Gastric Ulcers... Horse being scoped tomorrow

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dressage__diva

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This is also in veterinary, but I know some of you view here more than there...

I was wondering whether those who have had their horses scoped etc could give me some indication of the aftercare required for a horse with gastric ulcers?

She is being scoped tomorrow morning and I am collecting her in the evening... I am convinced they will find something which will explain certain aspects of her behaviour (dislike of having the girth done up, drinking a lot when she has been in a stressful situation, spitting back foamey water etc).

So any experiences would be much appreciated... I am looking for what immediate treatment (how long did you use gastroguard for) and what long term treatment was recommended.

She is on adlib hay at the moment, 14 hours of turnout over night (although she will be coming in very soon and get just an hour a day out) and she is fed Graze On and TopSpec Balancer only.
 
have posted this on your other message

Hi There

I used to work for the company who make Gastrogard but on their dog/cat team. However I know a little bit about Gastric Ulcers so here is what I know!

Horses with gastric ulcers need treatment with Gastroguard daily for at least 4 - 6 weeks, although horses treated with Omeprazole (Gastroguard ingredient) can often show improvement within a week of starting medication. It is recommended horses are kept on G for the 6 weeks as any ulcers will take that long to heal.

The reason horses get ulcers is due to the lining of their stomach, the top half doesn't contain any gastric acid protection and therefore any horse that does any exercise out of walk will get acid splashing up onto the top half of the stomach, horses that have periods of work also have reduced blood supply to the stomach which helps remove acid. Some racehorses can pull up during a race as once in gallop the acid splashes on the ulcer making it hurt. Some horses can get ulceration on the lower portion of the stomach, these take longer to heal.

Omeprazole is the best treatment as horses produce 2 litres of acid an hour in their stomach, they are not like humans who only produce acid when we start eating, as horses produce acid constantly they require constant eating, even small amounts of food will help neutralise the acid in the stomach. With people we use things like Rennie which is an antacid - neutralising the acid that is currently in the stomach, if you were to use rennie you would have to give some every hour! Omeprazole works on the proton pump which controls the amount of acid produced, as the proton pump is inhibited their is less acid to splash on the stomach allowing the ulcer to heal. Having less acid doesn't stop the horse being able to digest its food any differently.

Following scoping, your vet will advise what to do following the effects of the sedation and may prescribe the G to you (or not?)

If you are given G - during treatment you give one syringe a day, they come in boxes of 7. once the ulcer has gone you can try some of the following to help matters:

G can be given at a quarter of a syringe daily as a preventative measure long term
G can be given for a day or so leading up to a competition - if it is a two day show, G should be given daily.
Never starve your horse, they cannot vomit so starvation is not required, if you are travelling, make sure they always have hay/haylage available for the journey and leave them with a haynet until you tack up to ride. You can take the hay off an hour before you ride, if you usually starve them until after competition, try and reduce this as much as possible.
Reduce concentrates and increase hay/haylage as concentrates don't take as long to eat.
Also horses that live on their own can benefit from mirrors or other companions.

Not sure if any of this is useful!

Here is a website about it all

http://www.equinegastriculcers.co.uk/
 
My young 4yo has been scoped twice in the last 4 months, he had peritonitis and developed ulcers as a result of all the i/v jabs he had over a two week period. He had a total of 6 weeks of Gastroguard.

Then we moved him onto Equine America U Gard, plus corn oil and glutamine. He also is feed Allen and Page Fast Fibre, Top spec cool/condition cubes plus Allen and Page Ride and Relax. I am keeping him on the prevention supplement now as he has been classified as prone to ulcers, he is away at school at the moment being backed and produced for me, so it was imperative we got him right before he went into a stressful environment.

At home he will get as much turn out as poss

Good luck with your gastroscope
 
My horse was scoped & diagnosed with Grade 3 ulcer. He was on GastroGard for 8 weeks following his scope & then following advice I put him on NeighLox & have kept him on it. He is also starch intolerant, another story, so is on low starch / high fibre feed, out all day & in at night with ad lib haylage. He is fine & has had no further problems. Good luck.
 
My mare was diagnosed 3 years ago, she was going to be put down as i couldn't even get on her, she drank a lot, bit when girthed, rugged, looked poor, didn't eat up all her feed and wouldn't go forward when ridden. She was scoped, put on Gastrogard for 3 months, then i put her on gastrocare, she has been fine and scoped 4 times since to check they are not recurring. She cannot have any grain feed, just hi fi, sppedibeet and her supplements. She lives out and is competed all year, events and has done 3 3 days, she can never go for more than 2 hours without roughage. Vet said give her veg oil but she doesn't like it!! All is well and am so glad i lsitened to Richard Maxwell as he wa my last ditch attempt after x rays of back, bloods, urine test, ovaries scanned etc, he said test for ulcers!! He now uses Gastrocare on my recommendation for his horse with ulcers!!! Good luck, pm me if you need anymore info!!

xx
 
Settlex (by feedmark) is an excellent supplement for horses with a history of ulcers - neighlox is the only supplement which has had clinical trials, but settlex contains almost identical ingredients and is a fraction of the price - especially since they are forever doing money off vouchers at feedmark!
 
SC- Neighlox isnt available now it's been upgraded to a new powdered product called Rite-Trac. It now has far more ingredients & so far im having fab results with it, definitely seems to work better than Neighlox.

I liked Settlex & love Feedmark as a company but i found you had to feed more of it which meant Neighlox was more cost effective & lasted a lot longer with better results imo.
 
Oh that's interesting! I've had great results with settlex, and I feed 1 scoop (30g) twice a day. I've never yet paid full price for a tub so usually it's about £32 for 75 days supply = about £160/year on it.

RiteTrac says you need to feed 120g split between 2 feeds, so their 6kg tub would last about 50 days for me and cost £148.50 = about £1084 a year on it!

Even if I paid full price for the settlex, I still would only be paying out £320/year.

The horse's last scope, well over a year ago, was so good the vet could not quite believe it - he did some of the initial clinical research into neighlox and took down all the details of the settlex as it had done such a good job for a fraction of the cost.

ETA: I am not surprised neighlox had to be repackaged and rebranded - never did hear what happened with all that hoo-ha! I do wish Kentucky would publish their ingredients lists too, I want to know what is in the supplements I feed before I spend a fortune on them!

ETAA: Do you feed less than 120g of the rite trac then?
 
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It seems to be lasting quite a while for me so far, i have 2 horses on RiteTrac & the 6kg tub is still going & where on day 46.

It will last me at least 60 days by looking at how much i have left, ive also found you don't have to feed to full 2 scoops a day for it to still be effective. Some days i do 2 full scoops other days 1 scoop split between to feeds.

If you email Saracen they will give you the full list of ingredients & anything else you want to know.:)

I could never get Settlex to be cost effective, guess it comes down to what the horse finds effective at the end of the day.
 
Thanks for all the comments... Some interesting reading.

She has been scoped and she has grade 3 in the non-glandular region and grade 1 at the outflow of the stomach.

So keep the experiences and recommndations coming please!
 
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