Suggestions for poor appetite

[Flicker]

I’m hoping for some suggestions for a suddenly pick eater:
I have a 26 year old warmblood mare who is mostly retired (still sound on previcox and hacked lightly to keep her limber and happy). Last December she suddenly decided she no longer was interested in either hay or purina ultium, which she had happily eaten for several years. She lost quite bit of weight while I monkeyed around trying to tempt her with alfalfa, timothy pellets, renew gold ect… before finally switching her purina senior top dressed with oil and feeding enough to meet all her caloric needs (she eventually developed a decent appetite for the senior though she never regained her enthusiasm for hay). During this period I had the vet out for an exam, blood work, check teeth etc… He gave her a clean bill of health and had no advice other than to give her as much senior as she wanted.

Over the summer she regained body condition and muscle nicely and I was happy that she was looking great with a little cushion going into winter. Cut to this December when… she stopped cleaning up her senior and has lost at least 100 pounds. She is still perky, sassy, and seems sound and comfortable. I bought her some calf manna and wet cob and am hoping that a few handfuls of each with her meals will spark her appetite. I also started her on nexium to see if treating for ulcers would help but I’m pretty perplexed by her new December hunger strike habit. I’ve owned the mare for 14 years and while she’s never been an easy keeper I’ve never had any real trouble keeping weight on her with ultium and sometimes a fat supplement.

[SuzieQNutter]

I had a mare who would stop eating while in heat but would start again in the next week with no change of feed. She was over 20 yo.

We used to feed apple cider vinegar to increase appetite. Actually we fed it to curb bot flies but were told that it would increase appetite.

[SolarFlare]

My horse gets ulcery on Previcox, so that could be a possibility (although you’d think it would be consistent, not just sometimes).

I’ve also known at least one who gets seasonal ulcers in the fall/winter.

[NaturallyHappy]

APF is said to increase appetite. Smartpak carries it.

[JB]

consider the possibility of ulcers, though for sure you’d think it would be a constant thing, but still…horses!

APF is a great thought- expensive so maybe there are other options to try first.

Fenugreek can be had as a flavoring powder (maybe also liquid?) from a few places, including Horse Tech.

A B12 shot is worth considering

Have you tested her for PPID? PPID horses in general do better in Summer (longer daylight hours) and worse in Winter.

[Flicker]

I appreciate all the suggestions. The calf manna has an anise/fenugreek smell to it, which I’m hoping she’ll like. PPID is a good thought- I’ll ask my vet about testing if I strike out with the tastier meal offerings. APF is a new product to me so I’ll look into that new Interestingly, she wasn’t on previcox yet when we had the first hunger strike last winter. I was nervous about her stomach when starting it in the spring but it seemed to be no problem until last month. I did stop it for 10 days when her appetite dropped off but I couldn’t see any difference- If only she could talk

[sascha]

My mare will get picky after about 6 weeks on Previcox. I give her Sucralfate and boom, back to eating within a day or so*. Not all horses tolerate Previcox long term without gastric aggravation. Mine is one of those, yours might be too.

*now that I know her time frame of tolerance I start treating with Sucralfate at the 2 week mark if she needs more than a handful of days. Knock on wood, no inappetance since starting that regime.

[Flicker]

sascha- when I worked in a small animal vet clinic we always made sure to feed sucralfate on an empty stomach- do you do this for you mare? I’d be interested in giving it a a shot (it’s inexpensive with almost no potential to make things worse) but as a border who probably can’t make it out to the barn every AM before work to give meds I’m wondering about logistics. For dogs we always told owners it had to be fed at least two hours after and an hour before any meals or other medications or else it would bind to the stomach contents instead of to the target areas.

[sascha]

While I do not give it on an empty stomach (free choice hay 24/7) I also don’t give it with a meal of concentrates.

[Flicker]

Update: between the nexium, wet COB, calf-manna and corn oil something seems to have helped. She’s cleaned up her last few meals. I’ll certainly be looking into sucralfate or something else for ulcer prevention maintenance before I taper the nexium. Thanks again for the advice everyone!