Founderguard

ruscara

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Has anyone used/is using this? I have asked my vet to get me some, but she says it is hard to get hold of now
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She is going to try.
I know it's only available in this country with a special licence (Lord knows why?) but freely available in Australia at least.
Has anyone got any? How did you get it?
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hellspells

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As far as I'm aware it now has a license over here. If you tell your vet that centaur services can get it (its a vet supply company).
You use to have to apply to the goverment to get it into the country but don't think this applies anymore.

Great stuff though!
 

Chunkie

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I use Founderguard.

It was recommended to me by my vet when my mare was first diagnosed 3 years ago. He told me that he could apply for a licence for me, but that the government vets were reluctant to issue licences for horses going through their first bout of lami - preferring that they be used for horses who had proved to be constant sufferers. Vet said this was backwards thinking, as the stuff is aimed exactly at horses like mine, as it could also be used as a preventative - his thinking was why let them suffer when Founderguard could stop them getting so bad in the first place.

Anyway, at the time, the initial licence would have cost £30 and then had to be renewed every six months at a cost of £15 a time. Vet advised that he objected to his clients having to pay for a license for a treatment freely available in any other country, and if I could get it into this country in any other way, then I should. So I did
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I now get the stuff directly from Australia but beware - there are import taxes to pay! My last 5kg tub was delivered last August, and I think it cost me altogether about £220? However, it will last about 18-20 months at the rate I use it, and anyway, is a small price to pay if it keeps ponio free from laminitis.

Since I started to use Founderguard, she has had 1 episode of lami in 3 years, and that was because someone forget to move her back to her own paddock, and left her on rich, fertilised grass for about 18 hours! However, although she did get lami in all 4 feet, it didn't knock her back as much as I feel it would have done without the Founderguard.

It is important to realise that it isn't a preventative/treatment in itself, you still have to manage the horse, but mine lives out 24/7 and is hacked normally - although not much road work. And before anyone says anything - YES - she definitely has got rotated pedal bones - I've seen the x-rays!

My vet told me the reason for the licence is that Founderguard contains something which can attack whatever bug causes MRSA. The reason the government decided to limit the amount of founderguard coming into the country is that if we were all giving it to our ponios and it crossed the species, MRSA would develop resistance to it, and there would no longer be an effective treatment for it. Vet said that's a load of b*ll**cks, it's just the regime looking for another way to get money out of all us loooooaaaaded horse owners!
 
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Donkeymad

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A friend used to use this on her gelding, but found that, when stopped, the problem recurred, hence meaning he needed to be kept on it permanently. Unfortunately, your vet is only allowed to supply each horse with a limited number of tubs per year.
I have read a lot of reports on the net, saying the same thing. I do believe it is very effective when in use.
 

custard

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I used it about 6 years ago on Will when he was on limited grazing with ad lib hay. He was ok on it but did develop an impaction at one point which may or may not have been connected. There is a contra indication on the packaging warning that it can cause constipation so just be cautious.

Eventually I took him off it since a different vet felt it better to manage his grazing differently and by then grazing muzzles had become easily available.

Personally I would use it as a last resort, it does do what it says on the tin but you have other options first, and it's bloomin expensive in the Uk!!
 

houdini

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You need your vet to apply to VMD for a license to import it from Australia. They can then order it from Centaur. The license runs for one year so make sure you put enough tubs on the license to last for one yeat or you will have to pay again!! Vet can order tubs one at atime from Centaur as you need them!
 

GreedyGuts

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The reason you can't get it is because it is an antibiotic and there is reluctance to license it given concerns about responsible antibiotic use and emerging resistance. Also, it was developed for prevention of grain overload laminitis so has no proven efficacy in treating the type of laminitis common in the UK.

Importing it from Australia without the appropriate licence is illegal and I don't believe that the VMD rules are there to make money, but rather to monitor the use of drugs when there are implications or concerns regarding their use.
 
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