Gastric Ulcers

JoClark

JoClark

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My horse has just been diagnosed with extensive Grade 1 and Grade 2 ulcers. I am getting Gastrogard next week and he is on it for 30 days. He is an 8 year old Irish Sport Horse, more on the TB weight side. He is approx 550 kg.

What does everyone feed there horse after treatment, I assume a lot of starch is not a good idea.

I have him on calm and condition, Baileys lo cal balancer, Alfa A Molasses free, alfalfa pellets. I am thinking of changing the calm and condition to Baileys no 4, would that be ok? He isn't the best at holding weight and cribs. Hopefully not as much with the treatment.

Any advice on anything to do with ulcers would be a great help?

Thanks :)
 
JoClark said:
My horse has just been diagnosed with extensive Grade 1 and Grade 2 ulcers. I am getting Gastrogard next week and he is on it for 30 days. He is an 8 year old Irish Sport Horse, more on the TB weight side. He is approx 550 kg.

What does everyone feed there horse after treatment, I assume a lot of starch is not a good idea.

I have him on calm and condition, Baileys lo cal balancer, Alfa A Molasses free, alfalfa pellets. I am thinking of changing the calm and condition to Baileys no 4, would that be ok? He isn't the best at holding weight and cribs. Hopefully not as much with the treatment.

Any advice on anything to do with ulcers would be a great help?

Thanks :)
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Eek... Bailey no 4 is full of starch and sugar. Alfalfa makes him footy and gut ache.

I switched to Fast Fibre, micronised linseed, readigrass and adlib hay plus forege plus Winter balancer.

After Gastrogard he got put on RiteTrac by KERX as GG didnt resolve ulcers completely. After RiteTrac I had my horse back to himself after 48 hours of being on it.

If he's a poor doer u can up the linseed.
 
I swear by Top Spec as there are no cereals in it and its great for keeping weight on my daughters Tb. He is on Top Spec cool cond cubes, top chop alfalfa, cool balancer and aloe vera juice.
 
mind if I thread crash!??
well im going to anyway ; ) hope thats ok.

my mare is currently getting over mild lami (my fault, came to me as a bag of bones and ive put her on to much grass.) she has had 5 days of bute and has responded well. pulse has gone feet are cool. but now she has gone sensitive to touch around her flanks and lower tummy, she lets me touch the area but looks round and scowls if I continue. her poo's look normal, she's got a great appetite (ad lib soaked hay) and she's drinking fine. my first thought was ulcers. ive only had her 3 months and dont know much of het past other than long journey from ireland (stress and probably witjout food) and when I viewed the poor love at the dealers yard she had no food.
the vet has suggested we give her time to fully recover from lami and get back to her normal routine and turnout before we look into and scope for ulcers as it may just be a mild tummy upset from box rest.

my question is this...
with 'perfect' managament, ad lib hay, simple feeding (cup of topspec cool balancer a day) and something like acid ease by protexin (or any suggrstions) along with aloe vera juice can ulcers ever cure/heal themselves or is gastrogaurd the only way??
i will of course take my vets advice but am just researching at the min.
 
Chamomile flowers and slippery elm bark powder. Or, gastro plus, expensive but worth it in the long run. Prevention is better than cure.
All mine get these after I lost my mare Ruby to a severe bowel infection earlier this year. She colicked 2 times a day for a week and then colic every 3rd or 4th day whilst in horspital (7 weeks). She also had gastric ulcers diagonosed the year before which we kept under control (after gastrogard) before the bowel infection a year later. As a result I'm now pretty good at spotting even tiny colic signs now in the horses at the livery yard.
 
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Thanks for your suggestions. He has been on gastrogard for 3 days and already seems more content.

I have been told by vets and feed companies alfalfa is great for ulcers and to buffer the stomach acid.

I spoke to Baileys and they did say No.4 would be too much for him. So sticking to calm and condition, baileys lo-cal balancer, lucie pellets from simple system, alfa a molasses free, corn oil. With ad lib hay.

I have done a lot of research into ulcers and gastrogard is the only cure at the moment. In america they do another version ulcergard but it is a maintenance dose, it is a lot cheaper as it hasn't gone through the same testing as gastrogard but the same company make them both. I have been told by vets that corn oil is good too. I would go with corn oil and alfalfa until you can get scoped. Maybe the vet will give you a prescription for gastrogard, I have noticed a difference within 3 days so a week would be a good indicator. My horse is a cribber and he has already really cut down.
 
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