Gastric Ulcer Supplements from Vets

[sunleychops]

Right, Getting royally pee'd off at having to pay £86.66 per tub from our vet when it's quite clearly all from the same company who ship out to vets all over the country who just slap their own label on it.

The one I'm looking for is this:

It's a 3.2Kg tub and they are very thin pellets that are a light brown/beige colour, Feeding is 100g per day for a horse so 3 scoops. (Only saying this in case anyone else recognises it)

I am certain there are lots of others who have been put on this by their vets, My question is is there any way of sourcing it cheaper?! No way of buying it from the manufacturer at all?

Help!

To note if the answer is no please don't think I'm going to jeopardise Freebz' well being because it's expensive, I just want to try and save some moolah!

 

[Slightlyconfused]

We tried our own vets make but didn't do anything for our boy so have put him on alltech lifeforce and its been amazing. £60 for three months.

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

Mine sounds very similar and it was about the same price. It is ******* expensive!!

 

[JillA]

I can't read the labels - what is in it? Check out Vetmedic, ****** etc (how odd, it blanked Vio Vet), if it needs a prescription ask your vet what they charge for a prescription and order on line. Get a prescription with a repeat if you need to use it long term, spread the cost, most charge between £10 and £15.

 

[ironhorse]

My horse is on the same after scoping/peptizole. He's doing well (although still cribbing and has colicked once since finishing the peptizole) but I'm not that impressed with the supplement - doesn't look like there's actually much in it - can't read the actual label on yours but think it's mainly calcium carbonate? I only agreed to try it as being supplied by the vet, it's covered by the insurance. Used the horse health one before which didn't seem to do much but the scope showed some ulcers healing, so now I'm wondering if it actually worked on the milder ones and would be useful for maintenance. Gastroplus seems to be very heavily marketed - esp on the Facebook groups, anyone any views on it?

 

[JillA]

Some people rate Egusin from Forageplus, but others say it did nothing - you pays your money etc

 

[GermanyJo]

I found gastroplus to be good, but as JillA says, what works for one horse, may not for another

 

[Scarlett]

My 3 horses for a trial of this stuff from Liphook, worked a treat but it was £100 a month each. I looked online and found that Feedmark Gastric Comfort was similar in ingredients. Swapped to that and horses all thrived. Even better was the fact it cost me about £65 a month to feed all 3!

 

[Fruitcake]

Looks like Exegus. My horse was put on it a couple of years ago when it first came out. About six months later, vet started putting own label on it. Apparently, if they order a large enough quantity, they get their own label put on. Sometimes mine comes with the original Exegus label on. I assume this is when vets haven't ordered enough that month to get own branding.

I tried looking into other places to order. You can't order direct from the manufacturer even though it isn't a POM. Incidentally, mine is only(!) £77 from my vet.

If you do find it cheaper, let me know!!

 

[Rachmeister]

Hi ChrisRitch, my vet (not yours but very local to you) prescribed an own label supplement post gastroguard and it cost a little more than yours but looks very familiar. I've now been treating a difficult sensitive ulcer prone mare for 10 months after grade 3 pyloric ulcers found on scoping last March. She turns out to need a small dose of omeprazole per day to stop the ulcers returning but also needs a lot of other support to keep her happy. I did a couple of months trial on the vet supplement with some improvement but not huge.

Got some advice via a friend with a horse with worse ulcers than mine from a top ulcer specialist vet who focused more on total management and feeding and whose recommendation was not to bother with the vet supplement but to use 100ml vegetable oil in the feed per day to coat the stomach lining. Things are improving using this plus better management of her, consisting of as much turn out as possible (even in winter she is out 12 hours a day), ad lib hay, avoiding stressful situations and feed alfalfa chaff directly before riding. She is now fed no cereals at all, only fibre, oil, alfalfa and Saracens Relieve.

There is a huge amount of articles online about controlling ulcers and various supplements and from my experience getting the basic management and feed right gets you most of the way there. Ulcers almost always return however and you need to be prepared to put the horse back on omeprazole asap if you suspect a flare up. Peptizole via prescription at ****** now has it at £138.50 for 7 tubes.

Having said that I've been trying an antacid, Feedmark Gastro Comfort, for the last 2 months, (which was 40% off RRP recently) to see if I can get her even more comfortable. It has a lot of similar ingredients as the vet supplement and seems to have helped a bit. Finally as she has a noisy grumbly tummy and is gassy when ridden with somewhat pebble like droppings, I recently called Protexin for advice and they suggested that I should try pro and pre biotics. Day 3 of adding those has already had a noticeable effect on droppings and she's doing less wind sucking.

You're only 10 minutes up the road from me (Gayton) so if you want to discuss experiences on how to deal with the condition I would be happy to help. Rachel

 

[ecrozier]

Hmm that stuff looks familiar!!! I've been paying (or rather insurers have!) more than that too... I've just swapped to EquineScience's supplement to try that instead as my horse leaves this one if he can taste where in his feed it is, plus he's just had another relapse so it's obviously not excessively effective!!