Senior horse wont put on weight and keeps losing weight?

I had a very hard keeper Polish Arabian who was diagnosed with PPID (Cushing's) after a colic episode and very slight crest developed on his neck. At about the same time he began to noticeably begin losing muscle mass and condition. The hormone changes in PPID can cause numerous symptoms, including loss of condition and muscling. You might want to observe for other signs that might indicate PPID so you can report any signs to your vet. Here are some to look for..........

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Lethargy

Muscle loss especially over the topline

Weight loss and pot belly appearance

Patchy fat deposits such as in the crest of the neck or around the tail head

Excessive thirst and excessive frequency and volume of urination

Increased susceptibility to infections

Poor resistance to internal parasites

Laminitis (especially in fall)

Either excessive sweating, patchy sweating, or failure to sweat at all

Skin thickening and scaling

Development of allergies or hypersensitivities

In advanced cases you may see delayed spring shedding and failure to shed completely, and development of a long, coarse hair coat or sometimes a curly hair coat.

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PPID is common in older Arabians and should be investigated by a vet with specialized expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of equine endocrine and metabolic disorders. There are numerous other medical conditions that could explain your horse's condition, and a basic physical by a good vet along with blood panels to measure cell counts and chemistries along with manure sampling to determine fecal egg counts should be performed.

It does no good to feed more calories to try to put weight on him if his body can't digest, absorb, and metabolize the feed efficiently due to a medical conditon. Regardless, I would definitely change your feeding program, since he is getting far too little long stem fiber from hay and too many soluble carbohydrates in the diet you currently have him on. Dietary overages in soluble carbs (starches, fructans, and simple sugars) produces hormone fluctuations and can disrupt mibrobial populations in the gut which is linked with development of numerous medical conditions including colics and laminitis, glycogen storage myopathies and structural damage to hooves. His high strung behavior is likely to be linked to the the hormone fluctuations brought on by his current diet.

My guy was 15.3 hh and weighed 950 to 1000 lbs in top condition. I maintained him well on 5 lbs daily Purina Equine Senior pelleted feed split into two feedings along with 24/7 access to quality home grown grass mix hay all year round.

Purina Senior is an excellent quality feed that is very well digested and utilized, supplies complete balanced nutrients, and has a low glycemic index important to avoid fluctuations in blood-sugar and hormone levels. He had 24/7 access to well maintained pastures with a run in shelter and a companion mare. I built the shelter off the back of my barn after the ground was excavated and a French drain system put in and topped with ag lime footing. The shelter is 16 feet deep and 36 feet wide. 10 by 16 foot open "stall" areas at either end of the shelter are rubber matted and enclosed on 3 sides with window vents. Hay is fed on the mats day and night. The water trough is in the 16 by 16 foot center area, with the salt and mineral blocks next to it. It is fully wired, so the water is heated in winter and I have ceiling and wall fans that run 24/7 all summer. The fans cool the horses and keep the flies out.

In winter as pastures waned he consumed more hay and I added a pound of stabilized and calcium fortified rice bran in addition to his feed ration for added calories from fat. One pound of rice bran provides 1200 "cool" calories, and an average 1000 lb horse can be fed up to two pounds a day.

He was never blanketed in winter and would stand 20 feet outside of the cozy shelter with rain or sleet or snow and wind blowing, or snow piled high when it was minus 30F without a shiver or a sniffle and never being sick. He never colicked and never developed even one episode of laminitis. Despite his PPID, every year he developed a thick healthy winter coat that shed out fully in spring for all the years I had him well into his 20s.

This lifestyle provided him with a low-stress environment with a companion to take turns standing guard for predators while each one laid out flat on the ground to get their needed deep REM sleep every day, and healthy fresh air to breathe and ample exercise at will 24/7.

Again, I'd have a thorough veterinary evaluation performed, and the vet can recommend any management changes based on the findings.

Give him all the hay he wants, not just at night, also if you can start giving him wheat germ oil with his oats that will help a lot! With him getting older I would recommend buying Purina Equine senior, which is what I use for my older horses if you can, as horses get older they normally have a harder time keeping weight on so a feed that is formulated for them is best. Is it cold were you are? If so a blanket will help him put extra weight on it's amazing how many calories horses burn when they don't have a blanket! If he isn't already I would also lock him in for meal times to make sure he's eating everything. I hope this helps, good luck!

Did you have a QUALIFIED dentist check his teeth? Recently?

Have an FEC done to see if he has a worm load, and if so what kind, and will determine what if any de-wormer he needs.

Continue with the soaked alfalfa cubes and feed a complete senior horse feed with beet pulp and added fat, and/or add oil to his diet. If possible, feed him at least 3 times per day, 4 or more would be better.

Other possibilities - gastric ulcers, insufficient hindgut microbials (would inhibit metabolizing the protein, etc). Also have a complete blood panel done (through your vet, obviously) to see if he has something else brewing. 17-21 is old, but not that old. Many Arabians are still competing well at that age.

ETA: If his teeth are in good condition, then he should be getting free-choice good quality hay (timothy or a mix). I'd cut out the sweet feed totally, as he doesn't need that simple sugar in his diet (no horses do). There are many senior feeds out there that will be much better for him, but you need to make sure he is not carrying a worm load in his intestines or doesn't have another underlying problem (do a blood test).

He needs more food! He is getting 100% of his daily nutrition from the two coffee cans of senior feed he gets. That's not nearly enough. If he was eating grass or hay that would be fine, but he's not, so you have to provide more for him. Assuming it's a senior "complete" feed, it's safe to increase the amount, up to 3% of his body weight. The more feedings you can break this up into the better, but two should do it if you can't do more. You could also add some beet pulp or hay pellets (soaked). You say he's out with the "others", so I assume not just his mare friend. Is he getting picked on by any of the other horses? Chased around? That could cause him to lose more weight. Can you put him and his friend out by themselves? I have a 30 year old 13hh pony who can't eat grass or hay anymore. He gets about 6 pounds of senior feed per day, plus a few more pounds of grass hay pellets, beet pulp, and some shredded hay forage (Triple Crown Safe Starch Forage). So this smallish pony is getting way more to eat than your horse.

Ok let's say that this horse is 100% healthy and the vet says that nothing else could be causing the weight loss- teeth, worms, cushings... what ever...

I would first get rid of the oats. They are just a filler feed and do nothing for a horse. I am also not a fan of weight builder.

I prefer a soy based feed and or fattner. I have used soy oil however that gets messy. Rice bran (pelleted) is always a good way to go to add weight. But make sure you are feeding enough.

http://www.mannapro.com/products/equine/max-e-glo-...

For a base feed I would check out the Purina senior feed. It is a fortified pelleted feed.

http://horse.purinamills.com/products/equinefamily...

Lots of hay, if he will eat is offer it to him. And lots of fresh water.

Let it be said that feed changes need to be made gradually. If you need further ideas ask your vet for suggestions.

Firstly, a horse can get stressed if they don't have a companion. Try putting another older horse in the pasture with him so he doesn't get lonely. Also, get the vet out to check his teeth, they might need to be floated. I have a nutritionist come out once to twice a year to check out all my horses. I have a 29 year old Trehkener, a 19 year old standardbred, and a 6 year old pony. We buy from Purina, and they are wonderful. I have my standardbred on 3 cups of equilizer, 3 cups of senior, and 2 cups of oats. The trehkener is on 3 ups of equilizer, 3 cups of senior, 2 cups or trimax, and 2 cups of oats. my pony is on 1 1/2 cups of equilizer, and 1/4 cup of oats. When i got my standardbred he was very skinny, and he put on the weight in a few months, and he remains on the feed and stays at a healthy weight. The trehkener was a rescue and he has bad teeth so he needs them floated 2-3 times a year (my standardbred only once), and he is putting on weight now, At first he was losing more weight rather than putting it on, so we had the vet out and it was his teeth that was the problem. Once he's has hes teeth floated, he started putting on weight. We keep up his teeth very consistently to ensure he remains healthy.

Also, horses are naturally social animals. It isn't a good idea to keep him by himself. That can stress out a horse beyond belief, and that can result in a depressed horse with a loss of appetite.

I suggest you have the vet out as soon as possible to check his teeth again. Sometimes they need to floated again in another month, thats what happened to my horse.

Hope everything works out!

Best of luck!

I had a QH/Appy cross who had the same problem and he was only about 15-17 years old. I'll have to ask my mom what the exact problem was because she knows but we had to have him put to sleep. If you private message me in the email I can send you some pictures of what he looked like when he was around 12-14 yrs old then he just dropped off weight and his feet kept chipping off. He had dry coat and brittle main/tail. His top line would NOT gain any weight his belly would get a little pot-belly if he was on alfalfa hay and kept in the barn all day. His teeth had been floated, he was on alfalfa hay and Seminole feed. We ended up just having him put to sleep because there was nothing more we could do. Winters were rough on him and he would just lose and lose. Then during the summer we could not catch up what he had lost the year before. When we had bought him he had been starved and was eating his own manure. I can't remember exactly what was wrong with him but I'll have to ask my mom cause she was talking about it the other day. It maybe have been kidney or liver failure from being starved for so long.

We had him for about 9 years and he never rode or did any hard labor. The first few years we had him after being starved he gained weight great but like I said he just suddenly dropped it off.

Have you had his pooh and blood tested? The pooh tests would show the worm count - I know you say that he has a regular worming regime, but sometimes the damage is done BEFORE the regime starts.

Soaked sugar beet in all his feeds, free access to grass and hay (I do not know where you live, but in most places in winter, there is no nutrition in grass, even if a horse eats it.) might help. A mix of alfalfa hay and good quality ordinary hay will help and reduce the cost of the hay. I do not know what you mean by a slice, but perhaps you need to put hay in nets and give them to him during the day too. If he is on his own, it does not matter if you put several nets up in different parts of the field.

Blood tests will show if he has some problem with absorption of nutrition, or some underlying condition.

Keeping him well wrapped in water proofs and stable blankets as appropriate will help too. Older horses and light weight breeds, such as arabians will find it difficult to keep warm, and uses his body energy to try to keep warm.

How is he in himself? Is he a highly strung, nervous individual? Temperament can also cause weight loss, but some how I am not so sure since he is losing so quickly. Blood tests are a definite way forward.

You could take measurements - height, length from chest to buttocks, distance around girth and loins, pictures of him from front, back and sides, and take them to the feed merchant so they can see what he looks like, and perhaps they can advise you as to what to feed and how much. They are experts in feeding.

Have your vet do a fecal count to check for worms, and do blood tests to see if everything looks normal.

Then, get rid of the oats and Legends feed, and replace it with Triple Crown Senior. Being older, he's probably not getting much out of the oats. Senior feed is created to make all the nutrients easier to digest and be used by the horse. It is also a "complete" feed, so you can feed more of it without ill effects.

I have an older pony who started looking poor at age 26, and I had his teeth and bloodwork done, then switched him to T. C. Senior. He looks better now at age 31 than he did at 26!

Have you performed a CBC? Blood screen chem checking liver & kidney values?

What did your vet say when he floated his teeth?

I'd soak his cubes, cut the oats out entirely and put him on a 10 - 12% fat feed. Based upon his renal values, I'd put him on no more than a 12%protein feed. I'd also give him soaked beet pulp shreds. Id' give him a total of 4 quarts volume total of feed 3x a day, or 4 if you can manage it. I'd also keep quality 2nd cutting hay in front of him at all times, despite beign on pasture.

What is a 'pretty regular worming schedule'? Are you rotating dewormers? Have you treated for tapes and encysted strongyles?

Start with the blood work, deworm him with equimax, slowly change him over to that grain product, and I'd even start him on Source Sr.. sometimes the older ones need the help of the supplementation of copper.

Shy of that, follow the vet's advice.

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Wait.. the horse is losing weight, refuses to gain weight, but you're continuing to ride her?

Also, I'd blanket a horse that's in weather under 40 degrees F if it's infirmed as yours appears to be.

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