Glandular Ulcers

Whizza

Whizza

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My mare has been diagnosed with glandular ulcers. She's spent the night at the vets, was scoped this morning and I picked her up this evening.

She's got 2 different drugs to take for the next 28 days and then the vet will see her again

I've been told to add an unmollasses Alfa to her feed, give her Haynets round her field and leave her out as much as possible (she lives out)

Is there anything else I can do to help her?

She hasn't been ridden for 10 weeks as I broke my knee, so isn't at her best ATM. I obv won't be riding her, but can I walk her a bit, or is it no exercise at all?

Any info greatly received. This is all new to me x
 
At the mo she's having formula for feet, oat bran, micronised linseed, brewers yeast, pumpkin seeds, fenugreek, and magic.
The vet has advised me to add alfalfa to promote more chewing. And veg oil.

I'd like to take her feed right back to basics tho. Maybe just alfalfa, linseed and f4f

I'll let you know what meds when I get back from the yard later. I can't remember off the top of my head.

:)
 
You've probably got omeprazole (under a brand name) to syringe in. My mare tolerated it pretty well so I think the taste is negligible. I've popped a paragraph below off Dengie's website which explains why oil is a good thing for horses with tummy problems - its definitely a key ingredient for mine (who has host of other issues which lead to the ulcers!). I use rapeseed oil as linseed oil seems to aggravate her tummy and is apparently a laxative in too high quantities.

Liquorice as a dried herb sprinkled on top also helps mine but I'd see how you get on first. Yea Sacc to support the gut was also essential in sorting mine out. I did use Alfa A for a while but she's a good doer and when I changed to oat chaff she was fine. Vets like the high calcium levels in alfalfa, but not every horse tolerates it and I think its more important to make sure they always have something to line their tummy whatever variety it is. I also found Equishure was pretty key in getting her well and its still my go-to supplement when we have flare ups. Expensive, but it tends to work within a week and gets my happy horse back.

I gave mine a full month off - which given I now know she has PSSM was probably the reason she took so long to recover from the ulcers. Grass causes flare ups with mine and if she won't tolerate the girth then I tend to hand walk her or pop her on the horse walker because she needs to keep moving.

Make sure you wean off the omeprazole slowly. There are always people on the FB site who have gone from full dose, to half dose then nothing - and they get flare ups quite quickly. The horse needs to adjust to not having the meds slowly.

Good luck!




"Oil or high fat feeds are also thought to be beneficial to horses with gastric ulcers as prostaglandins which inhibit acid secretion are derived from fatty acids. Oil may also bind free fatty acids within gastric fluid potentially creating a less acidic environment. One study found supplementing 45ml corn oil significantly lowered gastric acid output and increased prostaglandin concentration leading the authors to conclude that corn oil may theoretically be a way to increase the protective properties of the glandular mucosa"
 
Thank you so much for your reply SEL.

The meds she is on are sucrabest 11 tablets, 3 times a day and cytotec 14 tabs, twice a day. I'm to crush them up and put in her food or mix in some apple sauce and syringe them in. She's taken them fine in her food tho so far.

I feel terrible that I havent picked up on this sooner. I think with breaking my leg I had to take a step back and the ladies looking after her for me are so busy with their own ponies as well that it's just gone unnoticed. I feel rotten :(

How much veg oil should I add?

She's a 16.1 wb, carrying a bit of a tummy. Last time she was weighed she was about 575kg I think
 
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