gastric ulcer advice

[racebuddy]

my exracehorse has suspected ulcers, intermitent colic, weight loss and dull coat, bloods revealed high muscle enzumes and tying up, he is only allowed alfa oil, has prev been on ready mash extra but is not allowed that now as has to many cerals in it, he is currently doing ok complared what he was like a few weeks a go and was nearly pts, is is putting condition on but not that quick, vets and myslef keen for him to be more settled and put more weight on, at the minute he is just on alfa a oil and adlib haylage apart from he is not really wanting to eat his chop as quite bland compared to the mash, vets spoken to vet hosptial who said could try winegy anti crib feeds as he windsucks and see if that helps, any suggesstions or tips would be very much appreciated. he is coping ok with work, just light schooling and lunging 4 times a week sometimes 5. cocnerned re him loosing more weight, at the minute does not go more than few months without colicing, bloods ok, wormed up to date and worm count done. is very stressy to be turned out which triggers him off cannot cope with an hour turnout as already has coliced. any help greatly received. thanks, aslo not option at minute to scope due to finanical restraints .

 

[Wagtail]

It's a shame he is not insured as although scoping is only a couple of hundred pounds, the treatment is very expensive indeed. The treatment is gastroguard @ £20 a day for at least six weeks. A mare was treated for five months with it here and then had to have a supplement at £200 for a further 6 months. It may not be ulcers in your boy's case though. It seems really odd too that he cannot tolerate exercise and that this brings on his colic. This again does not seem in keeping with the ulcer theory, although I do believe that many horses are affected by movement causing the gastric juices to splash around and irritate the ulcers. Have you tried feeding him right before he goes out as a scoop of alfalfa is often helpful in preventing this happening? I really hope you manage to get his condition under control. It all sounds highly upsetting for you.

 

[racebuddy]

thank you for your replies , he is certainly odd, something is def niggling him, he does sound like ulcers but other times he doesnt, he copes well now with exercise just cannot cope with the turnout!! he is getting harder to keep settled but we are making progress slowly.

 

[iconique]

Hi, Sorry to hear you are having problems, but I've learnt from experience that sometimes a little spent is a lot saved. (Financially I'm with you but our vets have been brilliant and I'm still paying them off) If you scope then it may save you a huge amount of money in the long term. Gastroguard is expensive and if it is ulcers its the likely treatment.
Coligone also might help, but if you are changing anything in his routine do it extremely slowly, as to not trigger anything, so rather than turning out for an hour, try 5 mins in hand, then gradually extend?? but only if he is up to it.
I'm assuming that you have had him worm counted, one of ours that we lost to much the same as yours was a rescue ex racehorse and it turned out to be long term worm damage :-(

 

[ArcticFox]

http://www.equinegastriculcers.co.uk/

Have a look at this website, it has a lot of info on it regarding ulcers. intermittent colic is a symptom of ulcers, cribbing has also been seen in horses with ulcers.

tbh you would be better to get him scoped. then decide a course of treatment, the medication to treat ulcers is called gastrogard (contains omeprazole) and is the only product that will actually treat the ulcer. most supplements are only antacids which neutralise the acid in the stomach at the time it is given - people use them all the time (rennies) but as humans only produce acid when they are eating it works well in people. However horses produce acid all the time (approx 2 litres an hour!) so the antacid would only work for a short amount of time.

Omeprazole inhibits the proton pump which reduces the amount of acid produced by the horse.

Not sure if that helps, but my advice would be to have him scoped then take it from there.