Need help with products(Treating mare with ulcers)

[Diva's Girl]

My 15 year old mini mare, Diva, was recently diagnosed with moderate stomach and hind gut ulcers via fecal sample after she presented moderate to severe colic symptoms a few days ago. We had bloodwork done as well but are waiting for the lab to send us the results.

I am gradually changing her to a temporary gentler soaked alfalfa pellet diet with ground beat pulp in substitute for hay to help her heal as well as looking for different products to help prevent as well as heal the ulcers she has. Diva is a very nervous horse and a performance horse on top of that so she is pre-disposed to them and will need to be on a maintenance to keep them at bay. She was on free feed of timothy hay but since we have been having really bad droughts here in Alaska the hay has gotten stemy and I believe that may have also contributed to her getting ulcers.

I've been looking at these for her. Have any of you used these and know if they are safe for use on a 36" roughly 278-300lbs mini? Are there any other products you have tried or have read about that you liked?

http://www.abler.com/gastric-ulcer-treatments

http://www.depaoloequineconcepts.com/collections/digestive-health/products/excel

Another concern I have is with her joint supplement. I use Missing Link Hip and Joint but it has cane molasses in it which is bad for building acid so I need to switch her to a new joint supplement that does not have concentrated sugars in it.

Thanks a bunch in advance! This is an entirely new experience for me and I am trying to learn as much as I can as quickly as possible so I can help her. I am giving her some herbs to help with her stomach right now while we wait for the temporary prescription meds to come in the mail. Slippery elm, marshmallow root, licorice, and aloe vera juice.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Prebiotic is my suggestion. I had a nervous horse and that worked for him. I got it from Dynamite. Not probiotic but prebiotic. It works in the hind gut.

My 19 year old driving horse is on Adequan injections for arthritis and bone spurs and he acts like a young un again. He has been on it 14 months. He is also on the joint supplement by Dynamite. It is a powder.

Good luck with your girl.

 

[amysue]

Our colt with ulcers responded very quickly to gastrogard paste. After completing treatment the bet recommended keeping him on ulcergard and it has kept him in check. I do agree with Marsha on the prebiotics because if her gut flora is out of whack, the ulcers will keep coming back. I have always had excellent results with cosequin for joints, both my horses and dogs are on it and getting around wonderfully.

 

[bevann]

I have had great success with giving 6 CC of aloe vera juice in mouth by syringe 2 times daily.It can be bought at Wal Mart in the pharmacy section,.It was suggested to me by an equine vet at Rutgers University in NJ.worked great for me and no side effects for the little guy.

 

[Cayuse]

I have never used the Abler product but have read lots of threads about them on the Chronicle of the Horse forum if you want to search over there. I have heard them called "Blue Pop Rocks."

I do not know if they are safe for minis and this is something I have been meaning to ask my vet as I just got done treating mine for ulcers, so I'll be interested to hear what the responses are. It seems a lot less expensive than the gastrogard.

 

[Strangeaddiction]

Bio Mos and Yea Sacc have worked wonders on any of my horses with ulcers! Also work great as an ulcer prevention and good overall gut health. It also makes their skin and coat nice and shiney

So that is a bomnus

 

[chandab]

I have had great success with giving 6 CC of aloe vera juice in mouth by syringe 2 times daily.It can be bought at Wal Mart in the pharmacy section,.It was suggested to me by an equine vet at Rutgers University in NJ.worked great for me and no side effects for the little guy.

How big of a mini for the 6cc? TY.

 

[SpringFlowers]

I use to give 2 tbs. of aloe juice, that is from Walmart too, twice daily, in mash, to my 32" mini. Worked great. But that isn't what the OP is asking...I know nothing about the products mentioned in their post.

 

Gastroguard is a great product. You can also give them something like Extra-strength Maalox or Tagamet or something similar if you don't or can't get the Gastroguard -- which is expensive.

The "key" for ulcers, is to treat them even though the symptoms go away. It takes a long time to heal an ulcer, and even if it appears she has recovered, don't be fooled. I used to treat for 3-4 weeks after the horse seemed to be better. You must give it time to really heal.

I don't know about any of the other "natural" things mentioned here. So, I'm no help in that area. But I have used "human" medicines for ulcers, just syringing them in several times a day before meals.

Hopefully, our resident vet will help.

 

[bevann]

When I gave 6CC to a Mini he weighed about 150 lbs.You can up the dose IMO it won't hurt I have used it myself for severe indigestion after some very hot spicy chili.It worked great on me and no side effects

 

[Diva's Girl]

Thank you, everyone!

 

[sfmini]

I always give the least popular suggestion and that is roughage, and lots of it. The stomach of a horse is designed to have roughage in it all the time and it's the never ending production of acid combined with an empty stomach that can cause that trouble. You have to give the stomach acid something to work on or it will work on itself. I'm thinking the stemmy hay had no impact unless she wasn't eating it.

 

[Margo_C-T]

I agree 100% with sfmini. I am afraid lots of 'show horse' people don't want to hear 'feed them pretty much all the roughage(suitable hay, meaning mostly a decent quality grass hay),they will eat', having deathly fear of the horse getting a 'hay belly'...but it IS what a horse evolved and is designed to EXIST ON(and, once acclimated to this kind of feeding, the horse who is otherwise healthy and getting plenty of the right kind of exercise(see below)is very unlikely to become fat OR have a 'belly'!!

The advice about continuing to 'treat' for ulcers past the time when the horse 'seems better' is sound, for sure, BUT....I firmly believe that serious ulcers will often reoccur unless serious management changes in the way the horse is both fed and kept, are instituted, and continued. Slow-feeding techniques can help immensely==Note: horses with a history or risk of ulcers will usually benefit by being fed SOME alfalfa, but alfalfa does not lend itself well to use in most types of 'slow feeders'; I give moderate amounts of alfalfa in a 'typical' hay feeder, the balance of their hay is grass and goes into slow feeding bags); once a horse becomes used to having full access to hay forage when it chooses, most aren't likely to become obese. The other 'key' is non-confinement; provide access to PLENTY of room for the horse to move around for at least a significant portion of every 24 hour span. If the horse must be confined at any time,provide a spacious 'stall'---more than 8' square....unless the horse will only spend minimal hours shut into it. The 'paddock paradise' idea...of adding another fence a number of feet inside your perimeter fencing to create a 'track' that your horses may travel on...and the bigger the better...is one of the best innovations in years to help with this 'real exercise/movement' factor! Go easy on concentrates(grains, 'textured' feeds, even pelleted feeds); and if extra calories are truly needed, use a concentrate that is forage-based...examples are Total Equine and Thrive(am sure there are others). If you have a horse with ulcers, you can help it out as much by these kinds of management changes as with any other means.

 

[Diva's Girl]

She is on free feed alfalfa hay(eating approximately 8-12lbs a day) in a slow feeder until we get our new shipment of softer brome hay in(All we can find that is not as stemy right now), mashings 4 times a day with compressed alf pellets to help her take her vet. prescribed meds(NO molasses. This is pure, compressed alfalfa). She has HIND GUT ulcers as well as gastric ulcers which are more common.

Treating hind gut ulcers is much more tricky than stomach ulcers and stemy hay will cause more harm than good to her hind gut. It can't be broken down easily and will sit there and not ferment properly causing more irritation. Stemy hay actually causes the "hay belly" look as it creates access fluid in their hind gut and sits there for a while, It isn't caused by the amount of hay they eat though temporarily they may have a little gut but it should break down. Diva has been on free choice hay for over 4 years and I also strongly advocate for it but unfortunately I have to be extremely careful on the consistency of hay I give her.

She is in a large stall with a spacious free choice run that she has plenty of room to run and play in all the time with toys and I often turn her out with her mini gelding companion in a bigger paddock during the day after she has her medicated mash "lunch" so they can run and play together for about 4-5 hours. They usually live together but since she has so many special needs right now they can't be together. Once the new hay gets here and they both transition to it then they both can move into the large paddock.

She has shown dramatic improvement and is almost pain free!

She has 2 1/2 more weeks to go on meds and then she will switch over to new stuff for maintenance. Thank you so much everyone for your comments, opinions, and information!