Can anyone see the differences between these feeds? Important!

popularfurball

popularfurball

Learning all the time
Jul 18, 2005
12,688
666
113
North west
I was feeding the Mollichaff High Fibre (http://www.horsehage.co.uk/MC-HighFibre.html)... and then switched to the Dengie Hifi Mollasses free (http://www.dengie.com/pages/products/alfa-a-and-hi-fi-ranges/hi-fi-molasses-free.php)

Three days after I switched the feeds, she came up in a lump between her front legs. That balooned up her neck and was a severe allergic reaction. It then spread back under her tummy and anti inflams werent touching it. So was put on a course of steroids. Steroids controlled the problem and have massivly improved things - however having cut the dose at the weekend, where the orignal swelling was is now really hot again :( I spoke to vet today, he said to keep at lower dose til Thursday just to give her time to adjust to the dose, if still hot then to up to full dose again from half dose. This heat concerns me that whatever is annoying her is still causing a problem when steroids are removed/lowered.

Could the difference between the feeds REALLY be a cause for this???

Please share thoughts etc - have a fantastic vet but unlikely to find out the cause. Fly is top thoughts atm, but just seems funny I should have changed feeds - yet they are so similar?

BTW we are now four weeks on from the original lump appearing and only over last week has swelling dropped (since steroids)
 
Aaaahhh im sorry to hear Silvers not quite so comfortable. I honestly know nothing about feed (tend to take my advice from you:wink:) but if it were me the process of illiminaton would kick in and i would put her back on the other feed to see how she is. It is obviously causing you to question it as a possible cause? Given how very sensitive she is i would be inclined to put her back on what you know for sure suited her. Good luck and I hope she is feeling better soon. XX
 
Yes they are different in terms of their energy, so the content will be different. One has a light coating of soya oil.

All i've seen is the free sample of the second feed you mention, it did look a little more coarse than my current feed (happy hoof)

Maybe totally unrelated but i wonderwhat is happening to the chaffs as my friend cannot feed these at all, mine i noticed will cough even if i dampen and i am considering changing to some sort of nut.

If this lump is the second time she's had a lump you were not on the new feed then were you? Is it a bite?
 
Ditto Cassiebird - neither website is particularly useful with regards to what's actually in the feeds (the best place to look for a proper breakdown is on the white label attached to the bottom of the bags) but if the allergic reaction began after changing feeds I'd swap back and see if it goes away.

Good luck! :)
 
I thought the swelling started as a fly bite... But cant prove it.

It started between front legs, and grew over about four days to its maximum size (two palms of hands and 2" deep)... it sort of subsided by 80% ish over next week, then she started to swell towards udders - I don't know if this was a new reaction or the old swelling moving back.

She has now lost a lot of hair under her tummy, and is itchy all over - steroids have massivley helped - she is eating and walking again which is good. She couldn't even graze originally.

CB - I hadnt thought of it as a "trigger" but I was looking for photos of horses who have lost their hair due to allergic reaction and was reading and listed feeds as a trigger (Which I knew from having her allergy tested etcetc) and suddenly realised I had changed the chaff - checked on here to see the date (did a write up on it) and realised it was a few days before swelling appeared :eek:
 
The Dengie one has fenugreek in, which the other doesn't mention. :furious: another thing which has oestrogen type properties, as well as soya, which both feeds have instead of mollases. Potentially any hormonal horse will have issues with it. It infuriates me that they change something bad (mollases) for something else that could potentially cause problems. There could be loads of other things in there too, that they haven't mentioned but use to bulk. I mean why put fenugreek in? It doesn't have any real benefit to a horse and doesn't grow anywhere where our natives would graze.

Echo what others said, try changing back. Hope Silver can kick this lump soon.

If it helps, I spent a while in my feed merchants looking at all the newish Mollases free stuff. They all seemed to have loads of other crap added, so I chatted to a guy working there. He pointed out they sold Chaff. I was like What? he showed me some bags that just had chaff in, unmarked, unlabelled. I questionned him and basically it is ... just... chaff. Think he thought I was a nutter. Going to talk to trimmer about it as she knows a lot about feeds but sticking with very low dosage of Hi-Fi Lite for now because we don't have any problems with it. But might be worth asking a local/larger feed merchants if they do the same. :smile:
 
Really baffled me why they have put that herb in there so I thought I would read up a bit. Apart from finding " The seeds also are used in feed for horses and cattle to promote weight gain" aparantly it increases appetite which is alarming, surely this type of feed should not be doing that. Also found these list of side effects in people, although after reading a few sites it looks like side effects are rare (although with Silvers history that doesn't mean anything does it) - "Few side effects have been reported from exposure to fenugreek, such as numbness,facial swelling, breathing difficulty and fainting are likely a cause of an allergic reaction. Some side effects may occur such as dizziness, diarrhea and gas when fenugreek is used at recommended doses."
The only benefit I can see is aiding digestion, but it seems a funny one to choose for that benefit.

Sorry for ranting on PFB, you know things like this get me on my soapbox! :unsure:
 
Have you switched back to the original feed? I take it that didn't help? :(
I think the fenugreek, along with mint, is in there to make the feed more palatable, alfalfa completely on its own isn't that attractive to a lot of horses, add some supplements and it's even worse.
 
Yes my other feed shop thought I too was nuts for wanting plain chaff which they also sell - however I didnt get it due to not knowing the sugar/starch content and the quality (she has dust allergies....LOL).

I havent switched back - it literally dawned on me and I made this post as it sort of seems quite ridiculous... but perhaps not so.

I will be emailing both companies for a full breakdown as it would be helpful, if this is potentially the cause so I can identify potential ingredients that have caused this - I really dont want all this again!!! Week four of the problems, two weeks box rest, hundreds of £'s in vets, more to go and steroids :(

The mollichaff feed really is lovely - we didnt have any issues with it - palatability or otherwise. I cant believe its taken me four weeks to realise :eek: Im normally quite anal about things like this with her :giggle:
 
Very interesting. Will be watching to see results when you switch back PFB. I think given all Silver's allergies you've got to consider it a possibility. Have noticed lots of the so called Non mollassed feeds are coated in soya oil as a replacement. Even when Top Spec bought out their non mollassed chaffs guess what went in as a replacement. Why can't feed companies get their heads round the fact that what so many horse owners need is just a low calorie chaff/straw mix without any blasted extras:banghead:. We can add those in ourselves! T.S. said it has to be added as a plain straw chaff wouldn't be palatable to most horses:frown: Well most good doers are so greedy they scoff down most things.......:furious:

I just don't understand their reasoning...O.K. rant over.

PFB sorry don't know exactly what Silver's diet is. Have you considered Simple Systems or the new Thunderbrook Feeds for an au natural approach?
Hope madam feels better soon and you get some answers. There is nothing in her immediate environment that could be causing this reaction is there - some weird allergy to her bedding perhaps?
 
I am such a plnk - I was confused that I hadnt realised this link last night - but think I was over tired - was line dancing with work all yday afternoon :eek: My dates are wrong - she started on the feed a week after the reaction started, not the other way round.

Even so it will be useful to have a list of ingredients - havent heard from Mollichaff but Dengie have been fab - it is just alfa and straw, with alfa pellets and straw pellets (which have been treated to be more nutiritionally beneficial?!), soya oil, mint and fenugreek.

As for the oil, I cant tell there is oil in the mollichaff one, wheras I can in the degie one - I will be switching back anyway.

Will let you know what outcomes of the Mollichaff feed email... and should probably do a general update thread - but everything has been so manic I dont know if Im coming or going!
 
PFB you don't think she's maybe become allergic to soya oil,have heard of this causing problems before though mainly colic type reactions.I suffer with skin problems myself & do know that I'll sometimes have a sudden reaction even though I've bee using it for weeks with no reaction.
 
Dumb question, but why feed anything? If it is simply to give them a supplement then use a chopped carrot or apple. It's a lot safer.

I'm beginning to question all these feeds we suddenly have that horses managed without. If the feed is anything like our feeds these days no wonder we have problems.

I do not like feeds designed for laminitics etc being sold in such huge bags, why can't be have half sizes, most of my feed is gone off by the time i'm half way down as i simply offer a token feed. i will be relooking into what else i can give instead as she's not in work.
 
Yes we had the same problem nf with bags going off so totally agree.

The mollichaff high fibre is lovely (and dust extracted if it makes any difference to Tilley?) I am awaiting their reply to email but to look at it is a bright clean chop, that is very silky and fine with a slight mint smell.

She has two feeds a day for all supplements we are trying and to have her steroid tabs. Plus vit min supp. She still only has two scoops a day of chaff though - bag lasting two of them 2months (he has a sprinkling to keep him quiet and leave her bucket aloe but it is a sprinkle and his bits and mins at tea time.

I wouldn't feed unless I felt a need too and even then I am stingy with it - she is fat enough as it is without me helping her!!!!!:redcarded:

I chose the feeds I did because of their simplicity and no molasses. If I am feeding them I want the feed to be as natural as possible and chaff is chopped forage. All supps are herbal/naturally sourced so they are more likely to be better absorbed
 
I may look into simple system again, she's starting to cough even with dampened happy hoof. But as teething it could be as not really got the teeth to chew it properly?

Have you thought of them, tried before?
 
No I didn't want to feed pure lucerne as actually higher in sugar etc than a mix chaff. Also chose mollichaff as it is dust extracted and simple ingredients wise, and at the time lowest sugar starch fee you could get :)
 
Dunno if this will help hun but similar happened to abs back in oct, she was sharing a field for the last month or so with another mare, all was great UNTIL one day arrived up to see Abs chasing her all over the devil itself literally, took 10 mins to herd her outta the field, the next morning was horrendous, put headcollar on and she more or less sat down literally, could not move properly neck was HUGE and she had seemingly lost all control over her legs, couldnt put head down to drink water, had to hold that upto her, vet came within 1/2 an hour, he honestly thought she had some kind of paralysis, nerve damage etc, was full of the runs looked really ill, but this neck was huge
Pumped her with metacam and anti biotics and took bloods, and said to give bute the nxt day, the nxt day came and so did results NOTHING apart from slightly anaemic, still couldnt get head down, nor drink without major pain relief and steroids, this continued and the following day an abscess had formed at the blood test site, made it even worse tbh, the only thing different that I had give her was Hormonise the hormonal mare stuff, OR had she been bitten by something in the field and blamed the mare??? she did come rite in mid nov carried on for weeks and £1000 later thank god for NFU, no one can truly say whether the hormonise caused a severe allergic reaction but something did , you may never know for sure whats causing this, but I do know that Abbie sufferes terribley from fly bites had one yesterday and was on bute today and a sweetitch suit put on, I now avoid any products that contain chaste berry a prime ingredient in hormonise just in case, go back to the beginning and rule it out
 
Last edited:
Why can't feed companies get their heads round the fact that what so many horse owners need is just a low calorie chaff/straw mix without any blasted extras
Click to expand...

Simple System Greengold is just that, alfalfa and nothing else. It's horribly horribly dusty stuff to handle dry, I can understand why feed manufacturers feel the need to add a binder.
 
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back