Scoping for ulcers: starvation

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CMcC

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I have arranged to have pony scoped for ulcers on Wednesday. He needs to be starved for 16 hours before scoping. I am worried about getting through this time as he gets very grumpy if he doesn't have access to feed (one of the reasons I suspect ulcers).

Also he doesn't were in the stable so I will have to take him out every few hours to wee (he is trained to wee on command), how am I going to get him onto grass to wee without eating?

Anyone been through the starvation before scoping can give me some reassurance that it will OK and worth it in the end. He has a few behaviour issues that come and go so would like to confirm/rule out ulcers as possible cause.
 
When taking him out simply keep hold of him and don't let him put his head down to eat.

Personally I wouldn't bother scoping for ulcers as you can only see stomach ones and not hind gut as the scope doesn't go that far. I'd treat for them anyway.
 
EKW said:
Personally I wouldn't bother scoping for ulcers as you can only see stomach ones and not hind gut as the scope doesn't go that far. I'd treat for them anyway.
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Thank you for that, I was seriously thinking about just treating. Will discuss with vet.
 
Agree with EKW, with my boy we did a 7 day trial of UlcerGold which almost immediately transformed him. Our vet wrote a note basically saying he'd shown significant improvements during the trial and as such he felt he would benefit from a full course of UG. The insurers happily agreed to this and we've just completed his treatment and now have him back on supplements. I wouldn't scope unless I really had to.
 
If you have insurance just check with them that they are happy to pay for treatment without a scope.

KBIS said they would only pay with a scope and if the ulcers were grade 2 or above so worth double checking!
 
CMcC said:
I have arranged to have pony scoped for ulcers on Wednesday. He needs to be starved for 16 hours before scoping. I am worried about getting through this time as he gets very grumpy if he doesn't have access to feed (one of the reasons I suspect ulcers).

Also he doesn't were in the stable so I will have to take him out every few hours to wee (he is trained to wee on command), how am I going to get him onto grass to wee without eating?

Anyone been through the starvation before scoping can give me some reassurance that it will OK and worth it in the end. He has a few behaviour issues that come and go so would like to confirm/rule out ulcers as possible cause.
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Take to vets the night before so they can manage it. Ours vets only charged £20 for an overnight stay as didn't need any feed!
 
gunnergundog said:
Yes it appears that Tim Brazil has written them a paper saying that grade 1 is 'normal' and evident in 99% of horses. :(
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It's so frustrating as if mine had only had grade 1 I would still have wanted to treat them! My vets said that they would fight with KBIS for me if they refused to pay for treatment.

KBIS also said they would stop paying for treatment once the ulcers got down to grade one so I'm waiting to see if they will cover my tapering off dose.

oldjumper said:
Take to vets the night before so they can manage it. Ours vets only charged £20 for an overnight stay as didn't need any feed!
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I also dropped Ed off at the vets the night before and let them do the starvation! Much less stressful!
 
I thought my mare would really struggle with the starvation, but she was fine. I took her haynet away at 6pm, her water away at 9am and Tim did her scope around 10. When she came round from the sedative she yelled her head off for food which is much more her normal behaviour, but she'd been pretty chilled all morning.

Can you not encourage yours to wee on command in the box so you don't have to take him out?

I was with KBIS. We only had 1 x grade 2 ulcer but a very inflamed stomach lining. Tim wrote it all up for them and they paid without issue.
 
I would not treat without scoping, you just don't know what you're dealing with!

A horse in pain with severe injury will show similar symptoms to a horse in pain with ulcers and the quicker you find out the better.
 
I was worried about starving ours beforehand but it was absolutely fine. I think we stress too much about it. It was easier in that we had to leave the yard first thing so didn’t hang around.
 
H4lyc79 is just a lousy attempt at advertising a medication website -all these ulcer threads are old and can be left alone. (And if anyone feels inclined they can probably get the Fat Controller/Admin to remove the dubious account...)
 
H4lyc79 said:
I did treat without scoping and tbh think lots of people do. You can tell quickly if your horse is responding to treatment. Mine was a different animal with 2 to 3 weeks . I used Omeprazole bought from www.horseulcertreatment.co.uk at a fraction of the cost of the vet product. The product arrived next day. I did lots of reading and there are no real known negatives of using omeprazole on the short team so thats why i just gave it a go
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Oh wow, they are selling it in the U.K. now? That's useful to know.
I treated one I suspected using this to avoid scoping but had to order from America.
 
Sorry but if we are dossing about on a forum surely by definition we have nothing better to do with our time currently. Laws and legislation are often there for very good reason, not just to be an inconvenience.

It is only right and proper that people are warned if someone is recommending that they engage in an illegal practice on an online public forum. It is up to them what they do with that information. You also cannot claim that you have no idea when you have had the situation regarding prescription only medication explained to you previously, and you best not go telling anyone who that vet is.

You sign up to the T+Cs when you join a forum, it is usually best to read them the same for everything else in life.
 
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