Getting supplements down a fussy eater

squidsin

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2013
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Roxy has a joint supplement and a calmer but won't eat the Speedibeet I mix them with. She is really, really fussy about such things and won't eat anything with a bitter taste. I don't want to lob loads of sugar or molasses into her, and she doesn't really need a hard feed tbh as she's a good doer. I've tried Hi Fi Lite but she ignores that too. Any healthy suggestions for getting her supplements into her? I'm a bit stumped!
 
I can't imagine doing the throat squirting thing twice a day! I'd rather go for something that won't end up in me being covered with yoghurt!
 
I'd rather go for something that won't end up in me being covered with yoghurt!

Lol - perhaps try mixing the supplement bearing yoghurt into the feed then, the yoghurt should buffer the bitter taste to some extent.

Alternatively try cider vinegar in the feed if she will eat that - anything to overpower the bitter taste.
 
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I have this problem with Dolly and I tend to find a solution and then she goes off that too and I have to think again. So far the most long term successful thing to get stuff down her is plain chaff and a good dollop of dried mint that I buy from Progressive Earth on ebay. Like you I try to keep her diet as sugar free as possible. I do always damp it down as well - she absolutely won't touch anything that isnt slightly moistened.

The last couple of months the dried mint isn't a success either. I recently changed some of her other supplements for Equimins Biotin 15 and when it came it stank to high heaven of pear drops, I thought she would never eat it. Turned out that she loves it and now gobbles the lot down, whatever I put in it!.

But I dare say she will go off that at some point soon, and yet again I will be trying to get inventive with it all!:rolleyes:
 
I have this problem with Dolly and I tend to find a solution and then she goes off that too and I have to think again. So far the most long term successful thing to get stuff down her is plain chaff and a good dollop of dried mint that I buy from Progressive Earth on ebay. Like you I try to keep her diet as sugar free as possible. I do always damp it down as well - she absolutely won't touch anything that isnt slightly moistened.

The last couple of months the dried mint isn't a success either. I recently changed some of her other supplements for Equimins Biotin 15 and when it came it stank to high heaven of pear drops, I thought she would never eat it. Turned out that she loves it and now gobbles the lot down, whatever I put in it!.

But I dare say she will go off that at some point soon, and yet again I will be trying to get inventive with it all!:rolleyes:

I know the feeling! We started off OK with the Speedibeet. Now she won't touch it and I have a whole sack of it!
 
Could you scoop the inside of an apple out and put them inside? Or maybe try some apple juice in her feed?

I've tried the apple trick. She spat it back out! I'm a bit unsure about giving her apple juice as it's basically sugar. OK every now and then but not sure I want to do it every day.
 
Just a thought - have you tried adding the supplements separately - does she reject both given individually or just one?
 
Maybe a bit of peppermint oil in her feed? Or ground ginger? Anything with a strong but sweetish smell might work. I use fast fibre as a base but some horses I know don't like that so it may not work for you.
 
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I tried all manner of things last year with madam and in the end it boiled down to molasses. But, I have weaned her off it and now she devours hi fibre nuts mixed with danilon and her devil claw without any probs.
 
Maybe I will try fast fibre. Although I think if she won't eat Speedibeet, she probably won't eat that either.
Mint and linseed seem like good suggestions as well.
Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone, btw!
 
If she needs the supplements then I'd give in & mix a small handful of a tasty mix in with a reduced amount of speedibeet, make it too good to refuse.

Re the syringing, as long as it doesn't taste too foul they can be trained to accept this fairly easily. Jim has to be syringed twice a day with drugs & he's big enough to make that impossible if he chooses to, what's more he knows it & has no issue with throwing his considerable weight around. However we came to an arrangement that works for both of us. Take two extra strong mints in one hand & the syringe in the other. Give one mint & then quickly put that hand gently over his nose while touching the side of his mouth with the syringe & say "open up" - he now opens his mouth wide so I can syringe the drugs into the very back of his mouth & then I immediately give the other mint & a fuss. I think he barely tastes the drugs this way, and while it wasn't this easy to begin with it now works very well indeed. His drugs are lifelong so I had to find a way that made it stress free for both of us before I got my ribs broken fighting with him!
 
I'm pretty lucky becca will eat anything I give her in her feed. So far . [emoji6]
 
Dried mint, peppermint tea,Neala loves peppermint tea and has it when I put her wormer in her feed. Grass nuts are good for hiding things. Also used Apple juice and mystique loved cranberry juice!
 
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