Gastric Ulcers - How to Treat/Manage? *also in NL2*

3Beasties

3Beasties

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Charlie is showing all the signs of having Gastric Ulcers I don't really know much about them so was hoping for some help/advise on how to correctly manage them to make him comfier.

He is a 16.2hh TB that is looking very poor.

I know diet plays a big part in management so what should be fed and what is a big no, no?

At the moment he gets fed twice a day, each feed consists of

1 scoop Build up cubes
1/2 scoop Alfa A oil
1/2 scoop Happy hoof (only so he'll eat the Alfa A!)
Mixed with speedie beet

He also gets Pink Power and a vitamin and mineral supplement.

He is out during the day and in a big barn at night, up until a few days ago he was getting 2 massive haynets a night but now he's getting as much hay as he will eat.

Does it matter how much work he is in or the type of work he does?

Any other things to consider?

He is not happy at the moment
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Hi,

I dont know much about ulcers but I also suspected this in my pony after her showing the signs.

She is now on a high fibre diet and the change has been dramatic!

She is also fed Alfa A and Happy hoof with Fast Fibre and Pink Powder.

I think alfalafa plays a big part in neutralising the acid and they recommend giving your horse a handful of this before riding to stop any splash backs of acid.

The only thing I would say about her diet is to maybe remove the build up as it contains cereal which may aggrevate her tummy. The lower the starch level the better I believe.

Hope this helps
 
You really need to get him scoped to determine the grade. He may need to go on a course of gastroguard to clear it up. Vet is the first point of call I think, then management afterwards.

In terms of management, high fibre diet (no sugar/garlic or anythign that could irrtate the stomach), constant access to forage (I prefer hay to haylage) and maybe an ongoing supplement like settlex (I didnt notice a difference) or gastrocare (made a huge difference but really expensive).

Also, try to avoid splash ulcers by making sure he has some fibre 30 mins before exercising (scoop of hi-fi lite or something) - that was a really good tip I learnt from Spotted Cat who has a lot of experience with GU.

Hope your boy picks up soon.
 
I had a young kwpn horse id bought and sent away for backing that had come over from holland. A month after coming back he began constantly rolling, id read an article and thought it sounded like gastric ulcers. I booked him in at the vets and had him scoped. It turned out to be the case that he had gastric ulcers and a course of gastrogard was prescribed.

The only way to know whether your horse has infact got ulcers is to have him endoscoped to determine the grade and severity. I hope hes also ensured as the scoping and months course of treatment works out to around £1200.

Since this every winter he has had colic! I believe he has a real acidic stomach and for some reason, the cold wet weather aggrovates it. I have tried so many things to help him, high fibre diet, supplements, had him re-scoped.

He can be such a nightmare to ride aswell, someone recommended coligone to me, and this is the first year in 3 years that he hasnt had colic! He definitely is a happier horse.

He is fed on dengi/nuts/alphabeet/vitamin supplement and as much hay/not rich haylage as possible approx 20lbs or so a night he eats, i always make sure there is a little left int he morning so i know hes had access to forage all night.

You firstly need to have him endoscoped to determine whether it is ulcers that is causing the problem, the problem was my horse has always had the most beautiful coat and always looked well so it isnt a 'golden rule' that poor looking horses are the ones with ulcers.

then you need to prevent it, as much fibre as possible, whenever tied up they should have access to a haynet, find a supplement that works for your horse, i have tried several different feeds/supplements and coligone is the only one that has stopped the colic, pink powder had no effect. Coligone buffers the stomach and smells very similar to the gastrogard they are first treated with. If there is ever a stressful situation i give him a syringe of coligone ie before travelling. Supplements are very individual to each horse, so its seeing what works for yours. Before riding make sure theyve either had hay or a small fibre based feed.

The change in my horses behaviour is amazing, he still has the odd little relapse but in a cheeky way.
 

Thanks for your comments.

I spoke to the vet today as I was waiting for some blood results to come back, they came back clear (I was expecting him to have another virus) so the vet thinks it's almost certain that he has Gastric Ulcers.

He gave me two options,

1 - get him scoped and then go from there
2 - Don't scope him, assume he has ulcers and treat him with Gastro Guard (which I will really struggle to afford at the moment
crazy.gif
)

I'm going to take him of the Build up and look into feeding him something else, he's having ad-lib hay at the moment and I've order him some Aloe Vera Juice which should hopefully help.


Milosdad - unfortunately I am in the midlands but there is also a Lecture about them in Wolverhampton, I've been offered a free scoping but I can't get him there
frown.gif
 
Weezy - He has lost weight, very dull coat, loose poos
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, Sensitive about his girth/rugs, slight loss of appetite and fitness loss. He looks like a bag of sh!te (excuse my french) and is just really miserable in himself
frown.gif


He's been off since around Xmas time but I put it down to the weather, as he hasn't improved I had his bloods taken as he was showing some of the same symptoms when he had a really bad virus last year, I thought that it had come back.

I had the Chiropractor to him last week and he was surprised by how much condition he had lost, he mentioned Gastric Ulcers then. When the vet looked at him on Tuesday that is one of the first things he came up with too.
 
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