Tips on Getting Post-Op Horse to Drink More

[outside_leg]

One of our horses was in for surgery on Monday (debridement of his RF tendon). He was released to us on Wednesday with the note that they had to administer fluids. Both his appetite and thirst were decreased, and the hospital staff hoped that getting him home would help with both. Unfortunately, there’s not been much improvement.

He continues to drink less than a gallon of water a day. We’ve tried soaking his feed, adding senior or sweet feed to water, hydration hay, Gallagher’s water, Replinimash, and soaked hay. No dice. So far our vets have come out twice to administer fluids and electrolytes. We can continue to have them out, but I was wondering if anyone had been through something similar and found any kind of liquid their horse would drink.

As an aside, he’s on ulcerguard, trazadone, and bute right now. He’s not showing signs of infection, and the initial blood panel came back clean, but we’re running a more comprehensive one just to be sure.

He’s always been an anxious guy, and he’s never had the greatest appetite, but at the moment it’s hard to get anything into him. We’re also hand grazing him, but there’s not a whole lot of grass yet and it’s dry here at the moment, so I don’t think his water intake from grazing is consequential. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[Simkie]

Adding sucralfate or misoprostol is where I’d start. Hospitalization, surgery, pain, bute is all SO hard on their stomach. The omeprazole might just not be enough. You do have him on a full tube, right? The Gastrogard dosing, not the 1/4 tube Ulcergard dose.

There’s also some interesting research in nausea in equines that might be worth discussing with your team.

Pharmacokinetics of maropitant citrate after oral administration of multiple...

It may also be worth considering how well his pain is managed. Tylenol stacks nicely with NSAIDs to provide better coverage without further insult to the stomach.

[NaturallyHappy]

We’ve had great luck w Triple Crown Equine Senior ACTIVE. It’s an extruded pellet and only sold by Tractor Supply.

This might be a terrible idea so you should probably check w your vet, but when we need one to drink, I give a full tube of Farnam Apple Elite electrolyte paste. They pretty reliable drink a lot within the hour.

[outside_leg]

@Simkie

You do have him on a full tube, right? The Gastrogard dosing, not the 1/4 tube Ulcergard dose.

Yup, full tubes.

And it’s an interesting thought about the nausea. We asked the vet and the surgeons about that, actually.

I’ll inquire about NSAIDs, hindgut ulcers, and electrolyte paste.

[Simkie]

@outside_leg

hindgut ulcers

So it’s not just the hind gut that can be an issue here. Some horses (or people!) just don’t respond great to PPIs, and some types of ulcers in the stomach need more than a PPI.

The hind gut is certainly worth some consideration, but unfortunately Gastrogard is just not a guarantee in the stomach. Giving him more coverage everywhere is not a bad idea.

Is he dipping into dehydration before you add fluids? There’s a bit of a gotcha in that they’ve got to be thirsty to drink. Totally understand not wanting him to get into trouble, but it can be tough to know if they don’t want to drink if fluids are being proactively administered.

Did they have to lay him down for this? Did he go down and get up well? Is there any concern in any of that? If this continues it may be worth giving him a good hard look everywhere for any issues elsewhere in his body. CAN he drink? Like have you seen it happen? It just takes one nerve being tweaked to screw with that swallowing function.

[StormyDay]

Apple juice. Since the horse is not drinking well I’d warm it up a bit first so it smells really good. Once the horse develops a taste for it you can mix 50/50 with water.

[ZuzusPetals]

Sliced apples in the water?

[outside_leg]

@Simkie

Gastrogard is just not a guarantee in the stomach. Giving him more coverage everywhere is not a bad idea.

Is he dipping into dehydration before you add fluids? There’s a bit of a gotcha in that they’ve got to be thirsty to drink. Totally understand not wanting him to get into trouble, but it can be tough to know if they don’t want to drink if fluids are being proactively administered.

Did they have to lay him down for this? Did he go down and get up well? Is there any concern in any of that? If this continues it may be worth giving him a good hard look everywhere for any issues elsewhere in his body. CAN he drink? Like have you seen it happen? It just takes one nerve being tweaked to screw with that swallowing function.

Fair enough. He has responded well to gastroguard previously, but this is his first surgery and that’s likely put a lot more stress on him.

We haven’t let him get fully dehydrated. His gums are still pink and his skin rebounds quickly when pinched. It may be he’s not super thirsty, but we’re also not willing to let him get too dehydrated before acting.

He was laid down for the surgery. We were told that he got up uneventfully with the support of the surgical team.

I’ve seen him take small drinks. He seems perfectly capable of drinking, just uninterested. He’s also not eating much, but his appetite is returning a bit quicker than his thirst. Because he’s also not interested in soaked food or hay, I’m obviously concerned about too much dry food in his stomach without enough fluids to prevent impaction.

Apple juice and apple slices in a bucket are on my list of next to tries. So is Gatorade and Lipton tea (apparently it’s worked for others lol). He’ll get these in separate buckets from plain regular water just in case he decides he wants that again.

[Demerara_Stables]

There was a thread about people making “tea” for horses and a few people said if they flavored the water with peppermint the horses loved it. I’ll try to find the thread, lots of people had flavor ideas.

ETA here you go! Is this a thing (horse “tea” in cold weather)

[outside_leg]

@Demerara_Stables we’ve done a bunch of the tea options so far with no interest. I haven’t tried peppermint since he’s never cared for the flavor before, but considering he doesn’t like anything he enjoyed previously, maybe his taste is affected. It’s worth trying.

At this point he has a buffet of water buckets with plain water, Gatorade, soaked hay, and sweet feed tea. He was last administered fluids and electrolytes yesterday, so we didn’t expect a ton of consumption over night. Hoping it’ll pick up today, if not, he’ll get more fluids on Monday.

Picture for tax of the sad patient.

[4horses]

I think this horse has colic. And not the rolling/ thrashing kind, but the depressed, let me lay down and not move kind. Has he been passing manure? Did they do a rectal palpation to check for impaction?

Maybe try cinnamon? I have one horse who goes crazy for cinnamon.

[4horses]

Did they put a tube down his throat? As that can cause a sore throat and perhaps contribute to him being uninterested in hay/water.

[outside_leg]

@4horses we have the vets out every day to every other day to monitor for colic. His gut sounds are somewhat decreased, but present. He is passing manure. Our best guess right now is the trazadone may be depressing his appetite (a known side effect in humans).

He was tubed intra-nasally. No blood or damage done through the tubing process that we can determine.

[Simkie]

How much trazodone is he on? Perhaps it’s worthwhile to lower that and see how things go. Response seems so variable, with some horses totally gorked out on a dose that wouldn’t touch others. Maybe he’s just a little high?

If you’ve not included in your buffet, some really choice alfalfa hay in water might be an enticement (especially if he doesn’t get that sort of hay normally!)

Any improvement since he’s, what? A few days from supplemental fluids now? Hopefully he’s getting a little thirstier!

[outside_leg]

Update: he is interested in eating apples again. Right now he’s getting as many as he’d like so he gets some kind of water content. We’re also updating his bucket buffet to include plain water with slices of apple and another bucket that has apple juice to see if he’ll drink either of those.

I swear, keeping these animals alive can be so much more difficult than it needs to be sometimes.

[punchy]

Poor guy. I’d suggest taking him off the trazodone. And if he is permitted to hand graze, doing so gets the teeth chewing and the guts moving and water drinking triggered and even mentally perked up; even if the grass doesn’t look that great, it will help normalize things.

Also, if you keep putting fluids in him he’s not having to drink; I know it’s a problem-avoidance thing and I get it, but sometimes you just have to let them start to take over. Good luck, hope he comes around soon.

[outside_leg]

Yup, he’s permitted to hand graze as much as we wants, so we’re taking him out throughout the day. He does seem interested in grass, and he’s picking up a minimal amount of water from that.

I dialed down his trazadone, but he’s got 6 weeks of stall rest ahead, and he’s anxious minded to begin with. He’s going to need some kind of pharmacological support to get through this unfortunately. But if this persists, we may look at Ace or other options.

[Pico_Banana]

Nothing to add, but sending you support. These episodes are so stressful on everyone. Hugs to you - you sound like a wonderful caretaker!

[outside_leg]

Thank you!

I’m happy to report he drank two gallons yesterday. Sliced apples in one bucket of water seem to be a hit. He’s eating the apples and drinking from both that bucket and the regular water. His appetite is coming back too. Not fully normal, but definitely a strong improvement.

Our vets will be out today to check on his progress. I’m hoping he’s had enough to drink that we don’t have to administer fluids, since I am mindful of the fact that he likely won’t drink if we just keep pumping him full of water and electrolytes. But they were certainly helpful in that initial period just to prevent a colic.

Fingers crossed for his continued improvement.

[ParadoxFarm]

I wish you luck and continued success! Poor pony. (Cute photo of the little patient.)