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  Discussion on What can I expect from the ulcer medicine? Cure diarrhea????
Author Message
Member:
carolann

Posted on Friday, Sep 12, 2008 - 5:50 pm:

My gelding who suffers from chronic diarrhea with no known medical explanation, was recently put on Generic (made by the previous owner's vet) ulcer medicine. The reason was I called to see if the previous owner could explain the diarrhea. She said that although the horse showed no symptons of ulcers- sweet disposition, doesn't react to leg, raging appetite, good coat,... she put him on as a "fluke" and it worked. (No scope was done). It took me 2 months to get the medicine from her vet. What can I expect from this medicine? I got a 100 day supply at around $3 a day. How long will it take before I can see results? Will it affect the diarrhea? I also bought Neigh Lox waiting on the medicine to show. Is it beneficial in anyway? Thank you.
Carol
Member:
paul303

Posted on Friday, Sep 12, 2008 - 11:28 pm:

What, exactly, is the medication, Carol? My mare was rushed to the clinic a couple of years ago, scoped, and found to be "riddled with ulcers". She went to the clinic because she was down, and moaning....in obvious pain. Gastroguard and Sulcralfate brought her around pretty quickly. I have to tell you...she never had diarrhea. Have you received, perhaps, Ulcerguard?
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Saturday, Sep 13, 2008 - 8:15 am:

Lee & Carol,

I do not think the preparation is ulcergard, that costs much more than $3 a day. What it might be is the active ingredient in ulcergard and gastrogard is omeprazole. This is also the active ingredient in Prilosec the human equivalent that treats heartburn. Omeprazole can also be bought in large pill quantities generically and perhaps even in liquid form much much cheaper than the name brand products.

Now, I am only conjecturing, since there was no mention of ingredients in Carols original post, which makes it hard to know what the vets concoction really is, but I will bet that he has figured out a way to make a much lower cost omeprazole product that he can make some money on using generic ingredients. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Vets have been concocting their own stuff for years, leg paints, nebulizer solutions, liniments etc. even the ingredients they put into their foot blocks.

The question, however is what is really going on with your horse and why does it have chronic diarrhea and this could be from many things from feed to environment. It could also be from nerves. I'd be curious to know if it is constant or does it happen at certain times? I have had racehorses be fine 10 minutes before I threw a harness on and as soon as I put the harness on very loose, then once they are bathed and put away they are just fine again. I think horses can turn it on and off at will depending on the circumstances.

I think you may need to get to the root of the problem first.

Good luck with your horse
Rachelle
Member:
carolann

Posted on Saturday, Sep 13, 2008 - 5:59 pm:

The active ingredient is omepriloze which is the only ingredient I can find on the container. We don't know why he has diarrhea but I have had stool samples taken and tested, blood and urine- all negative. He is given free hay choice but does react to alfalfa a little at first. He can be fine for about 10 days then it is back to water for 5 days or so. He is worse after eating in the morning, better at 3:00, then back to diarrhea by 10 pm. He has not been solid since getting him 5 months ago. He is a little under weight but not much. The reason why I am trying the ulcer medicine is only because the previous owner says it worked. We've tried everything else...
Carol
Member:
paul303

Posted on Sunday, Sep 14, 2008 - 12:49 am:

Ok, Carol, so you'll be giving the omeprazole now? Will you let us know how that goes? In the meantime, go over DrO's article: Diarrhea in Horses. There are suggestions for management and treatment. I think the important thing is to make sure that you try only one thing at a time so that you are able to keep track of what is helping and what is not.

In the meantime, could you tell us a little more about your gelding? It might help to know the age, breed, what he is used for and his living - pasture/stall/turnout, situation.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Sep 14, 2008 - 12:13 pm:

Hello carol,
I would call this an experimental use of this medication so we really do not know what to expect. If the previous owner had this work for her I would ask her how long. Note that some forms of generic omeprazole have not been effective in horses for more see the article on Ulcers.
DrO
Member:
carolann

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 16, 2008 - 3:52 pm:

He is 11 and is mostly stalled ( I know that is one reason for ulcers) but I board and he is in training for 6 months out of the year and then he will be "on vacation" the next 6 months where he will be turned out. He is used for western pleasure for my 13 year old daughter. He has been on the medicine for 1 week and the first few days his diarrhea was really bad. Had Prednizone been useful in treating diarrhea?
Carol
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 17, 2008 - 2:47 pm:

In cases where there is non-infectious inflammatory bowel disease prednisolone may be helpful but prednisone is not a drug that works in horses Carol. For more on these topics see:
Diseases of Horses » Colic, Diarrhea, GI Tract » Diarrhea in Horses » Diarrhea an Overview

Treatments and Medications for Horses » Anti-inflammatories (NSAID's, Steroids, Arthritis Rx) » Prednisone, Prednisolone, Methylpred

DrO
Member:
winifred

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 17, 2008 - 3:09 pm:

Carol, I'm jumping in here just to commiserate. My 13 year old gelding has had diarrhea for nearly three years, with brief interludes of nearly normal manure. He seems perfectly happy and healthy in every other way, just squirty most of the time, which looms as an enormous drag as winter approaches again!
My current vet (he's had four) feels that he is grass and hay intolerant, so has him on a beet pulp product only. That worked for a while this summer, but now he's back as bad as ever.
Anyway, I feel your pain.
Member:
carolann

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 23, 2008 - 8:19 pm:

Well... possibly great news... The gelding has been on the "generic" ulcer medicine for a week now and his stools are finally round balls and he is urinating more often. We showed him over the weekend and he was a different horse. No issues, very quiet and responsive. My daughter placed better than she had all year- placing in the top 3 in each class. We were amazed. So we will keep our fingers crossed and hope this is the answer!
Member:
scooter

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 23, 2008 - 10:46 pm:

Interesting, thanks for the update.
Member:
paul303

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 24, 2008 - 12:49 am:

wonderful, Carol, thanks for keeping us informed!
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