Care & Management of Ulcers in Horses

[Baptism]

Our 32 year old mare was sick several times. We have finally figured out it is ulcers. All regular health maintenance is up to date. I am now giving her 300 mg of Cimitidine 2 times a day crushed up in applesauce with a little corn syrup. This has made her comfortable and symptoms have gone away. If I stop she gets sick again. She is very thin now from loss of appetite while sick. What sort of management and treatments have worked for you? Is there any other care I can give her? I am thinking this is going to be a long term treatment for at least months?

Also, she has been removed from the herd of 5 because a couple of them at the lower end of the pecking order liked to run her off for no reason. Stress was coming from them and not from being without them. She is loose around the yard in the summer and if she feels the need for company she will stand by the goats or near the fence where the others are.

Gastrogard is a little out of my budget!

Thanks very much,

Joni

 

[Marty]

Joni I have also used Cimidine with good results. Takes about 2 months using that. I mashed it up

with the end of a spoon and put it in a syringe of buttermilk.

I have also used Gastroguard with quicker results. 4-6 weeks. You might find someone to split

the box with you so it would not be that expensive if you can get someone to chip in.

I also used probios with it and a bit of yougurt, Dannon or Yoplait are the ones you want to give while on the ulcer meds.

The key here while healing is to find the cause and elimiate it, which you already did. That makes

for a much more speedy recovery. Try to find your little girl a playmate for companionship that she really likes and is comfortable with. If its the goats, or one special horse from the herd, so be it. She might be pineing to be back out there with them so maybe you can just bring her best friend with her in the yard too. Soon as she is happy again, that will be the real medicine for her.

 

[Jill]

Thankfully, I've only dealt with it once and the horse is now in another home, but we treated her very easily and successfully with a course of Ulcer Guard paste from our vet (but can be bought now w/o a prescription) and then 2x a day before meals gave her U-Gard which is a powder you can put on their feed. Since she was fed along the fence with a couple other horses, we disolved it in a tiny bit of water and syringed it into her mouth before meals (it is okay to do it that way). She never had another episode with us and is doing really well with her new people.

 

[RobinRTrueJoy]

I have had some experience with ulcers, having had a colt with a bad ulcer once and having ulcers myself.. Cimetidine (tagamet)works on the parts of the stomach that actually produces the acid as does prilosec( omeprazole) or Gastrogaurd. It is my experience that while cheaper, the cimetidine doesn't work as well as gastrogard or prilosec.

These above mentioned things are great, but I believe when an ulcer is suspected that at first, you should have the horse put on Carafate. This will actually put the medicine right over the ulcer like a little protective gel and allow the ulcer to heal, ask you vet about this, the horse will need to be on it for 3-6 weeks maybe more. When the vet writes the prescription, tell him to write for the PILLS... NOT the liquid. The liquid is more expensive. The pills dissolve VERY quikly in a teeny amount of warm water. Don't waste extra money on getting the liquid.

IT would be best to also give the cimetidine(tagamet) or gastrogaurd(best)(or over the counter PRILOSEC)... cheapest at SAMS CLUB. These two drugs (gastrogard/prilosec and Carafte)will work hand in hand to heal an ulcer.

Do not give it at the same time, should be given no closer than an hour apart.

Once finished the carafate, the gastrogaurd or prilosec( or at least cimetidine) should be continued for several weeks. Why???? So that you protect the newly healed ulcer site from acid, by keeping the amount of acid in the stomach down to a minimum. After several weeks, I would give it very other day for a week or so then eventually stop it. WHY???? Because you don't want a "Rebound" of acid pouring into the stomach.

THEN when the drugs are stopped..... with every feed, I would give powdered U GARD... which is a long acting "maalox antacid type "powder. I would give this with every feeding for several months then decrease to once a day then finally stop it. Regukar maalox or mylanta doesn't work. It is fine for an imediate quick fix for ulcer discomfort but doen't last long like the powdered U GARD.

Also... it helps to keep hay in front of a horse with ulcers. Keeping their stomach with something in it,helps a lot.

Good luck,

Robin

 

[wildoak]

In addition to all the above - which is great advice - alfalfa has been found to help buffer the stomach somewhat, so if she can eat alfalfa you might include a little with every feeding if she's not already getting it.

Jan

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Ulcergard and Gastrogard are the only really proven and researched methods of completely healing ulcers. Other medications such as Cimitadine are good at healing them ENOUGH to make them asymptomatic, but they don't completely heal the damage except at very high dosages, almost to the point of costing just as much as Gastrogard.

Ulcergard and Gastrogard are the same medication in the same tube, just different dosages. Ulcergard recommends 1/4 tube per day, Gastro- recommends one tube per day (for 1200lb horses). In minis you could get away with 1/8 tube/day for maintance and 1/4 tube/day for healing.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Gastrogard was out of my pricerange too but my vet had me try the Ulcergard dosage for a week to see if I had any good results. When the horse's appetite increased immediately we knew he had ulcers and treated him for a month with at a sort of in-between dosage. Gastrogard is one dose per tube for a big horse (four doses for a mini) and Ulcergard is four doses in a tube for a big horse (16 doses a tube for a mini). I was supposed to start him off with a 1/8 of a tube for the first couple of days then cut back to 1/16 of a tube but ended up keeping him on the 1/8 tube dose for the full 30 days. It was twice the Ulcergard dose for his weight but half the Gastrogard dose and hence quite a bit more price efficient than the full shebang. He actually stayed on it a bit longer than that at the 1/16 dose due to his surgery and respiratory illness since we didn't want the ulcers to redevelop. At 1/16 of a tube it's about $2 a dose.

I have noticed that now he's going off his hay again so I suspect the ulcers either didn't go away completely or did but are redeveloping from a rebound of acid so I too am looking at putting him on a daily preventative like U-Gard. I was planning on using the Ulcergard preventatively before and after shows but apparently that isn't going to be enough.

Leia

 

[minih]

I haven't read everyones response, just wanted to let you know what we have found out and what we do. The tagamets you are giving are only for maintenance and not for curing the ulcer. It will relieve only, what we have found to work is ulcerguard in a tube, I give the first dose a full dose as stated on the tube for the first time, then I give 1/2 the dosing on the tube 2X a day. You should give for a full 30 days on a bad episode, but I have given as little as two weeks if I catch it as soon as it starts. I have 2 horses that will get nervous and ulcer over just about anything, but they have not had any symptoms for over a year since I started doing this. I routinely give new show horses a dose before we leave on a show for the first time until they figure out what is going on. This has also helped. Do you have any idea what is causing your mare to ulcer?

Nevermind, I reread what you wrote on why....is there any of them that she gets along with and could buddy with her?

 

[COTTONGRASSFARMS]

Have experience with it too. Used the gastroguard at the beginning to get it under control ( only 7 days worth couldn't afford anymore) . For maintence, I have been using STOMACHE SOOTHER which is basically papaya. It brought back her appetite , is affordable and natural. We haven't had an episode in 6 months. I use it daily and if stress is going to rise such as a new horse coming in the herd I double dose. I also soak her food and give hay before the grain as a buffer Has worked on my mare.

Kim