesn’t get much of a winter coat but doesn’t need a blanket. One is in between the two but shivers when it hits the 20s so she gets a blanket.

[enjoytheride]

Odd that you haven’t had blood drawn a long time ago. Get it done as soon as you can.

[Guilherme]

[QUOTE=Mesa2010;8643624]
The temperature drops to about mid 20’s during the winter, so not too cold. She grows a terrific winter coat, very long and thick. She also has 24/7 access to shelter during the winter months, so she is able to get out of the wind and chill if she wants to. Blankets are only used in fairly extreme conditions, like snow and icy rain. They usually don’t need them.
You know, I had the vet out to look at something else with her a few months ago, and he said her teeth were fine. However, I’ll take her to an equine specialist to get the bloodwork done, and I’ll have him take a look at her teeth while she’s there. Our local vet may have missed something important.
Equine senior is a good idea as well. I’ll get some of that and see how it works. Seems like I’ve tried just about everything else![/QUOTE]

We just had a similar issue. Young gelding just “fell off he cliff” and then continued down. He just would not eat. After the “usual suspects” (teeth, parasites, feet, etc.) were eliminated and nothing was working we took him to UT in Knoxville and they diagnosed Irritable Bowel Syndrome. We don’t why the bowel is irritated and it takes a surgical biopsy to get a definitive cause. But in the vast majority of cases the treatment is the same. He’s on a steroid injection daily for six weeks and a vitamin E dose daily. After trying a couple of different feeds we found he’d eat Safe Choice from Nutrena. After three days of the steroids he’s eating his hay more aggressively and he’s actually putting out feces!!! (How many times do you celebrate s**t production in normal life??? :eek:).

So far, so good.

G.

[candyappy]

Is she eating in a herd situation? If the others won’t let her get at the hay she will lose dramatically in the temps you describe.

[LoneStarQH]

A few thoughts: first, get a few grams of fresh feces and have a fecal performed. Without routine fecals, you are shooting in the dark with your deworming program! I like to do these twice a year, or more often on my horses that are heavy shedders.

Second, is there any possibility that it is just a matter of groceries? I dealt with a similar situation once with a young mare of my own. She would slick off fat as a tick by June of each year, but November through April or May, she looked pretty boney and malnourished. Turns out that she was just not able to get enough nutrition from the winter grass varieties she was grazing, and really needed good quality hay to supplement. We wound up having to separate her completely in the winter so she wouldn’t have any competition for the hay (I realize you said your horse has continual access to good quality hay all winter, so this might not be a problem).

Third, I agree that a horse that is cold is one that is likely to shiver and burn calories. My easy keepers don’t have this problem, but my leaner horses do. I either blanket them or keep them in a warm barn when it dips below 45 degrees or so. Depending on moisture levels and wind, this might be adjusted up or down.

[S1969]

[QUOTE=Mesa2010;8643528]
Hello everyone! I have a 6 yr old Quarter Horse mare who has a strange medical condition. It started two years ago and has continued since. I can’t figure out if it’s a wasting disease (like Cushing’s) or if she’s got a different problem. Help!

Basically, she loses weight at a dramatic pace starting in early October and continues to lose it until around Springtime, about mid April. Our other horses do perfectly fine during the winter, but she always looks awful. Her ribs show, her hips pop out, and her neck resembles that of a giraffe. I’ve tried weight boosters, alfalfa pellets, beet pulp, all kinds of oils, top quality grains, ect! I just cannot get her to gain a pound. Meanwhile, the other horses get fat and plump from the diet she is on, but she still somehow looks like a skeleton. She has access to unlimited grass/alfalfa hay and gets measured grain twice daily. I don’t understand her problem!

She is on a regular worming schedule, and I’ve even switched brands a few times, thinking maybe that was part of her problem. Our vet doesn’t know what is wrong with her. Oh, and after the grass starts growing again, she gains some weight and is fairly normal, although she doesn’t gain her full bodyweight back. She is still a bit thin through the summer, but her ribs don’t show and she looks healthy.

I’m going to get some blood tests done on her, but does anyone know what this is? Or has anybody had similar issues? I don’t think it’s Cushings, and it’s not muscle Atrophy or motor neuron disease. Help![/QUOTE]

What has the vet done so far to determine what is wrong?

Sounds like it could be a lot of things.

I would start with a full exam including teeth, fecal, and bloodwork: at least CBC & Cushings.

When were her teeth last done?

I find it hard to believe that this is a “feed” issue unless the horse can’t chew; which would maybe make grass somewhat easier and give a little improvement in pasture seasons. I would think there is an underlying medical situation here if the horse really has unlimited, quality hay. It may not be enough for every horse to be in top condition, but “wasting away” would not be normal for a 6 year old QH with unlimited hay.