Gastric Ulcers - How to Treat/Manage?

3Beasties

3Beasties

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 September 2008
Messages
15,574
Visit site
Charlie is showing all the signs of having Gastric Ulcers
frown.gif
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
frown.gif
 
One of mine has Ulcers.

Haylage a big no no, Hay only.
I personally wouldnt be feeding the Build Up Cubes, i dont know if these contain any Molasses tbh but they do contain cereals.
I personally would swap to something like Topspec Cool condition cubes.
I feed Topspec Topchop Alfa to mine, he used to hate Dengie Alfa Oil but love Topchop.

I would also add Micronised Linseed to his diet.

Pink Powder is a Vit/Min Supp with added Pre & Probiotics so you shouldnt feed another Vit/Min supp with that otherwise you risk overdoing the Vit/Mins.

As for anything else, you could consider adding something like Coligone, Acid Ease, U-gard or NeighLox.

I feed mine NeighLox now after going through them all NeighLoz is the only one proven to give the horse a 6 hour Buffer. It does seem to help as well.

I always give my horse a handful of chaff with 2 scoops of Neighlox before riding, lunging or Traveling. Just to help prevent the Acid Splash.

However if your horse is suffering Ulcers you really need to get a scope done & get them Treated Properly as none of the above will get rid of the Ulcers. You would need to talk to your Vet about Options.

As for work well if he's looking poor, i would be keeping work light.
 
If you are in the Devon area St Davids Equine practice are giving a lecture on gastric ulcers and their management in April as part of their annual series
 
the only way to treat ulcars as such are to have him scoped to check the grade of them and treat with gastro guard which can all be claimed on insurance. once they have been treated you just give him the correct diet and as little stress as possible. another sign of ulcars is a lack of performance, quick weight loss, not going forward when ridden and discomfort when doing girth up! were prety certain my horse has them but im not going through scoping him as he is in good condition so im not worried, he is just a huge stress head so is turned out at 6am and brought in when he wants to come in! alafa a is good as it contain anti oxidents which are good for gastric ulcar sufferers! i feed mine on hoof kind (for the biotin) calm and condtion as it has protexin in it for digestion, fibre beet which tbh, he has improved since hes been on this. conditoning cubes (only untill he finishes this bag though) globalvite and muscle up. and adlib haylage and he is fine! he box walks so i also give him a bucket of aldwick grass at night which he munches on through the night!
 
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
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top