Protexin- A warning

dianchi

dianchi

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I have held off from posting about this in the hope that it will resolve itself, as it hasn't and im getting the blame I thought I would post and see if anyone else has had this problem.

My mare is a lil skin pin- always has been, TB through and through, but as she is going to be 20 next year and still in full work I was a bit worried that I wasn't doing all I could to help her with her weight, and trying to get more on her before winter looms!
I had seen an offer on a fb group from the direct protexin rep in my area that a "starter pack" for £15, this was the quick fix paste and a pot of gut balancer, seemed like a good idea and the rep even came out to the yard to visit, said she was an ideal candidate to try and see if this could help pick her up and get more out of her feed.
So I did the paste for a week then started the powder and the problems started....
She just started scouring, and I mean really badly, I thought perhaps it was due to a field change so popped her back into her original field. 3 days later and no change I thought well I will stop the powder, stopped it and she settled back to normal again.
As I had changed fields I wondered if this had been the trigger so started the powder again, ok for a few days then back to scouring :(
So I called the rep back and explained the problem, said that she had now lost weight and that I was a bit worried about using their product. She said that looseness was a common effect for a few days and that I needed to give it a week trial to see if it really was a problem.
So I followed the instructions, did a week and she was awful, I couldn't ride or work her as she was so washed out by it all.
So after 7 days I gave it up and called her back and said it was no better and that it really was a problem with their product, she said that she would pass back to their QA and get the batch tested for any issues.
As she had been ok on the paste she dropped me off two more of the paste to see if we could help my girl out, but after two days on the paste she was getting worse so I stopped it.

The QA at protexin has asked if my horse has any allergies to alfalfa- she doesn't. Or if I knew of any of their ingredients that she would be allergic too- ummm no.

And then it went silent.

My poor girly lost about 60kg (as per weigh tape) during this ordeal and now I have her on livery so she can be fed four times a day and she is getting through 4/5kg of conditioning feed a day to try and put the weight back on, so far we have managed 20kg back on.

I chased them in the end to find out what was happening, to be told that there was nothing wrong with their product, I said I was disappointed that I had to chase them for an answer, and that it didn't really help me as I am now more out of pocket for using their product that to start with!

The MD then emails me saying that he has contacted me as he has my horses welfare in mind and is very concerned, then repeats the "nothing wrong with our product" line, then offers to see if there is anyway in which he can help my horse with a "strategy" or "advice".
So ive emailed back asking what he thinks he can help with, the only advice I can currently see is not to use your products! (yes mildly childish but fed up of "its not our fault answers")

Its gutting that you think by trying these products you can help your horse only to end up in a worse place and the company be unable to offer anything other than "its not our fault".
I doubt that there is any comeback on the company but just so that others are aware, wouldn't want anyone to go through what my girly has :(
 
I did speak with the vet over the phone who said to take her off anything new and then add things in so that you can eliminate what the problem is- which I did.

I don't think there is any come back, im just annoyed at protexin for how they have dealt with this really, and that "no fault with our product" is an answer. No questions as to how is she doing etc, just its not our fault so go away sort of attitude :(
 
There quite probably isn't any fault with their product.
It's most likely your horse is allergic/intolerant to their product (or something contained within it)

That doesn't mean they have necessarily communicated with you in the best way, and especially when it has affected your horse so badly.
 
I'm sorry to hear about the problems your mare has had.
If the company has tested their product and it meets the defined specification then there really isn't much more they can say. Unless they have a spate of other horses reacting in the same way the fact is that it isn't their product at fault, but your horses individual reaction to it.

Unfortunate for you and your horse I agree, but you can't really slate the company for this. I think their response and investigation sounds far more than you would get from some other companies out there, at least they did investigate and the MD made the effort to contact you!!
 
Its more a warning of how they treat people who have an issue, ive felt as though I was wrong to complain/raise my issue, ive had to chase them for their findings and im the one with a horse in a worse state then when I started!

The MD has only contacted me as I sent a email asking if they normally just ignore customer issues, to their QA lady after she didn't reply to three emails I sent her.

I think their customer care is awful, and as soon as there was a problem no one wanted to deal with it.
 
Hmmmm, in the grand scheme of things it's not really that long to wait for an investigation and response considering their request for you to continue the trial for 7 days and them investigating at their end.
 
Hi OP, I hope your poor old mare picks up quickly, they are such a worry especially right before winter.
I use Gut balancer myself but have never had a problem. Id imagine as others have said that your horse is intolerant to something in it.
 
Try some yea-sacc if you can muster up the courage to try her on something else. I do like Protexin and have had success with it but nothing sorts out scouring like a couple of weeks on a double dose of yea-sacc. Make sure you buy it from someone reputable though, Pro Earth on eBay are who I normally use, their customer service is fab too!
 
Blimey, poor you and your horse. I personally haven't had a problem with protexin but I don't doubt your experience and I know how scary it is to see the weight drop off like that.

I know you may be wary of trying any other products but I can reccomend haemavite b plus, its not a gut balancer but a tonic, its used in both the racing industry and the treatment of ill/malnourished horses. It's a fantastic product, do a google search for it and have a read up, if you use it I'd feed at the maximum dose to get her back to a good weight.
 
Protexin was the breakthrough with my TB who came to us with a very poorly tummy.
We had tried yeast sacc which made zero difference it was my trimmer who suggested Protexin hes how a big musclely hunk not a skinny mini.
It obviously does not suit your horse .I have had one issue with a product ( not protexin ) not suiting some of our horses I got the vet to deal with the company .
That bucked their ideas up, they don't like pissing off vets .
 
Its not nice when companies give you the brush off is it. I would query whether it is right for the rep to advise you to keep giving it when it was giving your horse the runs. Also does the md think it acceptable for it to regularly give horses the runs for a few days? Maybe it is ok i have no idea having never used it or heard of it before.
 
OP - I tried protexin for my gelding recently (well a few of months ago) i decided to try it instead of my normal supplement. My gelding has had ulcers, and although treatment with gastroguard was successful, i am careful to manage him to prevent them coming back - so a 'tummy' supplement is one of the things i use. I stopped my old supplement and put him on protexin... it had an awful effect on him and i know it was the protexin as i have had periods where he was getting no additional supplement, and the main/biggest difference was just stuff like coat quality etc. but no major/obvious behavioural changes. on the protexin he was just horrible, and seemed pretty unhappy himself - his 'bucks' were back, and i was almost in tears with him.

I put him back on his normal supplement, and within a couple of weeks... he was back to normal, happy, easy to do, and looking lovely (I've never really had major weight concerns with him though) - the supplement I use (and swear by) is Lifeforce - its seriously been the making of my boy, and I'll never make the mistake of taking him off it again. It contains the yea sacc others have mentioned, plus Rutland Horse Extras where i get it from are super helpful! definitely worth trying, my boy looks amazing on just a half scoop of dengi hi fi mollasses free, some ERS pellets if his work is hard enough and a scoop of boswellia to help his joints (preventative measure only).
 
I can understand their reluctance to admit liability, or acknowledge it's a result of using their product, but that's very infuriating for you I'm sure. It does sound like it's probably not a product issue, but an allergy-type response with your mare as an individual. It's just one of those things unfortunately. Perhaps the welfare comment was ill-advised on their part.

Good luck finding a way to get some weight on her.
 
Most of these supplement products are sold under a food label so matter how much 'testing' the rep, manager has said they do not have to tested rigorously like medicines which they try to mimic. In all probability she is allergic or intolerant to one of the ingredients and I should ask they for a list of ingredients which they probably won't give you as its confidential commercial information.
All these companies are doing are buying very basic ingredients, packaging them and selling them at a highly inflated mark up, next time someone tries to sell you one as for the clinical trials data any thing less and it food which must be safe to eat but it not a wonder drug. They are out to make money that's all. You know what are in drugs, they are manufactured under strict controls.
I am really sorry your mare has been unwell and I am sure now you've stopped giving her it she will improve, it fit makes you feel any better mine reacted badly to Paracend prescribed by the vet, pooped like a cow, lost weight but she fine after stopping the treatment.
 
It doesn't seem like they have handled it well - how frustrating for you! They should not have encouraged you to continue using the product when you felt that was not the right course of action.

As a balance, I've used it on about half a dozen horses with success and seen it used on at least that many more with good results. It's very unfortunate it didn't work for your horse. Good luck finding a solution for her, both recovering from this episode and over all.

Clearly it does not agree with every horse, though. (Like most thing!) it would be interesting for you to get an ingredient list so you can start ruling out the various possible triggers to make sure she doesn't end up getting them in any other food.
 
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My mare has it incorporated in her feed and its been great!

It just sounds like an allergy type thing really, just like many feeds don't agree with certain horses, but I'm sorry to hear your mare lost so much weight and I hope she gets better soon.
 
Your horse could perhaps be allergic to something in the supplement or it just simply doesn't suit her.

My horse used to scour quite badly but then I put him on their gut balancer and it seems to have resolved all problems. I also put him on the quick fix if I know a stressful event is going to be happening. The protein range is so effective that the majority of people only yard use the whole range of supplements.
 
I am appalled that they have dealt with you in this manner, particularly as you were asked to persevere with the product, against your better judgement. I would have expected them to refund you the cost of the product.
Over the years, we have had problems with various supplements and different horses. Now we only use single ingredient supplements and carefully introduce them one at a time, noting any changes in the horse really carefully. We are also extremely careful only to give ingredients fit for a herbivore. We use dry bran for any scouring/looseness. I would recommend soaked grassnuts with dried grass chaff and Speedibeet to put weight back on gently, without risking further upset.
 
While I would never condone poor customer service such as OP seems to have received, I have to say that we have a 20 year old for whom we were considering PTS he was in such poor condition. This was despite many visits to the vet and the equine hospital, various medication and supplements, and just about anything else we could think of. As a last resort, we took him off all other supplements, and fed only fast fibre and pergolide from his previous feeding regime but added protexin. The results were amazing. We had a comfortable, relaxed horse who had previosly colicked at least once a month. He finally began to put on weight and hasn't looked back. Just trying to give a balanced view and say that it does sometimes work very well. That said, I am really sorry to hear about your problems with your mare OP and hope she is soon fit and well.
 
I'm not sure there is much else they can do, if the product is not faulty and you have no veterinary report to indicate there was a problem with it you cant really expect them to get involved no matter how many times you contact them

if they ask how the horse is or say they are sorry that could be jumped on as an admittance that they could be at fault
 
I would be VERY wary of any 'supplement' which the seller expected to upset the digestion of any horse! I would however always try and keep in mind that an advisor is actually a salesprson and the only thing they are bothered about is selling product.
 
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