GermanyJo
Well-Known Member
I know this should really be in veterinary, but have seen several people posting about Ulcers here, and thought some of you might be interested.
Always thought my horse could be an Ulcer candidate, 2 years ago he was not eating hard food at all and we gave him a course of omeprazole (from US) which got him eating again , so since then I have been careful with his management.
7 or 8 weeks ago, he got cast in the box over night .. had clearly been down a long time.. massively swollen head and fat front lead .... after a week of antibiotics and anti inflams we were supposed to start ridden work in walk .. normally a nightmare with him after a week box rest with no field ... ok... was like a donkey .. after several days vet came again .. bloods taken, several different meds tried but 5 weeks later, still no further forward .. stilll walking for 30 mins like a lamb with no motiviation to do anything .. we were now on Plan E or F I think (!) .. vet gave him some Cimitidine (works in a similar way to gastro guard but injection) for 5 days .... suddenly he came to life.
ok.. so you cannot use Cimitidine indefinately .. so .. normally the only alternative is gastro-guard .. but .. he is not insured (only for ops ) .. so had a long talk to the vet, who luckily did her Dr work on stomach ulcers so knows her stuff ... I had seen some info on the internet about Gastro Plus , contacted the company who were really really helpful .. sent me trial data that was done in the US on race horses , and sent to my vet , who incidently is not a huge fan of Gastro guard .... normally only drug to use, but has its disadvantages...she agreed that we should give it a go as she said in theory if it worked, it should be better than gastro guard
So ... results ... 2 days after taking the Gastro plus he stopped dunking his hay in his water before eating .. he has always done this.. even when he was on the omeprazole..... he has now been on it for 8 days, and today I had my old horse back ... full of energy, but not stressie .. we played around with some jumps and he was back to his old self
I have to be honest, I was sceptical when I ordered the Gastro Plus .. sounded too good to be true .. and a months course was the cost of a week of gastro guard .. but I am so glad I decided to give it a go. I know I need to be patient and we are not out of the woods yet, but would really recommend that if anyone has an 'ulcer horse' and they are not insured, or Gastro guard does not seem to be sorting the problem out (or creating new ones ... seems that if your horse has ulcers further back in the gut , gastro guard at best does not work, at worst can make worse ... ) then they should at least take a look this as an alternative .. I know my vet is really pleased with the results so far.
Always thought my horse could be an Ulcer candidate, 2 years ago he was not eating hard food at all and we gave him a course of omeprazole (from US) which got him eating again , so since then I have been careful with his management.
7 or 8 weeks ago, he got cast in the box over night .. had clearly been down a long time.. massively swollen head and fat front lead .... after a week of antibiotics and anti inflams we were supposed to start ridden work in walk .. normally a nightmare with him after a week box rest with no field ... ok... was like a donkey .. after several days vet came again .. bloods taken, several different meds tried but 5 weeks later, still no further forward .. stilll walking for 30 mins like a lamb with no motiviation to do anything .. we were now on Plan E or F I think (!) .. vet gave him some Cimitidine (works in a similar way to gastro guard but injection) for 5 days .... suddenly he came to life.
ok.. so you cannot use Cimitidine indefinately .. so .. normally the only alternative is gastro-guard .. but .. he is not insured (only for ops ) .. so had a long talk to the vet, who luckily did her Dr work on stomach ulcers so knows her stuff ... I had seen some info on the internet about Gastro Plus , contacted the company who were really really helpful .. sent me trial data that was done in the US on race horses , and sent to my vet , who incidently is not a huge fan of Gastro guard .... normally only drug to use, but has its disadvantages...she agreed that we should give it a go as she said in theory if it worked, it should be better than gastro guard
So ... results ... 2 days after taking the Gastro plus he stopped dunking his hay in his water before eating .. he has always done this.. even when he was on the omeprazole..... he has now been on it for 8 days, and today I had my old horse back ... full of energy, but not stressie .. we played around with some jumps and he was back to his old self
I have to be honest, I was sceptical when I ordered the Gastro Plus .. sounded too good to be true .. and a months course was the cost of a week of gastro guard .. but I am so glad I decided to give it a go. I know I need to be patient and we are not out of the woods yet, but would really recommend that if anyone has an 'ulcer horse' and they are not insured, or Gastro guard does not seem to be sorting the problem out (or creating new ones ... seems that if your horse has ulcers further back in the gut , gastro guard at best does not work, at worst can make worse ... ) then they should at least take a look this as an alternative .. I know my vet is really pleased with the results so far.
