Gastric Ulcer nightmare

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cocoloco

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My horse started suffering from mild colic symtoms-looking at his tummy and pawing the ground-late on last year. After loads of tests and finally a scope the vet diagnosed gastric ulcers. He was put on gastrogard for 2 weeks and had time off. Since then the symtoms have been better but have n't altogether cleared up so the vets decided put him on another 3 week course of gastrogard. I had n't noticed any symtoms for about a week but yesterday and today he started pawing the ground ,looking at his tummy very regularly. Am at my wits end as i don't know what else to do to help my poor lad. I've heard they can be caused by a bacterial infection. Does anyone know anything about this? If anyone knows of a specialist in the subject would really appreciate it.
 
One of the most common reasons for gastric ulcers is how the horse is managed. Horses need to be able to be horses: company, turnout, trickle feeding on forage and routine. If you start taking any one of these away the horse can get stressed which can lead to gastric ulcers. Trickle feeding is a particular biggy because the horse's gut produces acids 24/7 in anticipation of the 24/7 trickle feed that horses are designed to have. No food in the stomach but stomach acids still being produced = trouble. Obviously, if you're already doing all this then your vets will need to start hunting for other, more worrying things.

If he was mine, I'd immediately change his management but while that was taking effect, I'd start him on Coligone. It's amazing stuff and on a maintenance dose, works out at pence per day. But overriding all this is that you need to act NOW if your ned is showing colicky symptoms. Vet. Emergency.
 
Agree with BOF with regards to management :) It's so important!!!!

However i would of thought minimum dose of Gastrogard would be 4 weeks it's quite standard, 2 weeks is not.

My horse suffers ulcers & we also found it through repeated colic no other symptoms, he was on full dose Gastrogard for 4 months & is now maintained on 1/3 of a syringe daily. He also get Neighlox.
 
Thanks guys,
have been trickle feeding him hay and haylage-he does n't like hay that much. He's turned out for a few hrs per day and when not showing symtoms i ride him. The current course of GG is 3 weeks but he's already had a 2 week course a few months ago. Just want to feel like i'm getting to the bottom of it.what is neighlox. Have also been recommended redmills feeds -have any of you had experience of this?
What is coligone? have n't heard of that one-does it have a similar effect to GG?
 
Google Neighlox & you should find all the info, it's expensive to buy but lasts for ages.

Other thing i would add is get your horse onto 100% Hay, i did the Hay & Haylage thing & could not get the Ulcers to clear. Switched him to 100% hay & the Ulcers have cleared. Haylage even in small amounts is not a good thing to feed to any horse who has had or is suffering Ulcers.
 
Thanks dressage crazy,
i've just given him hay tonight,he does n't look happy:( But i agree that haylage must be more acidic than hay and would aggravate the ulcers. I'm giving him alfa a ,outshine and topspec otherwise. He has also been given NAF haylage balancer but if he's not getting haylage he should n't need this anymore.Will look into neighlox.x
 
more fibre and loads more turnout and get him to relax. good adlib hay and some nice grass! and let him lead a horse life not a 12 by 12 life! and yes they can event sj and d to top level with lots of turnout. or 24/7 turnout! gastroguard is very good but 1k per month makes it out of most peoples prices! when there are happier and cheaper solutions around. they do take a few days to switch from haylage to hay but it will happen do not weaken. if he is hungry he will eat the nice hay on offer! and give him a teaspoon of bicarb of soada in his breakfast and tea!
 
Like Gastroguard, Coligone aims to heal gastric ulcers. Given at a maintenance dosage it will also help them occurring (or re occurring) in stressy, ulcer-prone horses. I have seen rescued and/or unhappy TBs on my yard completely turned around by Coligone. I would still say if you can change his management so that he has max hours turnout, with company, forage based trickle feeding and routine routine routine, he will be a much happier horse without the need for any supplements. If you PM H's_mum she can give you all the technical info on Coligone - the big tub of mint powder is best in my opinion as it lasts forever and is very palatable to horses, though I'd recommend starting with small doses and build up to what you need as any horse can be surprised and maybe a bit suspicious of anything new in their feed. Why doesn't he like hay I wonder? Is it good quality? Does it smell all summery and nice or is it dusty and old? If you could get him out for eg 18 hrs a day minimum, you could get by in the stable with a hay replacer like Hi Fi Lite, dampened in a bucket and maybe a small haynet to nibble at. If you do make changes, do it slowly so his gut has time to adjust.
 
Hi folks,
thanks for taking the time to write-much appreciated!:)
The hay is excellent quality -the prob is that haylage is a lot more yummy! His gut is used to the hay so he's having no more haylage. He ate most of it last night but i think is just going to have to get used to it on it's own as loads of you have commented that haylage is a no no. He goes out for 2-3 hrs a day. Yesterday i put him out again in pm but he was n't happy and starts fretting-my vet says he is better just going out for less time as long as he's happy.
Have heard from so many people who have got their horses over this and are riding and competing again but it seems like a long way off for us yet.
I spoke to my vet yesterday and voiced my concerns that even with GG still getting symtoms and asked if maybe more senior vet should take it over. The vet got back to me later and said the senior vet does n't see the point as my vet is doing everything he can Felt really low as am looking for someone to come up with an answer.x
 
Spottedcat on here has been through gastric ulcers with her horse.
Maybe you could PM her, or search out her previous posts.
 
Hi again,
so which products do you folks think i should get when finished GG.
Redmills feeds, coligone or neighlox-or a combination of them ?
x
 
Redmills horse care cubes are designed for horses that are affected by ulcers. A previous yard that I was at used Redmills extensively on all the horses and they all did very well on the feed.
 
hi there my boy has just finished a round of treatment for gastric ulcers. he was scoped the 4 weeks of gastroguard then rescoped and we then gave him another 2 weeks of gastro guard. the equine vet hospital who is treating him the minmal does of gastro guard is 4 weeks. He was also put on the supplement Equitop pronutrin.it is scetifically provwn to aid healing of ulcers
 
Agree - 4 weeks minimum GG. did they say what grade ulcers?

I would look up spottedcat's posts - they were really helpful when I was sorting mine out. I actually just maintain him on omeprazole now (I get this from the states) and he is much better.

Diet is hay only (haylage definitely no-no), high fibre low starch, no sugar etc no garlic or anything else that might irritate the stomach. I also feed some hi-fi lite 30 mins before exercise to prevent splash ulcers. Management wise, anything that keeps him happy. I like mine out 24/7 but if yours only likes being out for 2-3 hours then thats fine as long as he has ad lib hay in the stable.

Tried various supplements, settlex (did nothing) am currently using gastrocare which did help in the beginning but think the effects are wearing off now so will see how he goes when it is finished. I also sometimes feed antacids (e.g. rennies) just before riding if I am doing a bit of in-hand work etc.
 
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