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  Discussion on Maintenance of ulcers after Gastroguard treatment
Author Message
New Member:
nauset79

Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 12:57 pm:

I am currently in the first month of treating my horse with Gastroguard and will continue to do the follow up treatment for another month. However I would like to hear what preventative measures people have used for horses that live in busy training barns? I have read the article here by Dr. O and found it very helpful, however I do not have access to grass paddocks, only dirt (I do try to handgraze for 30 minutes every day). Also, my horse has free choice hay and is on Ultium for grain.

Has anyone had success with ulcer supplements such as Ulc-rid? I know to stay away from anything which will cause an acid re-bound effect so I would like something heavily based on pro-biotics, slippery elm etc. Also, I plan on using Ulcerguard for particularly stressful situations (showing, trailering, thunderstorms).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Member:
ekaufman

Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 2:20 pm:

Hi Vanessa,

Expensive little tubes, aren't they? Good luck.

I've had a couple rounds of horses scoped with ulcers here. These were related to importation stress and one catastrophic injury. For those guys (and in general), I try to supplement as little as possible. When I do need to give them small amounts of concentrates, I add corn oil. Alfalfa is also supposed to be helpful (and this is all in the article). I don't believe in probiotics-- can't convince me there's anything alive in there!

The best thing I've found is to give the horse a good buddy, hanging out time, sunshine, and a regular work schedule. Some day (when the Merial rights expire) someone will crack the code on this problem. For now, it seems like keeping them in as happy and simple a program as possible is the general recommendation.

- elk
Member:
dres

Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 2:27 pm:

I also found to give the horse something to eat in his belly before riding..a flake of hay works best.. don't know why but it seems to help keep the acid from sloshing around in there ..* or so i was told* try to stay away from bute.. If going to a show.. give them the Gastrogard prior to / during / and a day after the show..

On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with spots.
Member:
stevens

Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 3:06 pm:

Vanessa,

My boy gets lots of grass hay in addition to his alfalfa. In addition, he gets around 1 pound of rice bran with 16 generic ranitidine pills (forgot the mg, but it's the stuff from CostCo) both in the morning and evening.

He's been on this protocol for over 5 years since doing the Gastroguard treatment after being diagnosed with an ulcer (he was scoped both before and after the treatment) and there has been no recurrence.

The lady I bought him from has recommended switching from rice bran to Safe Choice as she believes that a low-starch diet is the key, but I've only recently found a local place to buy it. I'll be switching the next time I need feed.

Good luck,
Chris
Member:
martina

Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 6:11 pm:

Hi Vanessa. Our gelding is doing well, close to a year after UlcerGard treatment. He is a very sensitive horse, and I am always worried that another bout could occur if I am not diligent. So he is given U-Gard 2X powder in his meal each morning, and provided a small tub of soaked alfalfa cubes each evening. So far, so good. I tried Neigh-Lox and another supplement with licorice root, but the U-Gard works well and he likes it, even though he is typically finicky about powders. Good luck!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 6:26 am:

Hello Everyone,
can we know the active ingredients in the Ulc-rid and U-Gard?
DrO
New Member:
nauset79

Posted on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 8:50 am:

Dr. O,

This is what I could find about Ulc-rid:
Ingredients:
Herbs including echinacea, licorice root and slippery elm, live probiotics, potassium and naturally occurring vitamins and trace minerals, accessory factors such as fatty acids and allantoin. Flavored with unsulfured blackstrap molasses.

U-Gard ingredients:

Kaolin, Calcium Carbonate, Magnesium Oxide, Glycine, Zinc Oxide, Diatomaceous Earth, Methylcellulose, Silicon Dioxide, Dried Apple Pectin Pulp, Aloe Vera Gel, Sodium Propionate (a preservative), Iron Oxide, Natural and Artificial Flavors.
Member:
lloyd

Posted on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 1:55 pm:

I have used Gastorgard and Generic Omeprozole $60 dollars Canadian vs $15 dollars Canadian on my race horses and find no difference, they both worked great. They both have the came amount of paste and the results were the same for my horses.

Lloyd
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 9:49 pm:

Lloyd when you say generic omeprazole are you referring to Ulcergard or some other product.
DrO
Member:
lloyd

Posted on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 11:03 pm:

They are the same product. One is generic. 60 a tube for the Merial...15 for th generic. Both worked great for my racehorses, however I only use the generic.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 6:57 am:

Lloyd, you are correct when you say omeprazole is omeprazole no matter the source. But that does not make products containing the same amount of omeprazole equivalent they may be formulated differently and this effect the way they work. In fairly well conducted studies at the University of California it was found that some generic forms of omeprazole do not work in the horse. Last I heard some researchers were wondering if the ph and volume of the paste is an important factor in getting omeprazole through the stomach intact. Ulcergard, which some call generic, has been shown effective. But everyone needs to be very careful about other generic formulations, for more on this see the article on treatment of ulcers.
DrO
Member:
lloyd

Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 3:15 pm:

Dr,

All I can really tell you is that both horses were diagnosed and had serious ulcer challenges. I put one on Gastrogard and one on what is called Omeprazole / Sucralfate. They both come in a 2 g tube. After 2 days both horses were eating better and after 10 their performance was much better. They were again diagnosed 22 days later with no signs of ulcers.
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