Retired Horse Losing Weight

[chestnuthuntergelding]

I have a retired 19 year old Thoroughbred gelding who has dropped weight fairly rapidly throughout the last month and a half. He was retired due to a stifle injury in 2022. He retired into a large field, with 3 other older mares. Since 2022, he has been on 24/7 turnout with a round bale, grass in the spring/summer, and he is fed alfalfa flakes 2x a day as well. He gets previcox once a day. We had the vet out in April to float his teeth and she noticed he had a tooth that had broken into fragments and had caused an ulcer on his cheek. She was able to extract part of the tooth but not all of it. The part that was unable to be extracted she floated down so it wasn’t rubbing against the ulcer. I noticed some swelling on his cheek a few weeks after this happened, the vet came back out again and the ulcer had healed over well and the remaining tooth fragment had fallen out (she predicted it would). We put him on a week of antibiotics to see if that would help the swelling go down. It did not, the swelling is still there. I called the vet and she seems unconcerned, said I should keep an eye on him and if anything changes let her know. He seems to be eating normally, seems happy, he is just dropping the weight. We have had a colder and wetter than normal spring where I am so have been blanketing him in a rain sheet to try and keep him from shivering the weight off. I have a call into my vet for an appointment to get some bloodwork done, in the meantime any ideas? I am wondering about PPID?

As some sides note this horse has thin soles in his front feet, so I have kept front shoes on him. He has some mud fever on a hind leg that we are currently treating. He is also grey and has quite a few external melanoma under his dock and in his girth area.

[Marla_100]

I’d be concerned the tooth has abcessed. Probably needs to be
totally removed. Abcessed teeth are very painful. The infection can get into the bloodstream and cause other problems.
Sounds like he also needs an immune booster.

[cayuse]

I think your vet should be more concerned about the area with the tooth fragment. Can you get a consult with someone who specializes in dentistry. My mini just went through this with a root that was left behind during an extraction and it caused all sorts of problems that we are still dealing with (sinus involvement resulting in surgery).

[fivestrideline]

Definitely would be more concerned about the tooth - if the root is still in there it can spread infection and even go septic. Usually you need to get all of the tooth and flush the hole - sometimes an X-ray is needed to make sure you don’t have anything left or any tracts going on. I’d see if you can have a dentist come look at him, or at least get an X-ray and send in to the school or specialist for a consult.

Sounds like his immune system is compromised - definitely could be due to the tooth needing more attention, or also melanoma. Is he not getting any nutrient supplementation at all? No grain, ration balancer or Vit/Min? If he is dropping weight on the current feeding program you should be upping those calories ASAP (in a balanced way) while chasing his other problems. He can’t fight an infection or anything else if he doesn’t get enough calories.

IIWM I would put him on a full serving of senior grain (soaked) and talk to the vet about the blood work and dentist about the tooth issue.

[chestnuthuntergelding]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the insight. I was also concerned about the tooth fragment being left, our vet was pretty sure the tooth wouldn’t cause any issues the first time she was out. When she came out the second time, the remaining fragment had fallen out and she thought everything had looked good at the extraction site, it is his cheek which is swollen. He does not seem to have any noticeable pain where he is swollen (can press on it with no reaction), but this horse is so stoic I don’t always trust that. He is going into the clinic on Wednesday.

As for grain, he is a bit odd - doesn’t really seem to like grain? I have tried many different types, different brands, different textures. I have tried it soaked, non-soaked, mixed with oil, mixed with molasses, and he has no interest (he has been this way for the 11 years I have had him). We do have him on a free choice mineral out in the field which he does seem to like and eat. Up until recently we have had zero issues maintaining his weight on just the round bale, alfalfa flakes, and grass. I will try and see if I can talk him into some senior grain.

Thanks for everyone’s suggestions!

[fivestrideline]

You could try soaked beet pulp or alfalfa pellets, it takes less time and volume to eat more calories in those forms vs hay and grass.

I’d still suspect you have some contributing nutritional deficiencies, but starting by upping his calories is good. Also, most horses do fine on 24/7 turnout (most thrive!), but some also need to be alone for long enough to eat their calories + blankets if they don’t use their shelter (or are run out of it by turnout buddies).

Good luck in finding what works for him! Hopefully the vets will get you some insight.

[chestnuthuntergelding]

Good news regarding his teeth, everything has healed perfectly and no signs of infection. We did a full blood panel and what they are able to test in house was completely normal. My vet is concerned about potential PPID, so we pulled the blood for that as well and it will be sent away and we should have results within the next week or so. In the meantime she has suggested trying to see if he will eat Step 8 (we are in Western Canada), which is a 20% fat feed. Thank-you all for your help!

[trubandloki]

Glad you and your vet are trying some things.

Aging is hard for some of them.

If he will not eat grain he might need more time with higher calorie hay (where any others might not be taking his higher calorie hay).

[SMF11]

You have probably already thought about this, but Lyme has caused a few here to drop weight quickly.

[Simkie]

This spring, I was struggling like this with my old lady mare. Cutting her Prascend dose from one pill to half a pill made a HUGE ENORMOUS difference in a week.