Stomach ulcers - experience and treatment

[My bambinos]

I think my horse may have a stomach ulcer, I have spoken to various professionals and I am arranging for my vet to come out but I was just wondering if anybody had expericed a horse with a stomach ulcer - what symptons did they display and how did you treat it?

 

[Fruitcake]

From what I've heard and read, the symptoms can vary considerably from horse to horse. My horse was diagnosed with ulcers in November after recurring low-level colic. He would show signs of discomfort, rubbing himself against the stable wall and lying down. Vet initially treated him for spasmodic colic with Buscopan and painkiller but it was obviously only the painkiller which had an effect as the discomfort reoccurred. He was referred for a gastroscope which showed ulcers. He had to have a month course of Gastroguard followed by another month at a quarter dose, during which time he was rescoped and the ulcers had gone. He was then rescoped three weeks later and ulcers had come back so he's now on another course of Gastroguard. (Very pricey!) The long term management is as much turnout as possible, high fibre diet, little or no hard feed and keeping stress down. As this was the way my horse was kept to start with, I'm also researching supplements to give him as a long term preventative once the ulcers go this time. Good luck with your horse.

 

[My bambinos]

thanks for your reply, I have been advised that Acid-X from Global Herbs is a good one to use - not sure if anybody else has tried that one or can recommend any others???

 

[jenz87]

Hi MB
My horse has been diagnosed with Grade 3 Ulcers two weeks ago. We are currently under going treatment etc. So if you have any questions feel free to PM me!

My horses symptoms were two small bouts of mild colic within 3 months when she hadnt coliced all her life, and she is also a windsucker, and an extremely stressy mare.

First time the vet diagnosed a virus, and second time we went into horsepital for two days observations and tests where uclers were found. However, windsucking hasnt helped, it isnt likely to be her cause as she is a past rescue horse and was left for days on end with no food. This is where she developed her windsucking habit.

We are a week into our Gastrogard treatment, thank goodness all this is covered by our insurance as the bill for hospitalisation and tests came to £1000 and a months GG treatment is £600.

Any questions let me know

 

[lj0429]

my horse had grade 3/4 ulcers symptoms were off its work lying down during the day miserable teeth grinding a course of gastroguard and they cleared up i think it was the introduction of high cereal competition feeds that caused them

 

[reachforthebucks]

i have racehorses and they always have ulcers due to the hard training they get. I always have them on something for this and it is very effective! PM me if you want to know more about the symptoms.

 

[Tiffany]

A friend's mare was diaognosed with gastric ulcers last year. I understand symptoms vary although hers were being grumpy, off her food which created weight loss.

Originally treated with gastroguard, now on something from America - sorry can't remember the name.

 

[micramadam]

My mare was diagnosed with severe ulcers last Thursday and she came home from the clinic yesterday. She is now on a month's Gastroguard and has to go back to be rescoped in a month.

She coliced 5 times in 2 weeks. Luckily most of the time I recognised the colic in its infancy. She just wasn't herself, not interested in what was going on around her, wanted huge amounts of attention (cuddles and hugs ), lay down and keep looking at her belly. A couple of the colic attacks she was rolling and kicking at her belly, not at all interested in food (definitley not well ) and when being walked seemed as though her legs were going to give way. Very worrying.
I have done huge amounts of research on the internet about the treatments and causes and also have had lots of information from H&H (THANKS everyone!). As a result I, personally have decided that once she gets the all clear from the clinic I will be giving her slippery elm bark and chamomile tea (made from the dried flowers). Vet says this is ok because it is all as nature intended, no additives.
Now time will tell.

 

[flyngo]

I have a connemara called flyn who has had gastric ulcers. He has finished his course of gastrogard and now i have put him on Gastri-aid by Naf. The problem i have is getting him to take it with his Hi Fi diet which he is not impressed with. I give him Dengie molasses free and a few alfalfa pellets, but i have had to give him sugar-beet to get him to eat it. I have started to get him back into work but not sure how much exercise to do and whether to give him anything else for energy as he has been out of work about 6 weeks. Please can anyone advise me ?:

 

[maggiesmum]

flyngo - sugar feet shouldn't cause a problem provided its an unmolassed version e.g. speedi-beet, its a good source of fibre and the water content helps the digestive system to keep flowing. Does he need extra energy? If you think he does then how about alfalfa pellets and micronised linseed? Both are easy on the digestion and cereal free.

op - My boy has ulcers in his hind gut and they're a nightmare to treat, gastrogard doesn't really do much of them so we had to try a slightly different approach of cimetidine and antepsin but that seems to have improved but not completely fixed him. He's managed as a barefoot lgl prone so has a very tummy friendly diet anyway but he's a stress head, I suspect we're currently in a viscous circle of stress = ulcers = stress, Dr. Kerry Ridgeway is doing a 2 day clinic at the end of the month so i'm hoping he has some suggestions.
This video shows acupressure points that can be used to indicate ulcers.
http://www.forageplus.com/forageplusequineulcers.html

 

[capall na hÉireann]

I rate Gastro Plus very highly and it is suppose to treat Stomach and hind gut.

 

[flyngo]

one of the symptoms flyn had was no energy and lethargic and not wanting to work, also sweating alot. i have brought some fibre beet as it has speedy beet and alfalfa in it.

 

[mumperry]

Gastro-Kalm (Equus Health) is also meant to be good when you have finished your course of Gastro-Guard.

 

[flyngo]

thank you for that, someone else had mentioned gastro kalm.

 

[My bambinos]

It's ironic this thread should come to light again since my original post I had my boy on a supplement from the vets (sorry can remember the name) which was in a small pellet form she thought he may have a mild ulcer so it wouldn't do any harm to try this and after that I had him on GH Acid-x for a few months and I def noticed a difference the vet said to me once me was out on the summer grass he shoudnt need a supplement any longer so I finished the Acid-x and took him off it.

However i have noticed over the last few weeks he has become very sluggish again (which i have put down to the humid weather becuase he just melts ) but now I am thinking that maybe its not that and he needs to be on a stomach supplement full time.
He is eating fine, a good weight, healthy, marginally grumpy when girthing up - agghhhhhh this drives me mad maybe I should just put he back on one and see if I see a difference? Other than being sluggish he's fine.

 

[flyngo]

that was one of flyns symptons, no energy and couldn't work and sweating alot, but now i am getting him back into work and touch wood he seems much happier and has more energy.

 

[philamena]

Ulcers are one of the few things with horses that you can get a definite answer relatively simply - so if in doubt, get them scoped. It's not that expensive, and then you know for sure. If they have ulcers, they're painful. (In my horse's case, appearing low in energy was one of the clearest symptoms.) And if they're not treated, you can risk them developing back soreness and other muscle issues (if they're sore then they can 'hold themselves' during work to try to reduce the pain, and their muscles can eventually go into spasm) which can cost more time and money to sort out further down the line too. Worth spending £200 to get them scoped - or even free if you can find a Merial sponspored scoping day. (They make so much profit out of GastroGard, and such a high percentage of horses scope positive, it's worth their while paying for ten horses to be scoped cus they'll get, say, seven prescriptions out of it.

 

[OctoberWillis]

Hello, my boy has just been diagnosed with severe ulcers too. He’s been really poorly, not eating, he’s lost a lot of weight in a short period of time. He’s now on GG and a low dose of painkillers. So far he’s responded really well to treatment, started eating again, until today. This morning I gave him his ulcer friendly breakfast and he’s refused it! He is out grazing though, but I’m still concerned he’s not eaten his breakfast. The vet wants him on 4 small feeds a day to get his weight back up before winter sets in. He did have his teeth done on Thursday and vet caught an ulcer in his mouth and made it bleed, and he had his tetanus booster too.
He only started treatment for the ulcers on Monday (5 days ago) and the vet did say it would take a week to 10 days to see improvements. I just wondered if anyone else has had ups and downs like this in the first week?

 

[Fruitcake]

Hello, my boy has just been diagnosed with severe ulcers too. He’s been really poorly, not eating, he’s lost a lot of weight in a short period of time. He’s now on GG and a low dose of painkillers. So far he’s responded really well to treatment, started eating again, until today. This morning I gave him his ulcer friendly breakfast and he’s refused it! He is out grazing though, but I’m still concerned he’s not eaten his breakfast. The vet wants him on 4 small feeds a day to get his weight back up before winter sets in. He did have his teeth done on Thursday and vet caught an ulcer in his mouth and made it bleed, and he had his tetanus booster too.
He only started treatment for the ulcers on Monday (5 days ago) and the vet did say it would take a week to 10 days to see improvements. I just wondered if anyone else has had ups and downs like this in the first week?

I found that the GG seemed to make a huge improvement almost immediately. When you say painkillers, are they oral NSAIDs? If so, I would maybe question this as they’re known to really exacerbate ulcer issues.

 

[Pinkvboots]

This thread is 8 years old

 

[Fruitcake]

This thread is 8 years old

Yes, but I’ve replied as OW asked for advice. ?

 

[Pinkvboots]

I don't know why they just don't start a new one just because half the previous posters probably don't come on here anymore plus people open it see it's old and don't bother looking any further so they will get much more replies with a new one, but we'll done for replying

 

[OctoberWillis]

I found that the GG seemed to make a huge improvement almost immediately. When you say painkillers, are they oral NSAIDs? If so, I would maybe question this as they’re known to really exacerbate ulcer issues.

Initially he improved and was doing great. Until after he had his teeth done, his mouth was very sore afterwards as he couldn’t eat hay, Dengie Alfa-A and didn’t graze much but he was happy to eat his pink mash. Today, he’s now grazing but has refused his pink mash. ? I questioned the emergency vet on Monday about the NSAIDs as these are the reason he has ulcers in the first place. She said they were metabolised Bute and at low dose they’d be ok she also said not to let him eat grass because of the sugar. The vet that came Thursday for his teeth wasn’t happy about the nsaids and said to reduce the amount by half for few days and if he’s ok stop them, he also said to let him graze during the day. As he hasn’t had breakfast today he hasn’t had The nsaids, he seems happy grazing at the moment at least.

 

[Fruitcake]

Initially he improved and was doing great. Until after he had his teeth done, his mouth was very sore afterwards as he couldn’t eat hay, Dengie Alfa-A and didn’t graze much but he was happy to eat his pink mash. Today, he’s now grazing but has refused his pink mash. ? I questioned the emergency vet on Monday about the NSAIDs as these are the reason he has ulcers in the first place. She said they were metabolised Bute and at low dose they’d be ok she also said not to let him eat grass because of the sugar. The vet that came Thursday for his teeth wasn’t happy about the nsaids and said to reduce the amount by half for few days and if he’s ok stop them, he also said to let him graze during the day. As he hasn’t had breakfast today he hasn’t had The nsaids, he seems happy grazing at the moment at least.

I think there are so many differing opinions re grass and whether the sugar affects ulcers. If you go on the Horses with Ulcers FB page, it's full of anti-grass warriors telling you to feed turmeric and bicarb!!!

My horses generally live out. Granted, they don't have lush grass as they're all natives, but I've found being out and able to nibble constantly is preferable to standing in a stable as adlib hay isn't ideal for a fatty either. ? It's so difficult to find a happy medium and I found it took time to find a balance that worked.