need help with old horse, please....

[what was i thinking]

i have a 35+yr old quarter horse. he is fed mush twice a day. mixture of senior, beet pulp pellets, and alfalfa cubes. he has gotten to the point that he stands at the back gate and tries to get the chain off and let himself in. the other day he opened his stall (now i have to tie a rope around it to secure it) and helped himself to WAY to much food. then i sent his butt out. i came home and he had opened the gate and got into it again. this time only for 1/2 hour. the first time was several hours, don't know for sure, it was during the night. anyway, for the last three days he hasn't want to eat much when i have tried to feed him. he never leaves any left in the bucket and now he doesn't really touch much of it. his stool is very runny. looks like cow pies and it smells horrible. he is not showing signs of distress or rolling around or anything.
help what can i do for him?
he might have eatten beet pulp pellets dry! also he had a lot of sweet feed.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Please call your vet. Horses will eat until it kills them They don't know when to stop. He may have ablockage or something from the dry beet pulp. Your vet will be able to help you.

Secure your feed. Use metal cans or something that you can lock.

Good luck.

 

[what was i thinking]

the totes are locked. he throws them around the barn til they open. once he even smashed threw the lid of the tote to get to the sweet feed.
i will be calling them. i was just wondering if someone had some advice to try til they get here. thanks for your quick response.

 

[Momo]

Your horse definitely needs a vet. In the meantime, Try taking his vitals to get a better picture of what's going on and determine his level of distress (it will be helpful to vet if you can pass this along too). If you can find his pulse (at the side of the pastern or under the jaw), see what the rate is. 30-40 per minute is normal. Respirations should be 8-15 per minute. A higher pulse and repirations indicates a higher level of pain (e.g. colic) and a greater level of urgency. Rectal temperature is normally 99 to 101. Check for gut sounds at all four quadrants of his abdomen (listen with your ear against his belly if you don't have a stethoscope). Check his gums to see if they're pale. Check his capillary refill by pressing the gums with your thumb and check to see if the white patch fills in pink quickly, or slowly. Pinch the skin in front of his shoulder to check for "tenting" or dehydration.

Once the urgent situation has been taken care of, consider feeding him as many times per day as possible, as two feedings of mush will leave his belly rumbling for long stretches of time and that's hard on a horse, which is likely why he's been getting into things lately.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[what was i thinking]

momo i did my best to check what you said. his temp is 98.8 and breaths are 10 per minute. listened with my ear and little rumbling but not much. i don't know what i was looking for. he acts the same and normal. i think we might be ok. will check on him in the morning.

 

[skirbo]

If he has not eaten his ration for three days, he is NOT OKAY. Call the vet!

Edited to add that if his poop is smelling horrible and he's not eating for days after gorging, he's definitely not okay.

Respectfully,
Sarah

 

[what was i thinking]

update.... i put him in with his food after i checked him over to see if he would eat or not. i just went to check on him and put him out for the night. he ate everything out of his bucket.
thanks for everyones concern, i think he will be ok. i will keep my eye on him and check everything again in the morning.
o i forgot to mention, i also checked his gums and also his skin to see if he is dehydrated and both were fine.

 

[Bec]

If I even walk away for a minute with the feed room door open, my boys will do the same thing....throw the BIG cans around until they open....what a mess. I have never had mine eat too much though. They are smart little buggers..or should I say big buggers! I am glad he is ok and eating again! He must just be getting smarter in his old age....lol...learning how to open everything up now and all!

 

[Momo]

Hopefully he will be okay. What you are looking for when listening to the abdomen is rumbling and gurgling. Gurgling is good. Silence is not good. When you have a chance, get someone to show you how to find your horse's pulse as it's an important thing to be able to check and lots of people don't know how

Let us know how he's doing tomorrow.

 

[seymore0626]

Your horse probably had enteritis which is an inflamation of the small bowel. All of the carbohydrates in the grain disrupted the gut flora causing him to have the diarrhea. Sounds as though he is on the road to recovery, but would recommend a product called Fastrack to help reestablish the normal gut flora. Founder is still a concern.