Soft, easy-to-chew treats for older teeth

[Renn_aissance]

In his venerable age, Tip has started to have a little trouble chewing his current favorite treat, Manna-Pro Apple Wafers. We go through a lot of horse cookies for carrot stretches and other valuable forms of horse yoga- 6 to 10 cookies a day- and I am trying to find a more chewable treat that can be bought in bulk without breaking the bank- so for example Hilton Herballs may be chewable but are probably too expensive. Trying to stay away from very sugary treats for metabolic reasons, so peppermint puffs are out. He will eat anything and taste is not a worry. (We’re just looking at normal older horse teeth- he has all of them and they’re in good shape for a 21-year-old horse. He chows down just fine on his pelleted feed and makes good use of his hay, but very dense crunchy cookies are just hard these days.)

I am going to try him with Mrs. Pastures for the moment- I like that they are a bit crumbly and bite-sized. Rounders are probably going to be a little tough for him. How have your horses found things like Start to Finish Horse Snacks and Buckeye’s treats? Any other friendly-to-older-teeth treats to try?

In the meantime, baby carrots it is.

[Texarkana]

My horses of all ages dig these:

Senior Snax

They are similar to the texture of a thick ginger snap. They are easy to break in half, too.

[Puddin_Pie]

My old guy can eat the stud muffins if I warm them up in my hands a little. If they have been in the cold barn, then he can’t. At his age, while they are not the healthiest thing, a few won’t hurt him. And he will be 33 in April!

[WoofNWhinny]

If it doesn’t need to be a horse treat, then why not just find something he likes such as: whole-wheat crackers, bread (even stale bread or toast would likely be soft enough), graham crackers or granola bars (if not too sweet for him), English muffins, bagels (or mini bagels), etc.

[Obsidian_Fire]

Equine Edibles.

They are soft enough I break them into 4 pieces. They come in 3 flavors.

[cayuse]

I’ve used animal crackers. They are a nice treat size.
Celery is a big hit with my three right now. Maybe if it is in small peices chewing won’t be a factor, although my old guy could chew it fine and he was missing a few teeth.

[twelvegates]

Apple Newtons

[Renn_aissance]

[QUOTE=WoofNWhinny*;8518389]
If it doesn’t need to be a horse treat, then why not just find something he likes such as: whole-wheat crackers, bread (even stale bread or toast would likely be soft enough), graham crackers or granola bars (if not too sweet for him), English muffins, bagels (or mini bagels), etc.

[/QUOTE]

Mostly because I’ve found it cheaper in the past to get horse treats in bulk than to get the equivalent size of (for example) Fig Newtons in bulk- although we just joined Costco today, so I’ll have to check again! We go through a lot of treats doing yoga stretches. My mom actually came up with a great idea- frozen cut carrots.

@Texarkana

My horses of all ages dig these:

Senior Snax

They are similar to the texture of a thick ginger snap. They are easy to break in half, too.

Thanks for the recommendation- the local critter store carries these! I’ll give them a try. I was a little leery of MannaPro considering that their new formulation of the Apple Wafer, which is supposedly easier to chew, is actually proving harder for T; but “thick ginger snap” sounds good. (If anybody else ends up reading this thread later on for the same question, noting that these contain yucca, which I am 99% sure is not USEF legal.)

[IPEsq]

My horse is currently on a mandarin orange kick. He isn’t super happy about me breaking apart the sections for stretches but I try not to give him too many per day.

[sdlbredfan]

Winnie’s Cookies are pretty soft, if I recall correctly.

[betsyk]

A friend buys the buckeye no sugar treats and our horses and dogs are fine with them. You can also try to find bags of those little pastel colored mints that you used to get at restaurants, or graham crackers (or teddy Graham’s), cheap vanilla wafers from the dollar store, cheap oatmeal cookies from the dollar store, etc. Break them up in pieces. Horses don’t care if they’re a little stale! Try those huge containers of animal crackers from Cosco.

[Fred]

Fred is now 25 (!) and his favourite treat continues to be carrots. To make it easier on his old teeth, I cut them in slices (thick slivers) about 3 inches long. So one carrot makes about 4 slices.
This length is also easier to give him when he does his stretches.

[trubandloki]

[QUOTE=Renn/aissance;8518708]
Mostly because I’ve found it cheaper in the past to get horse treats in bulk than to get the equivalent size of (for example) Fig Newtons in bulk-[/QUOTE]
You can not beat the price of the Walmart store brand of newtons. A large package for less than $3. The newtons themselves can be easily cut into four treats.

My old man, with some teeth issues, can still chew the Purina Nicker Makers quite well. They are a dry treat but are airy enough that they crunch up easily. They also sell in a huge bag.

[pony_baloney]

If the Manna Pro Sr. Snax contain yucca, too many of them could cause problems with a Cushings horse. It’s a no-no for them. My barn has them on hand and my guy gets one during night check. They are a nice texture and break easily and are a bit like a crunchy cookie.

[Minerva]

You can also try Nutrigrain bars. Most horses love the apple ones and there are plenty of cheap generic versions at stores. I would think breaking up one bar would easily cover all of the stretches.

[beowulf]

around here, you can buy these soft peppermint puffs in little .5lb buckets - they melt on contact with water (they’re sugar, so think like cotton candy) and horses obviously like them. they are cheaper than cheap and are usually at supermarkets.

i buy them because they dissolve in the mouth quickly and are perfect for giving treats if the horse has a bit in the mouth.

in that same vein (supermarket treats) fig newtons and soft gingerbread/gingersnaps are a FAVORITE among our herd.

[Chief2]

A friend uses a mini-wheats.
Another buys a 50 pound bag of Haystretcher and doles it out one piece at a time.

[Renn_aissance]

[QUOTE=pony baloney;8521096]
If the Manna Pro Sr. Snax contain yucca, too many of them could cause problems with a Cushings horse. It’s a no-no for them. My barn has them on hand and my guy gets one during night check. They are a nice texture and break easily and are a bit like a crunchy cookie.[/QUOTE]

I did not know that- it’s been a very long time since I fed anything with yucca in it. My guy doesn’t have Cushings, but is leptin resistant, and I treat him as though he were also IR because neither that diagnosis nor Cushings would be a surprise. (But not this year! Vet very happy with his annual physical!) Good thing I didn’t order these yet, I’ll do some more research.

He’s been shaking down the barn manager for oatmeal cookies and I’m pretty sure he took half of somebody’s apple today. He’s not feeling deprived.

[trubandloki]

[QUOTE=Chief2;8521233]

Another buys a 50 pound bag of Haystretcher and doles it out one piece at a time.[/QUOTE]
This is a great idea. They are larger chunks so easy to feed as a treat, cheap and low NSC.

[betsyk]

Cheap cereal works, too - generic brand frosted (or unfrosted) mini wheats work really well. Sometimes we can find them around here at Aldi or places like that for a couple dollars a box, and the boxes are big.