Have you ever even considered that you could have a young, well bred, well cared for horse with a body score of 4? (When I was relaying to my sister how skinny Fi was, I told her that I was sure she was a 2. So really hearing she was a 4 was kind of refreshing I guess you'd say...)
One that has good high quality feed in front of her 24/7?
One that you have wormed and vaccinated?
Fiona came out of winter thin.
I set up an appointment for Dr. Peters to come out and float her teeth. In March...
(Pictures are from 06/09/15.)
I blogged about it, here.
With her age, AND her care he said it was kind of odd that she was so thin.
But we figured she'd bounce back pretty quickly.
Well... She hasn't.
Dr. Peters was out the last week of March.
I wormed her the Friday following his visit and gave her her vaccines.
Then I waited. And waited some more,
waiting for the weight to come back.
She filled in in her flanks, but then it all stopped.
And she has just stayed at that weight... Skinny....
At 45 days I wormed her again.
Just in case.
And waited again, and waited some more...
And still nothing.
So I made an appointment for Dr. Peters to come out.
I didn't want to be like the crazy lady that waited too long, or didn't wait long enough...
(I also had him give Kase's pony the one over and get a health cert for Remi. (More on that later..))
Dr. Peters asked me if I felt like she'd gained since he'd floated her teeth.
I told him yes, some, but she hadn't changed in what seemed like a month.
We talked about her energy level, her personality, what she was eating, how she was acting, and if I noticed anything other than her weight that concerned me.
Everything was normal. She didn't act hungry when I pulled her for her grain. She wasn't constantly stuck to the round bale... She plays, she is bright and responsive. Nothing seemed off. Nope. Just worried about her weight.
So he gave her the physical once over.
Gut sounds were good.
Heart, lungs, pulse, temperature, capillary refill, all good.
So he drew blood and took a stool sample.
And I waited for the results.
Everything comes back good.
Nothing on the clinical surface as a reason for her failure to thrive.
So rather than more tests, we decided on over feeding her.
I left the feed store with over $200 worth of groceries for her.
Dr. Peter's menu was this-
For the next 4 weeks was this feed her:
*Free choice alfalfa/grass hay
*4 lbs 2x's a day of Purina Ultium
*2 cups of Cool Calories
*1lb 2x's a day of alfalfa pellests
*Add something with stabilized rice bran in it.
He chose the Purina Ultium because as far as feed goes it has the most calories you can feed.
It also is 6% sugar. Sugar equals empty calories.
Sugar can also make crazy horses.
My sister almost passed out when she heard how much sugar he wanted fed.
We also found it odd that he wasn't really impressed or interested in the fact that I was feeding Renew Gold which really is a great feed and does contain stabilized rice bran.
So Mindy and I worked out something with a little less sugar.
I'm feeding the following instead.
*Free choice grass hay and alfalfa 2x's a day
(Now that everyone's in full hay mode, I'll get some mix in shortly and then stop the straight alfalfa.)
*2 lbs of Purina Ultium 2x's a day
*2 lbs of Renew Gold 2x's a day
*1 cup of Cool Calories 2x's a day
*2 cups of alfalfa pellets 2x's a day
I think maybe I can see a change at 1 week...
But then again, I don't know.
Maybe I want to see something that's not there...
I've shared with Mindy, and she thought it was too early to tell yet.
And my pictures are kinda terrible...
These pictures aren't the greatest, but I'm struggling to get my camera out with a full battery right now so these are cell phone pictures.
Next Tuesday (the 23rd) we will be rounding out our 2nd week of feeding her up.
I'll post pictures that are taken with my "good camera" as near to that day as possible, so someone else with a critical eye can look her over.
I'm kinda freaking out, as I have had her since she was a weanling and has never had a weight issue. Even with all the TB blood she has, she has been an easy keeper.
Damn horses! (0:
With her age, AND her care he said it was kind of odd that she was so thin.
But we figured she'd bounce back pretty quickly.
Well... She hasn't.
Dr. Peters was out the last week of March.
I wormed her the Friday following his visit and gave her her vaccines.
Then I waited. And waited some more,
waiting for the weight to come back.
She filled in in her flanks, but then it all stopped.
And she has just stayed at that weight... Skinny....
At 45 days I wormed her again.
Just in case.
And waited again, and waited some more...
And still nothing.
So I made an appointment for Dr. Peters to come out.
I didn't want to be like the crazy lady that waited too long, or didn't wait long enough...
(I also had him give Kase's pony the one over and get a health cert for Remi. (More on that later..))
Dr. Peters asked me if I felt like she'd gained since he'd floated her teeth.
I told him yes, some, but she hadn't changed in what seemed like a month.
We talked about her energy level, her personality, what she was eating, how she was acting, and if I noticed anything other than her weight that concerned me.
Everything was normal. She didn't act hungry when I pulled her for her grain. She wasn't constantly stuck to the round bale... She plays, she is bright and responsive. Nothing seemed off. Nope. Just worried about her weight.
So he gave her the physical once over.
Gut sounds were good.
Heart, lungs, pulse, temperature, capillary refill, all good.
So he drew blood and took a stool sample.
And I waited for the results.
Everything comes back good.
Nothing on the clinical surface as a reason for her failure to thrive.
So rather than more tests, we decided on over feeding her.
I left the feed store with over $200 worth of groceries for her.
Dr. Peter's menu was this-
For the next 4 weeks was this feed her:
*Free choice alfalfa/grass hay
*4 lbs 2x's a day of Purina Ultium
*2 cups of Cool Calories
*1lb 2x's a day of alfalfa pellests
*Add something with stabilized rice bran in it.
He chose the Purina Ultium because as far as feed goes it has the most calories you can feed.
It also is 6% sugar. Sugar equals empty calories.
Sugar can also make crazy horses.
My sister almost passed out when she heard how much sugar he wanted fed.
We also found it odd that he wasn't really impressed or interested in the fact that I was feeding Renew Gold which really is a great feed and does contain stabilized rice bran.
So Mindy and I worked out something with a little less sugar.
I'm feeding the following instead.
*Free choice grass hay and alfalfa 2x's a day
(Now that everyone's in full hay mode, I'll get some mix in shortly and then stop the straight alfalfa.)
*2 lbs of Purina Ultium 2x's a day
*2 lbs of Renew Gold 2x's a day
*1 cup of Cool Calories 2x's a day
*2 cups of alfalfa pellets 2x's a day
I think maybe I can see a change at 1 week...
But then again, I don't know.
Maybe I want to see something that's not there...
I've shared with Mindy, and she thought it was too early to tell yet.
And my pictures are kinda terrible...
These pictures aren't the greatest, but I'm struggling to get my camera out with a full battery right now so these are cell phone pictures.
Next Tuesday (the 23rd) we will be rounding out our 2nd week of feeding her up.
I'll post pictures that are taken with my "good camera" as near to that day as possible, so someone else with a critical eye can look her over.
I'm kinda freaking out, as I have had her since she was a weanling and has never had a weight issue. Even with all the TB blood she has, she has been an easy keeper.
Damn horses! (0:
2 comments:
Aww poor girl! Dental work is more important than most people think. Hope that does the trick.
Wow, that is a lot of groceries! I hope she starts filling out soon. Good luck!
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