Horsepeople, please help me brainstorm - EMERGENCY

I've got a problem that may result in the loss of another one of my horses very soon. Stinker, my youngest (at 26 yrs of age), has had ongoing medical problems for several years now. To make a long story short, his right front knee has nearly fused solid from severe arthritis, and his right front leg has started to bow significantly under the strain. He has chronic pain in that leg that sometimes is so bad that he quits eating if he moves around on it too actively and makes it too sore. When he quits eating, he drops weight at an astonishing rate - at least 100 lbs. a week (looks closer to 200).

Over the last several years, he has also picked up the unfortunate habit of developing hoof abscesses. A week or two ago, one started developing in his "good" left front foot, forcing him to bear more weight on his bad leg and exacerbating his pain. The abscess finally broke 3 days ago, but not before he quit eating completely. The foot is still very sore, and Stinker is still refusing to eat. He will likely starve himself to death in another week if I can't get him eating.

I need any ideas any of you may have to help stimulate his appetite. Stinker has also lost a number of his teeth, so his usual fare (when he was still eating) was as much warm pellet mash as he'd eat mixed with a cup of soy oil twice a day. He also munches on hay, but he never actually swallows it. He just chews it up into quids and spits it back out. He is currently still chewing hay, but that's not doing him any nutritional good. Yesterday I managed to get him to chew and swallow two small handfuls of sweet feet, but that's as much as I got into his system.

I have bute on hand to help with the pain, but I won't give that to him on an empty stomach (the last thing he needs is to develop an ulcer), so he's getting no pharmaceutical pain relief right now. I am, of course, soaking his abscessed hoof daily and giving him penicillin to deal with the infection. The vet will be dropping off a vit. B shot today to try to stimulate his appetite. I have tried pouring additional molasses over his mash to no avail. Paul suggested mixing in some strawberry preserves and/or applesauce, but I haven't tried either yet. Stinker has never liked apples, and I highly doubt he'll touch strawberries, but I will give it a try. I'm about to grate up a bunch of carrots, which he has enjoyed in the past, to see if I can tempt him with those.

This morning I mixed some Karo Syrup into his water, and I'm having Joe pick up some water-soluble electrolytes and vitamins to add to his water, as well. Stinker has been drinking, but he turned his nose up at the sweetened water this morning.

Since the only thing Stinker will willingly put into his mouth right now is hay, I'm also having Joe pick up some alfalfa cubes which I will break up and see if he'll chew and swallow.

If I can't get Stinker to take in anything by tomorrow, Paul will come out and tube him with some electrolytes and calories to try to perk him up and stimulate his appetite.

So, any other suggestions for appetite stimulation would be most welcome. Just please don't tell me to let him go. I'm not emotionally ready to lose another horse at the moment. If I have to, I will, but I'm going to fight with everything in me to keep Stinker around for a while longer.

Stinker is the only animal I have ever been with since the moment of his birth. Mine was the first face he saw when he entered this world. I'm not looking forward to being the last.

Laurie