trigger warning: When to know its time? Please help
Hi all, I seem to be stuck at an bit of an impasse.
I am in need of some advice
My 32 year old TB has always been a hard keeper. Regardless of time of year, he always seems to be thin.
Lately however, it seems to have become quite chronic.
bit of background : I have had him for 20 years and he was an abuse case before I got him. He suffers from terrible separation anxiety and itch in the summer - he has arthritis and dementia - but the dementia seems to come and go depending on the day. His biggest issue however is his weight - I would almost currently scale him as a 2/3 or poor - and he doesn't seem to be putting any on.
He gets fed twice a day ( quite a bit of hard feed)- he refuses to eat chaff, senior feed or anything that is mildly wet or easy to eat - he is a bit like an old person that refuses to give up his steak. Due to his teeth, he cannot eat hay, but does enjoy rolling it around his mouth and spitting it back out. He possibly has the worse case of separation anxiety i have ever seen so the other horses must be in a line of sight otherwise he will not eat and put himself through a fence. He has access 24/7 to paddock and seems to be able to eat paddock grass not a problem.
before anyone suggests a feed- I have literally tried every goddamn feed under the sun - he hates ALL OF THEM except for his current which is prydes easiresult. I have never met a horse so hard to feed or so fussy - i think this has alot to do with his dementia.
He has his teeth checked every 3 months, however my dentist said that the next time he floats his teeth he will have to be careful otherwise he will have nothing to eat with as he really does not have many left. He has a vet check twice a year although they have started to become more and more frequent. The last one ( about a month ago) he had a blood and urine test which both came back normal. My vets opinion is that although he is behaving fine, his body may be struggling to absorb nutrients. He is rugged all year round now.
My concern is that although his weight loss is chronic he has not lost his zest for life. Yes he is crotchety due to his arthritis, but he has not problem running around with the other boys, or rolling or getting back up.
When do you know its time? Im worried that if I wait, eventually he will starve even if he is showing no signs currently of slowing down. It is apparently going to be quite a dry summer in Australia this year and I'm worried, that couple with his in-ability to eat hay or his refusal to eat mush or bran that he slowly starve. My husband thinks im over-reacting but i think that it may be kinder to put him to sleep while he is semi healthy and not wait till he is pretty much skeletal.
I'm also worried about putting him to sleep as he really seems to be okay mentally - its just his body seems to be failing. How did everyone else make such a hard decision?
Submitted August 24, 2019 at 12:24AM by Elvisiscoming
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Horses/comments/cupxom/trigger_warning_when_to_know_its_time_please_help/?utm_source=ifttt
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