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  Discussion on Unresponsive to Gastrogard
Author Message
New Member:
Horrocks

Posted on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 5:20 pm:

Sadly I lost a six week old TB filly to a perforated ulcer on Sunday. This filly was diagnosed three weeks ago and had been on Gastrogard for the duration. Two and a half weeks into therapy the filly became more lethargic, developed a low grade temp and had profuse yellow pus draining from her nose. The vet heard a stange "whoosh" upon exam. Upon consult with UT and Auburn, it was determined that a portion of her lung may have blown out as a result of a Roddococcus (sp?) abcess rupture. She displayed no signs of distress and had no temp, but was grinding her teeth. The vet and I were shocked to find that she perished from the ulcer. The ventral portion of the lungs were diseased, but there were no abcesses in the chest cavity indicating roddococcus. Any ideas? Tissue results are pending. Today the mare became incontinent and showed increased neurological problems. We are wondering if she may have developed EHV due to the stress of losing the foal. It's been a bad year already!!!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, May 13, 2004 - 6:37 am:

I am sorry to hear of your problems and losses Sherri. There are many bacteria than can cause pneumonia in foals so you will have to wait for the lab results before you will know for sure. The mare came in contact with some pathogen that the foal had: perhaps it started with a herpes infection in the foal which would account for the initial snotty nose. The foal developed a secondary bacterial pneumonia and ulcers the mare has developed the neurological form.
DrO
Member:
Horrocks

Posted on Thursday, May 13, 2004 - 8:09 am:

Thank you Dr. Oglesby. Any thoughts on the lack of response to the Gastrogard treatment? I'm sure her immune system was quite compromised with everything going on. Her IgG was at 124 a couple of days before she died. We gave her IgG plasma. Unfortunately this is my first foal and my vet at the time somewhat discouraged a foal check. I will demand one next time! As for the snotty nose, it was pouring out in buckets. The mare is responding to treatment, so hopefully we can save her.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, May 14, 2004 - 7:51 am:

Gastroguard is currently our most powerful treatment for ulcers so you could not have done any better but in the face of severe disease it is not a cure all.
DrO
Member:
Lilo

Posted on Saturday, May 15, 2004 - 10:33 am:

Sherri,

So sorry to hear about your filly. Hoping things will go better for you.

Lilo
New Member:
Pyricon

Posted on Thursday, Oct 7, 2004 - 4:30 am:

Dr. O is correct in that Gastroguard is the only FDA approved equine ulcer treatment available today. Gastroguard's modality is through the control of the stomach acid production. It is VERY expensive, averaging $100 per day in cost, with a 28 day treatment period recommended by the manufacturer. This is to be followed up with a maintenance dose of half the treatment dosage ($50 per day). OUCH!
Dr. John Byrd at the Santa Fe Equine Sports Medicine Hospital, has used Equine Essentials on race horses (both at Ridiuso (sp?) Downs in Santa Fe and at the Santa Anita Park in California) suffering from gastric ulcers of grade 3 through 5. In his study, using a scope to evaluate the lesions, Dr. Byrd found that Gastroguard produced the quickest results, but over the 30 day treatment period, both the Gastroguard and Equine Essentials horses achieved a significant decline in the severity of the lesions. Note: Gastric ulcers are evaluated on a 1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the most severe. Depth of the lesions, not the number of lesions, controls the grading. Both approaches "cured" horses with Grade 3 ulcers.
Equine Essentials does not have any effect on acid production, but instead appears to function through a stress reduction modality. Since Equine Essentials costs only $6 a day, this provides an alternative for the horse owner with a limited budget.
Hopefully, other treatments will be developed which can prevent the loss discussed above.
One additional note, the cancer studies on Tahitian Noni juice (which is a primary component of Equine Essentials) showed a significant improvement in immune function, including macrophage, NK cell, leukocyte and t-cell functions. I am putting all of my arabian horses on the product, especially the pregnant mares! Dr. Byrd had astonishing results with West Nile cases. Dr. Tran finds that the parvo puppies respond much more quickly when Tahitian Noni juice is added to the course of treatment. We have not lost a parvo dog since the juice was added to our treatment protocols. Since we have not been able to find any adverse effects or drug interactions, there does not appear to be a significant downside to adding the juice into the treatment. However, we have found when treating cats that the juice does stain clothing. Cats HATE oral medications! Thankfully, the horses love the juice. Please note, the Doctors insist that I mention that their results came from the Tahitian Noni International product, not any of the other 'knockoff' versions. This disparity has caused problems in the past, as some studies which did not support the medical benefits of noni were based on the cheaper products. Unlike drugs, nutritional products vary widely in their effectiveness due to differences in harvesting, cultivation and processing, etc. I hope the upcoming season is more fruitful for you.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Oct 7, 2004 - 8:18 am:

Though David's post and Dr. Byrds finding interesting there are no scientific reports showing noni (Morinda citrifolia and perhaps other species) juice is effective treating ulcers in humans or any specie. This anecdotal reporting should not be used to switch from traditonal treatments with good proof of efficacy and safety.

There are some interesting published studies implicating noni juice may indeed have anticancer (and other) effects in a pietri dish and immunocompromised mice. But currently there is no scientific work that shows this might be a more useful therapy than any other fruit juice.
DrO
Member:
Redalert

Posted on Thursday, Oct 7, 2004 - 12:01 pm:

What is equine essentials, and how does one get it? I have a half arab who developed ulcers due to stress and meds that were used to treat an eye condition(he had a corneal transplant). I do not plan to take him off of his maintenance dose of gastrogard, but the equine essential sounds interesting for other horses in training!}
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