[ChieTheRider]

Following the whole colic situation, my old man has taken weeks to "bounce back" and every so often he has bad days where he's dull and slower and isn't as interested in food. Then some days he's goofing off and gobbling up his feed like there's no tomorrow. He's good some days and just meh others. And whenever we have one of those slow days it freaks me out because I'm thinking he's colicking again even though he's not showing signs of discomfort and has gut sounds.

He's currently on Ultium competition as it's super high calorie and he's a hard keeper. But at this point I'm wondering if a high calorie senior feed might be better. Those options being Purina senior active (1600kcals/lb), Sentinel LS senior (1400/lb), Pro force senior (1400/lb), and Triple Crown senior (1500/lb). I've used Sentinel LS perform before too but tht's still only 1500kcals/lb.

The Ultium is 1900kcals/lb. I worry about his weight but he CAN eat chopped hay despite having literally no teeth. His bottom teeth are worn to the gum. He can't even chew regular pellets and if it's not soaked enough he really struggles. But the finely chopped alfalfa he handles just fine and leaves any bigger stems. He gets that free choice.

I want to do all I can to help his guts. There is more structural fiber senior feeds in general but especially the triple crown senior. It seems to be the go to for horses with gut issues. Pro force...I've had very meh results using them before.

He's also getting vegetable oil added because he just needs the extra calories. But those are high in omega 6s which can be inflammatory, but I'm not sure if 16oz a day would make a big difference.

I've not fed a senior feed to him in years because I moved to a higher calorie feed that kept weight on him better but since he's at a higher risk of issues now I'd like to play it on the safe side.

Quite a few times over these past few weeks he's had me lose a lot of sleep over acting duller than usual and not really enthusiastic about food. I kept thinking I'd go out and he'd be down. He does lay down and sleep a lot and there's no rolling involved. He's old and stiff and cold and likes to lay down and sleep, especially with his blanket on. But that combined with "hm, maybe I don't want to eat tonight" sets off the alarms in my head/ His whole life he's never been a picky eater. Each time he's always been fine the next morning but it's still upsetting. I can't live in a constant state of panic.

If he continues this behavior through summer then we might decide not to put him through another winter. But if he starts drinking a ton and eating consistently and acting normal every day of the week then maybe he can stick around for another couple years. Each time he pulls this acting weird thing it really stresses me out.

 

[rambo99]

I think you have a good plan going forward if he continues to have the not eat good days an acting dull through the summer.

I know all to well about lost sleep being worried about a horse did that a lot last year or so with my old guy. He was hard to keep weight on also had very worn down teeth. He got picky wouldn't eat feeds constantly I fed him triple crown senior an alfalfa pellets soaked to a mash. Pretty much fed him what he liked an would eat sometimes it changed weekly. But at 33 years old he deserved to be fed whatever suited his fancy.

I'd go with the higher calorie ultium at 1,900 calories per pound .. I didn't get good results with pro force feeds and my guy didn't like it.

 

[Milton'sMama]

I will always advocate for Triple Crown Senior. It's the only commercial feed that I trust completely for just about any horse. I've fed it to all ages of horses, including my now departed senior who ate it until his dying day and never refused it or had a single digestive issue while on it. I took him off one time to put him on a locally milled grain that was somewhat comparable to TC Sr. Horse colicked a few months in. I switched him back to TC Sr. and never took him off of it again. It's such a gentle feed, and it's easy for the oldies to eat when soaked. It has all the stuff they need and none of the stuff they don't need.

I also soaked a butt ton of alfalfa cubes for my older horses. It can be a pain, but I used hot water and just had it as part of my routine. When the pastures returned in the spring, the amount of soaked alfalfa was greatly reduced, but they always got some.

Finally, my oldie who was a hard keeper really bloomed on Empower Boost fat supplement. I swear he looked ten years younger after I added that to his TC Senior and alfalfa cubes. His coat was rich and glossy with dapples and his topline bounced back.

A different senior that I had did better on Renew Gold Senior. It really helped him regain his youth and the day he died he looked fabulous (unfortunately he suffered a broken leg).

Anyway, I wish you luck. Keeping the oldies in good condition is a chore for sure. They cost a lot to maintain. And eventually, when you're throwing everything you can at them and they're still declining, you know it's time to say goodbye.

 

[beau159]

He's currently on Ultium competition as it's super high calorie and he's a hard keeper. But at this point I'm wondering if a high calorie senior feed might be better. Those options being Purina senior active (1600kcals/lb), Sentinel LS senior (1400/lb), Pro force senior (1400/lb), and Triple Crown senior (1500/lb). I've used Sentinel LS perform before too but tht's still only 1500kcals/lb.

The Ultium is 1900kcals/lb. I worry about his weight but he CAN eat chopped hay despite having literally no teeth. His bottom teeth are worn to the gum. He can't even chew regular pellets and if it's not soaked enough he really struggles. But the finely chopped alfalfa he handles just fine and leaves any bigger stems. He gets that free choice.

I've not fed a senior feed to him in years because I moved to a higher calorie feed that kept weight on him better but since he's at a higher risk of issues now I'd like to play it on the safe side.

I would keep him on the Ultium Competition if he currently likes it and eats it well. For more calories, you can get the Purina Amplify separate and add more of that in for extra calories, on top of your Ultium Competition. The Amplify is their high fat (high calorie) ingredient and it's in the Purina Senior Active if you read the label.

I give my horses the Purina Ultium Gastric Care along with a scoopy of the Purina Outlast and then I have been giving Lilly the Purina Amplify. She's not too thin, but she is thinner than I would like for this time of year and it's been a really hard winter. I feel like all my horses looks like drowned rats and they are just sick of it, LOL.
Note that the Ultium Gastric Care also has the Outlast and the Amplify in it too - I'm just choosing to feed more of the others too for certain reasons! I think the Outlast is best for their gut and my horses have done really, really well on it.

 

[ClearDonkey]

Another vote for Triple Crown Senior BUT I don't think you have to switch. I've noticed with my senior, there are just some days when they just don't feel like finishing up their feed and don't have a perfect day.

Some things you could consider... You could try a different, more palatable oil like CocoSoya. I've been around a few senior horses on it and have tried a pump of it with Toofine, and they have all gobbled up their feeds. It's about $1/day.

As for the blanketing and being cold - do you have any access to a wool cooler? I've been adding one underneath his waterproof turnout on the chilly days, and it adds heaps of warmth while also wicking any moisture from his skin. They are pretty cheap to find used, especially if it is an old, embroidered award cooler.

I understand what you are going through. I was thinking to myself tonight if it were kinder to euthanize my senior sooner rather than later, even though he's in great physical condition and holding his weight... But his dental disease is advancing and painful, and I just can't do another impaction colic disaster (and I'm not sure if he'd make it again). I never knew how hard this would be, having a senior horse with a list of issues that make the choice tougher.

 

[ChieTheRider]

The ultium competition has the Outlast and amplify as well.

@ClearDonkey if my old man had another colic he would be going to see Jesus. It would be mean to put him through that again. I don't know if his dental issues contributed or what but he's got pretty much no tooth whatsoever but can eat chopped hay by just mushing it around in his mouth since it's already pre-chewed. This big colic he had did a number on him.

I have a fleece that I do layer under his turnout if it gets really cold.

His poop is still cow pie shaped but not runny. It doesn't have nice formed balls. Wondering what might contribute to this. His guts are probably still healing. He is getting free choice alfalfa hay so that might be contributing

 

[horselovinguy]

To much greasy gives them cow patties of flop and the butt that proves it is runny mess of down the leg back.
I would not be switching feeds.

I can tell you positively our old guy did horrible on the Pro Force Senior..
He dropped weight, got terrible diarrhea and smelled awful...took weeks to get his gut to stop the flops.
I don't know if that was what was the catalyst of his fast decline that had me euthanize him a week ago...
I do wonder if changing his feed is what accelerated us watching him starving to death in front of us as his guts shut down in absorbing the nutrients fed...we don't know and it makes no difference the outcome came. There was no undoing and he was not in good health and on a slow decline that instead took off like a hurtling meteor on a crash course of self-destruct.
If anything, Nutrena Empower Boost would be added, top-dressed his current food as so many beneficial are in it and it is palatable taste and good smell.... We've used that successfully several times on recovering rescues who needed to just bloom some finishing touches and this worked and was a healthy choice in what it offered the animals gut and body.

I found with our old guy the more liquid fats we gave him the more he poop-flopped out the butt and lost faster. We cut the liquid oils, fed the pelleted fats and he did far better till just recently when all his ailments suddenly ganged up on him at one time and it was time to say goodbye. We miss him...we always will.
🐴...

 

[ChieTheRider]

Does anybody on here know anything about sodium deficiency? I tried feeding him an ounce of salt per day which is the recommended dose for a thousand pound horse and it did absolutely nothing to increase his water intake. We are going through a cold snap currently and I said screw it, some extra salt isn't going to kill him once and I know I'm going to have to deal with hydration issues during this cold. He had an ounce this morning and then two more ounces at about 6:00 p.m. this afternoon along with his regular dose of electrolytes which does not have a ton of sodium in it. And he drank about a gallon of water in that couple hour period from 6:00 p.m. till feeding time. Till now there has been no change in his willingness to drink and I was lucky if he'd drink that much overnight. Maybe he just needs more salt? I saw results pretty quickly there.

For most horses it seems like only an ounce daily does the trick but maybe he had/has a deficiency? Symptoms of deficiency include weight loss, lethargy, inappetence, and unwillingness to drink, and he has to some degree every single one of those.

 

[Milton'sMama]

I don't know much about sodium deficiency, but it can only benefit him to keep supplementing his feed with salt.
I can't remember, do you soak his feed? Will he eat it pretty soupy? That's a good way to get extra water into them when they aren't drinking as much otherwise. I'll cover the feed in water (warm/hot water is best), then once it's soaked up all the water, I'll add a little more to make it soupier. That's a gallon or so right there just in one feeding, so 2 gallons a day just from the soaked/soupy feed. Now, that's not enough, horses should consume about 10 gallons a day. And to encourage that I'd definitely keep feeding 2 ounces of salt per day (sprinkled in those soupy, soaked meals), and I'd make sure his drinking water is warm enough that he's not put off by the freezing temp, ice, etc. A tank or bucket warmer? Or just pouring some hot water in to warm it up a bit for him.

How old is he?

 

[beau159]

The ultium competition has the Outlast and amplify as well.

Yes, but if you want even more calories for him, you could buy the Amplify separately and add more of that, for the high-fat high-calorie component.

 

[ChieTheRider]

@Milton'sMama He's 27, no lower teeth, he used to eat soupy feed but now if there's too much water in it he's pickier. It is soaked though because he cannot chew pellets.

Feeding the extra salt has him drinking within a half hour or so of eating the saltier feed. I sat out and watched him. I don't have a trough heater or any way to power it where they are. I wish I did as he'd probably drink warmer water better.

@beau159 might have to do that if feeding this oil is causing an issue. It's expensive as heck though compared to most other fat supplements with a similar caloric value