[Bastile]

my horse has been diagnosed with elevated GGT levels which means that he could have hepatitis. he will be getting a liver biopsy.

he really doesnt want to eat very much, although he gets about 10lbs of grain a day and he eats a great deal of it. before all this he cleaned up all the time.

he's on antibiotics now and banamine as needed if he has a fever.

so far no fever (after a temp of 104) last week.

he's on Gastrogard, antibiotics, probiotocs.

i'm feeding him 4 times a day - small amounts. its a mixture of Legends texture, TC lite. free choice hay - 3 kinds - 1st cut, 2nd cut grass hay, and alfalfa hay. i have chaff for him also.

i've been adding applesauce to his feed.

any ideas what i can do to increase his appitite? he is getting plenty of turnout. bloodwrok shows that he is not dehydrated although he doesnt seem to be drinking as much as I would prefer. he dunks his hay all the time.

any suggestions ???? should i introduce a new kind of feed????

thanks!

[deltawave]

my horse has been diagnosed with elevated GGT levels which means that he could have hepatitis. he will be getting a liver biopsy.

That's not a diagnosis, yet. Don't panic. Don't make sudden changes. I'd focus on the forage and not worry so much about grain--that's a whopping big amount and he might be better off without so much in his gut in the form of concentrates.

If you're worried about him losing weight, maybe oats would tempt him, in small amounts? Never met a horse who'd turn down oats.

But still I'd favor "no change" over throwing the kitchen sink at him. Maybe just cut his normal ration back to whatever he will happily eat.

[Oberon13]

Dunking hay is great, and helps with hydration quite a bit. I'd make sure he has a "dunky bucket" and a different water source (trough, bucket, whatever) that isn't for dunking if at all possible. I've known horses that love to dunk, but then they wouldn't just straight up drink out of the bucket once it had too much hay in it (which wasn't really much for one sensitive guy I knew).

Don't make drastic changes. If he is struggling internally somehow, you don't need to shock his system in any way.

[merrygoround]

I would cut back slightly on the grain. At this point I wouldn't change it, but just decrease the overall amount, which is larger than I would feed any of my horses.
Hay dunking while messy is harmless,and does, without you being aware of it, increase his water consumption.

As far as you hay goes, any horse I've ever had would think he'd gone to heaven with that hay selection.

[animaldoc]

Whatever is going on is probably decreasing the appetite - so working towards getting a diagnosis/treatment will help and then when the underlying problem improves, that will help too.

Antibiotics can decrease appetite too - you might want to check with your vet about the one(s) that your horse is on and if you need to switch/decrease dose etc.

[AzulBlue]

Correct me if i'm wrong...but 100.5º is not considered a "fever"....is it? I thought anything ABOVE 101º was an "elevated" temp....

[Zu Zu]

NO advice just ``` Jingles laced with some strength ~~

Be kind to yourself ~ not any easy assignment ~

Jingle Jingle Jingle & AO ~ AO ~ AO ~ Always Optimistic ~

((hugs)) ~ be patient

Plan your work and work your plan and cry whenever you need to cry but push onward ``

they know they are loved ~

[jjgg24]

101 is normal so anything above tgat would be a concern. Now if you happen to know what your horses normal is that might be helpful especially if your horse "runs" cooler then normal. Finally, I agree in decreasing the concentrate if you concerned about weight I'd supplement with something else.

[betsyk]

When my guy had a liver infection, he was off feed til the antibiotics had started working, and his fever went down, and he finally felt better. Do whatever he needs for supportive care and keep working with your vet. Mine was on antibiotics for almost six weeks the first time, but pulled through and actually was healthier afterwards.

[JB]

Legend's textured-anything is high in sugars, so I'd ditch that totally. Why that and TC Lite? Taste issue? See if switching to TC Sr will be tasty - much healthier than the Legend, and you can feed more of it if calories are necessary.

[HealingHeart]

Have your water checked or hose..., I keep thinking he is favoring the water with hay..... Like its not good...., could relate to liver issue too.... Use the rv camper hoses that is made for drinking water.... Or filter it some how......

[deltawave]

well i jinxed myself as he developed a temp of 100.5.

My Bonnie's "normal" is 100.2-100.6. That's probably not a fever, unless you know for sure your horse's normal is much lower than that.

Banamine is not without its own risks. Did your vet tell you to use it for that temperature?

How high is the GGT level and are any of the other labs out of whack? GGT is sort of a nonspecific thing sometimes, especially if it's only up a little.

When you say "he's not drinking as much as you prefer", does that mean he's drinking less than usual? What is his normal intake of water? Is he looking dehydrated? Is he outside drinking from a common trough at all, where it can be harder to tell how much the intake is? If he is eating snow he can be getting a good bit of moisture that way, and dunking hay can put a LOT of water in them--I've had a mother and daughter who've both dunked hay their entire lives and they will empty an entire 5 gallon bucket in one meal, with not much splashed on the floor, either.

[back in the saddle]

Correct me if i'm wrong...but 100.5º is not considered a "fever"....is it? I thought anything ABOVE 101º was an "elevated" temp....

True, the 'general range' for a horse is 99-101, but a normal horse standing in a cool stall (for a while) will never have a temp of 101. 101 is normal for a horse standing in the sun. See the difference? When my mare was sick, I knew somthign was wrong when her temp was 100 in a cool stall and I was right. So like everything else, it all depends.

It's so important to know your horses vitals when healthy.

[back in the saddle]

As to what to feed... soaked beet pulp? It would help get water in him.

[Ghazzu]

thanks everyone.

well i jinxed myself as he developed a temp of 100.5.

I would not regard 100.5 as a fever in a horse.

[Bastile]

really bad day yesterday - horse is now at clinic. hope they can figure it out.

[Justa Bob]

Sending lots of jingles. So very sorry he turned worse. Keep breathing!

[deltawave]

Jingles!!