horse eating slower

Anyone have advice on this problem?

My horse is 26 years old and has missing teeth. He is unable to chew his hay, so I feed him 16-17 lbs of Equine Senior twice a day. (He will not eat Manna Pro)
He is approx. 1100 lbs and is not ridden. He was diagnosed by a vet 3 years ago with melanoma. Surgery was not recommended due to his age and the fact that the vet thought the melanoma was encapsulated and probably wouldn't spread. He used to take approx. half an hour to eat one ration, now he takes 4 hours to eat the same amount. His teeth do not look like they need filing at this time and I see no sores in his mouth. Is there another common reason why he is eating slower?

Are you soaking his food even his senoir so it is more of a mash?

You might want to post this in the Aspen Creek Vet forum they could probably give you more ideas.

I know that when we worm our guys instead of fighting them trying to get them to swallow the yucky paste we add it to their grain with unsweetened apple sauce. Not sure how good it would be to do this all the time but they love it and eat it up vs. us fighting them to get them to swallow.

Hi
If your horse is eating slower, but is showing no other signs of a problem then my first suggestion would be to have his teeth looked at. I don't know how long it has been since his teeth were done, but even if he doesn't have any sharp points that need floating he could have some loose teeth that are making it difficult to chew. Is he dropping any feed? That can also be a sign of problems with the teeth.
I would recommend you make an appointment with your vet. To have a really good look we usually have to at least lightly sedate the horse and place a speculum in the mouth to hold it open to we can carefully inspect each tooth. Depending on what is found further treatment may be needed.

Hope that helps,

Dr Harland

Thanks so much, he hasn't had his teeth checked in a couple of years. I will do that soon.