Help with treating ulcers

[nchorsegirl]

I'm new here! I have an 8 year old OTTB gelding. I've had him for 19 months now. In that time, he's been in three different barns as a result of some moves my family and I made. One resulted in a long haul move. He doesn't like to trailer and even coming down in a huge van didn't help him relax. He's been at the new barn since July. He arrived there quite thin (one of the many reasons he was moved this last time) and after increasing his hay and pellets, he had no change in his weight. After having the vet out to see him, it was decided he looked wormy (ribby, bloated and coat looked mangy) and so he was power packed. At first, it appeared he was improving. But, he's been at a stand still so we had the vet out again. Blood work and fecal sample were normal and no parasites. The vet suggested we could scope him for ulcers but he felt pretty sure with the horse's history, that ulcers were a real possiblity. We've decided to treat him for ulcers without the scope. My question is since I don't want to spend all that money on UlcerGard, I've been told he could be treated with ranitidine or similar meds. I was also wondering whether there were any feed supplements that help to prevent and/or treat the ulcers. He has a pretty good disposition, but there are times that he has a poor attitude about working. I'd love any advice and suggestions to help my guy feel better.

[Einstein]

You can try treating with rinitidine, but it's a pain, lots of pills 3 (or 4) times a day. Gastrogard is expensive, but I'm a firm believer in it. When I bought my horse Porter he had an extreme case of ulcers, his actually perferated. Gastrogard (and a fantastic vet clinic!) literally saved his life. I haven't found a thing that works as in suppliments or things like that.

Honestly GG is the way to go, it honestly heals them and although expensive up front, you treat and they are gone, provided you take away what caused the ulcers in the first place. Good luck with your boy!

On a side note, my old big jumper was a classic ulcer horse, he cribbed, was hard to keep weight on, was a little touchy, and spooky...we all believed 100% he had ulcers. Scoped him and there was nothing. Rescoped in 3 months, still nothing so now I scope before treating any horse with GG.

[Dawn]

I used cimitidine (generic for ranitidine) as an ulcer ruleout on my gelding. My boy showed overt symptoms. Almost like colic right after he would eat a few bites of hay/grain he would get uncomfortable up/down no rolling but up down and standing away from the food then back for a few bites and the cycle would continue. Once started on the cimitidine all of that went away and he ate with a great appetite.
In this case the ulcers were caused by a tumor that was blocking digestive acids so in the end we had to let him go and never got to a real ulcer treatment regimen just using the cimitidine to identify them. So his case was a bit different.
There are lots with ulcer experience here that can help you though. I know my vet had said if the meds we had him on worked that we would go ahead with the ulcerguard to do a better job of healing the ulcers which he didn't feel the other would do as good a job of. There are generics available now tha are cheaper but again not the voice of experience on those.
I would work at the ulcers first and wouldn't be surprised to see much of your other attitidue issues resolve with his feeling better. Ulcers are known for causing irritibility and lack of focus as well as of course not wanting to work with a tummy ache
Welcome to the board!!

modified to fix my spelling and to add Michelle/Einstein is right the meds you are talking about were 3 times a day (4 would have been ideal but with my work schedule not a possibility) and depending on the horse up to 7 pills that you had to somehow get crushed and down him. One of those little food choppers will be a very good friend to you.

[Lam9]

A good read:
www.lunatunesfreestyles.com/ulcers.htm

That said, I used generic omeprazole for 2 months with my horse. It worked while she was on it, but the symptoms came back when I took her off it. I will tell you what I did, but remember that you are taking some risks with the quality of the meds - I ended up doing a month of ulcergard (a full tube a day, it's the same stuff as gastrogard). I did this so I could order off ebay. I risked that the meds hadn't been stored properly, but in the end it worked and I saved a few hundred dollars. You can do a search on ebay for the stuff.

For your peace of mind, you could pay the 25% extra and get it from your vet. At the time, I was so angry at Merial for ripping people off with their patent that I wanted to do whatever I could to pay as little as possible for the stuff

[MegaRock]

Don't post here much.......but. Turnout is your best friend. The more turnout the better! I have seen first hand what turnout does to an OTTB who is prone to ulcers. My sister sent me her TB and it did him a world of good. I put him on U-Gard also. She had him treated for the ulcers before he came here but the turnout was the thing that did the trick. (IMHO) He is no longer on the U-Gard and is fat happy and healthy!

When he first got here in NY he was on the thinner side, my sister was working on putting weight on him.
Pee Wee March 2008


Pee Wee August 2008


Pee Wee October 2008

[missgrey]

Awwww-there's my little fatty!!

Turnout,turnout,turnout is your best friend!!!!!

[JulieM]

My horse may have had mild ulcers. We did not scope him because his symptoms were not that bad (no colicy behavior, etc.). The vet told me that likely, if he had them, they are mild and could possibly heal on their own with the right treatment (managing the stomach acid). Since his symptoms were mild, I decided to go with conservative treatment.

1. Turnout at least 12 hours per day unless weather is REALLY ugly.

2. Free-fed hay or grassy field -- whichever is available (basically, keep that belly from getting empty!).

3. Alfalfa products. It is said that alfalfa may help due to the high amount of calcium. Either way, he loves it, it agrees with him and it helps keep him in calories.

4. U-Gard. I also used GUT which worked but is a lot more expensive and U-Gard works just as well for us.

5. Before riding I feed alfalfa cubes and U-Gard all soaked together to make sure he has something in his belly as well as the U-Gard.

So far, so good!

[animaldoc]

As far as treating ulcers, gastroguard is the way to go...the other things are great prevention for once you have the ulcers healed....

[bluebluesea]

Coming in late, and maybe it's already been resolved, hope it has, but while I agree with the turnout, I also have to say looking at the diet is a good route. My horse was always a bit on the thin side and started having major issues a little over 2 years ago. Treated (without scoping) like it was ulcers with gastro-guard with no improvement.

Eventually had the diagnosis of a malabsorption disorder and was basically sent home to have him die - euthanasia was really recommended. I wanted to give him a shot. It took until earlier this year to connect all the dots. Got with a wonderful nutrition vet in CA, and he's not had any issues since. He even got of the steriod he'd been on.

I have to say getting the turnout and the diet back on track are key to most ailments.

[guiltygirl]

Any good sources for the Gastro Guard. My QH was colicky last weekend and now with blood work back and still wont eat believe he has ulcers-anemic and low white blood cells. Only now I cant get him to eat anything. My poor boy is just miserable-he was tubed last Sat. Which didn't go well. He has suffered from choke in the past and now we figured out he definitely has some kind of stricture just over his stomach opening. You get the tube in and it just kinks in half. He is drinking but wont eat anything HIs tummy hurts

[Einstein]

GG I'm so sorry about your older guy, he sounds like Mikeyt who is prone to choke. The last time the tube kept kinking on him as well, it's awful.

I'd search on COTH I think there have been a lot of thread on the cheapest places to get GastroGard. I think one is a place in Florida but can't remember the name of the website.

Good luck with your guy. Porter had perferated ulcers when I bought him, he couldn't eat without colicing. 24 hours after the first GG treatment he was so much happier about eating. It was amazing to me how fast it helped him. He was on it for months but at least he could eat again without colicing.

[lolatwo]

My mare got really stressed out last year when she went to mississippi for the winter circut. She colic very badly and spent 4 days in the clinc with an impaction. Thank goddness she did not need surgery for she passed her impaction on the 4th day. It is amazing how delicate the stomach of a horse can be then add stress on top of it a total change in weather and bam before you know it they are trying to well basicly die on you. The vet bill was so expensive that I could of treated her for ulcers on gg for a year.

To make a long story short, if I would have just put her on it before she went down there I probably would have saved myself the heart ache and the stress not to mention the money before she got so sick. She never presented like a horse with ulcers but the fact that she is one of those sensitive mares that cares a lot about her job a little on the hot side should have sent the single to me that i should put her on gg for at least the horse show, cause frankly i should know better. But for some reason I did not put her on it before she went there.

Any ways when she came home I treated her with gg for about 3 months and know she is very healthy and fine. Every time I go to the horse hsow I always use a topical just for a preventitive. GG is the only thing that actualy will heal there stomach. The value that they get out of it is worth every single penny and can save you from a huge exspense in the end. In my humbelest opinion do not mess around with trying to find an alternitive just kick the problem in the butt. The alternitives are not that cheap either and know way shape or from can heal ther stomachs like gg can. Lets see a $5,000 vet bill for the impaction colic or about 400 for the gg to me it is a no brainer. Good luck

[animaldoc]

GG I think you need more diagnostics on your horse - ulcers don't usually cause anemia and low WBC. A stomach scope would rule out (or in) ulcers and then you might know better what you're treating (or if you should look harder for some other cause for the abbnormailties).

[nchorsegirl]

My guy's issue was resolved with a course of oral famotidine; would have gone to gastro guard but he did well. Now he is on a probiotic with antacid and is putting on weight and his coat, feet and skin have all improved.

[diane]

what great news !!