Vitamin e deficiency

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BBP

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Any ideas why a horse would not respond to supplementing with natural vitamin e? He is only 14.1 and 400kgs and is on 6000iu of equimins natural vitamin e oil daily, more occasionally. So far I've had 2 blood tests done before I started supplementing and 2 after and they just aren't improving, he is still deficient. Vets have no idea why his bloods aren't reflecting the change. They suggest changing back to nano e at 8000iu to see if it's better absorbed. He is undergoing treatment for glandular ulcers, part of the treatment is sucralfate which I understand works on hind gut as well, his glandular ulcers are virtually gone and he doesn't show typical signs of hind gut discomfort but it's not impossible he has an issue.
 
Ask your vets re the possibility of the sucralfate affecting the absorption of vitamin E,......as it is a fat soluble vitamin, I would think it possible if not probable that it is relevant?

In human medicine there is evidence for sucralfate interacting with a variety of medications, but I suspect there is little work on it in horses.
 
Thanks for the reply, that's interesting. He had no improvement before the sucralfate started though, he spent a couple of months on it with no increase in blood levels, in fact it went down. He is a little higher now but still not near 'normal range'.
 
I did wonder about that but he doesn't show any classic signs (that said I'd never have thought he had gastric ulcers either!). My understanding is that sucralfate would have a beneficial effect upon the hind gut if it had ulcers. He has been on brewers yeast for a while and is now starting yea sacc as well, so i am hoping that would have some positive effect if his gut wasn't functioning effectively. He looks really really well, so in my mind if he had a problem absorbing most major nutrients he would look poorer. That being said, there must be a reason behind it.

I calculated the cost of 8000iu of Nano-e a day to be £40 a week!! I love my horse but I think that's a crazy amount to spend.
 
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