this is strange behavior on Gastrogard

[Russ]

Well, my yearling's Gastrogard prescription finally came this week after major shipping/restocking issues at the vet supply ....we are on day 3 of dosage for my filly. We are dosing correctly to her actuaul weight, as I scale weighed her. She likes her gastrogard and takes it like a pro. All was going well....until tonight. First, I'd like to say she never showed all the classic ulcer symptoms but I went with my instincts on her as she wasn't herself after her antibotic treatment back in June. There were a few ulcer signs, like yawning and teeth grinding occasionally but my vet said he didn't think it was ulcers. So after doing as my vet said waiting/changing diet I asked my for gastrogard prescription as she just didn't act herself.

Ok, earlier today she ate her grain really well as always(She never misses a meal and is in good weight)weighs 240 lbs. as a yearling)...went for her pasture this morning and felt great...she was very perky...trotting around showing off and acting like her old self before the ulcer issues. She was just cocky and so like herself this morning. Noon she got her daily Gastrogard dose. All was fine...she felt great.

Tonight for chores, I see her sitting like a dog. She gets up comes over and slowly starts eating. I can tell she was off. She eats about half her beet pulp/grain and goes over and paws at the walls. Then puts her feet in the water bucket and plays around splashing her front feet. Then she goes and sits in the dog position again. Gets up starts nibbling on her hay like nothings wrong. She has normal poops today...all plumbing working...saw her pee. She has drank good today.

What do you think? Vet says the Gastrogard is probably starting to kick in since this is only day 3 dosage. I was hand feeding her some grass and she likes it.....she goes out to graze soon for a hour on pasture.

If I was unsure before that she had a ulcer issue....I am sure now after seeing her tonight show me these signs. I'm glad I convinced my vet to let me try Gastrogard....after much research I found they don't always show the ''classic'' symptoms.........tonight she sure is.

Keeping a eye on her but boy this has me stumped! I can't help but think the Gastrogard treatment at noon must be kicking in and tackling that ulcer? If not why the big change from this morning?

Anyone else experience this on gastrogard? I have a fortune in this filly with meds, vet bills. Hoping this works and she stays well.

 

[Marty]

I see her sitting like a dog. She gets up comes over and slowly starts eating. I can tell she was off. She eats about half her beet pulp/grain and goes over and paws at the walls. Then puts her feet in the water bucket and plays around splashing her front feet. Then she goes and sits in the dog position again.

Russ, these are classic symptoms of PAIN and ulcers.

When I had this, I cut feed/grain down, and just fed a sloppy beet pulp to avoid a colic situation.

Gastroguard usually does kick in about the 3rd day from experience. Do the full 30 days. It's really good stuff.

 

[Russ]

Karla, these new symptoms, sitting like a dog for quite awhile front feet out ahead and you can tell her stomach is the cause, playing in water also which she never does...started all this tonight and pawing at the walls. I never saw her do any of this before tonight. She had her 3rd Gastrogard dose at noon(this is day 3 of a 30 day treatment plan as prescribed by the vet).....fed her at 5 p.m. tonight her nightly grain/beet pulp and hay.

She did have some other ulcer signs previously before the vet prescribed Gastrogard...at my urging as she didn't seem to be improving.

Vet thinks the gastro is just starting to kick in and tackle the issue. Said keep a eye on her....watch to make sure she has plumbing working. He says if she eats, drinks and plumbing is working....she will be fine and we should stay the treatment course. I am going to check her temp in awhile to be safe. Her next Gastro dose is tomorrow and vet said this shouldn't hurt her since she was fine the first 2 days. We definately need to get the ulcer treated since now she shows us more symptoms than ever before.....I am probably worrying too much but never been through this before. Hoping we are turning the corning to her getting better....I had just told someone today how much improvement I have seen in her the past 2 days on gastrogard and even before that when I changed her diet to decrease protein and let her have all the hay she wants plus grazing time twice a day on grass. Hoping I didn't speak too soon....crossing my fingers that the vet is right.

 

[RobinRTrueJoy]

You need at least a month on the gastrogaurd.. Three days is like peeing in the ocean, does nothing.

I do not believe that because the horse is on day 3 of the med, that she is showing symptoms, I think that is bull.

She may need sucralfate(carafate in people) This will HEAL the ulcer. The gastroguard prevents the stomach from producing too much acid. It is great stuff especially when you are trying to PREVENT an ulcer... It will take a good long time to heal an ulcer just on gastrogaurd, as good as it is.

The vet can call in a prescription to your local pharmacy( by weight) Do not order the liquid, its way too pricey. Have him order the pills. They mix really well in a tiny bit of warm water, and does the same thing as the liquid but saves you big bucks.

The sucralfate(carafate) will have the horse feeling better in 2-3 days but must be continued for several weeks. It actually coats the ulcer, adheres to it, and protects it so it can heal. Watch for constipation, as it can occur.

Good luck!

Robin

 

[Miniequine]

Hi Russ,

Is she in heat??

~Sandy

 

[Russ]

Sandy, as a matter of fact she is in heat the past few days, both mares are in heat.

Robin, thanks for all your good info. It has been hard deciding what treatment to use...my vet thought we should try Gastrogard. I hope it was the right choice. There are 2 ways to dose Gastro......the treating ulcers and prevention of ulcers....we are using the dosage on the dial to treat the ulcer. We have changed her diet to all the grassy hay she wants, and daily grazing for a hour morning and night. I have cut out alfalfa pellets from her diet. She gets Nutrena Safe choice as her only grain morning/night with a cup of soaked beet pulp.

Marty, I'm keeping her on the Gastrogard for the full 30 days...as it's all here and bought special for her....actually bought a extra tube to have extra on hand. Marty, we do beet pulp daily....I cut her Nutrena Safe Choice complete pellets to 2 cups morning/ night. She is around 33'' tall(rough measurement, might be slightly smaller) and weighs 240 lbs. on the scale as a yearling and a leggy gal, she is in good flesh...in fact the vet said she is in excellent weight/has good cover on her ribs/back....very easy keeper. I have struggled if I should cut her pellets down more? These are 14% complete pellets . I don't want to aggravate her stomach but she seems to want more than beet pulp in the morning/night. She's a big girl and never shy to eat. :bgrin

Temp was 99.9 tonight, all plumbing working....after she was out on pasture tonight/grazing she felt better. She seemed more herself, no dog sitting or anymore ulcer symptoms after grazing grass. Hoping this improvement continues, as I know at supper time she didn't feel well at all. There sure is alot to be said for the healing power of grass/grazing time...it always seems to do wonders.. I do realize 3 days on Gastro is too early to tell much, it takes the full 30 day treatment plan to see results as the vet told me...it's just these ''new'' ulcer symptoms that she showed tonight that baffled me. Like I said before if my vet and me had doubts about her having ulcer issues when we ordered the gastro....we don't now. Just glad I begged my vet for the prescription. I went by my gut instinct as the ulcer signs weren't all there like I saw tonight...and I have watched her like a hawk for months...I know this filly really good.

Thanks for all the replies and help.....I really appreciate it.

I prolly will give myself a ulcer over worrying about this filly....I never got to show her this year at all...she was to be my show filly.....getting her better is my only priority now.

: Maybe next season will be better to try showing.

 

[Marty]

Ulcers

Approximately 80% of the horse population suffers from ulcers. Equine ulcers are usually caused by human interference with a horse’s natural ability to roam free and graze. Horses naturally produce acid to the stomach. Grains, hay, and natural grazing buffers the acid. When a horse goes for a prolonged time between feedings or grazing, excessive acid builds up in the stomach, which results in a gas overload. Consequently, the results are an ulcer. Horses that are withheld grains, grazing or other roughage are prime targets for developing an ulcer. Horses that are confined to a stall, fed on an erratic schedule, without the frequency of forage are also good candidates for ulcers. High grain diets and stress from training or relocating may add to the problem.

Some symptoms of equine ulcers may include colic, sitting down like a dog, lying on his back, dull hair coat, refusing to co-operate, teeth grinding, poor appetite, poor body condition, and diaherrea.

Your vet may run an endoscope through your horse’s nostrils into the stomach to determine if there is an ulcer. He will prescribe medication for it accordingly. In addition, your vet may encourage you to help defuse the problem by un-doing the reason that may have created the illness in the first place. He may suggest that you change your horse’s schedule, increase the number of feedings per day, provide additional hay or turn out more frequently, or allow more socialization with pasture mates. Ulcers can be healed.

 

[Russ]

Thanks Marty or the info you posted, alot of what you wrote we are doing already to help her. Her big sister also named Rose(in my avatar) is her shadow-buddy......Baby Rose spends all her time with her. If Big Rose poops so does the Baby, I never miss the circus because I swear this baby is part elephant pooper....

: I think the song....''Anything you can do I can do better'' fits them as they try to out do each other on everything there is to do in the day. They are super attached to each other and have alot of fun during the day. They have always been stalled at night and that never seems to upset her as she has her buddy near by. Where we went down hill is when the Baby was treated in June for some type of fluid in her lungs...the Naxcel was hard on her stomach...I told my vet my worries but he said nah don't worry...it will be ok. We both learned from that situation.....

:

We are slowly increasing grazing time daily......this is a new patch for grazing and it's a little greener so trying to get them adjusted slowly. Main thing I keep in mind is to simplify and keep their stress down....hay all the time to eat in the /stall at night or dry lot..... when they aren't out grazing pasture grass.....never do they not have something to chew on.

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Ulcers! Hate em, loathe em, despise em! Thanks to Robin and the sucralfate/carafate my Thera got better very quickly. The carafate finds and coats the ulcer thus making a paste bandaid to protect it from tummy acids so it can heal. It's more work than the Gastro-gard, 4xd for 4 weeks then slowly less and less for another 4 but so much less expensive and worked so fast! I keep a bottle in my med chest now just in case. I hope she gets better. I used the gastro-gard also (thanks Marty) then switched to the carafate after...I just couldn't afford that huge price for the tubes.

 

[joylee123]

[SIZE=12pt]The vet here in our area told me they are beginning to believe through research, that ulcers in horses are like ulcers in people and are caused by a virus not just stress. He perscribes Tucaprim(sp) antibiotic with the gastrogard. The combination really kicks butt. This is what I used with my mini gelding and a friend of mine used on her national champion walking horse that almost died from ulcers. He was scoped and discovered to be covered in leisions in his tummy. They tried the gastrogard alone and after a month of the gastrogard at $900.00 ( big horse) they scoped him again and found he still had ulcers. They added the Tucaprim and they cleared up.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Just a thought

: [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Joy[/SIZE]

 

[Russ]

Joy, how long did you have your mini on the antibotic Tucaprim? Is it injectible? Expensive?

Is Tucaprim a antibotic commonly used to treat what other things? Just kinda curious as never heard of it before and sure my vet hasn't heard of it either unless it's also used in other animals...

 

[joylee123]

Joy, how long did you have your mini on the antibotic Tucaprim? Is it injectible? Expensive?

Is Tucaprim a antibotic commonly used to treat what other things? Just kinda curious as never heard of it before and sure my vet hasn't heard of it either unless it's also used in other animals...

[SIZE=12pt]I know it has another name too but I don't remember what the other name is. It is a antibiotic and I believe it is a common one. It comes in a powder form at least thats the form I used. It is a very fine powder like confectioners sugar. You can sprinkle it on your feed ( it comes with a scoop) or as I did mix it with Red Cell and squirt it in their mouth. You only have to give it once a day like the Gastrogard so I would give both every morning. A tub cost $65.00 and there is still a 1/4 tub after a month used on a 250lb horse. I found you can get it through Drs Foster and Smith but you need a perscription

: [/SIZE]

Heres a link...

horse.http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=16498

You can also get Ulcergard with is the same as gastrogard through bullwinklerx without a perscription and its $34.00 a tube you'll only need 4 tubes for a month. It's the same medicine. Hope this helps.

Joy

 

[Russ]

Thank You Joy for the info...appreciate it alot.

So, you gave the Tucroprim for for how many days to treat the ulcer? I see it's also dosed by weight. I will have to show my vet this product and see what he thinks. At this point I just want to make sure she gets better. The last day has been better for her ......gastrogard seems to be helping......not seeing her show symptoms like the other night...that was really severe.

I think I found the product here also Tucoprim

 

[joylee123]

Thank You Joy for the info...appreciate it alot.

So, you gave the Tucroprim for for how many days to treat the ulcer? I see it's also dosed by weight. I will have to show my vet this product and see what he thinks. At this point I just want to make sure she gets better. The last day has been better for her ......gastrogard seems to be helping......not seeing her show symptoms like the other night...that was really severe.

I think I found the product here also Tucoprim

[SIZE=12pt]That's it exactly

: I had my guy on it for a little over three weeks. He had a very bad case (my fault) he must have started with the ulcers in the winter and he was hairy and blanketed ( excuses, excuses excuses... :no: ) and I just didn't catch it fast enough. Plus to be honest I'd never heard of horses getting ulcers until that Walking horse was diagnosed with them and I began to notice the similarities with weight loss, listlessness, lack of appitite and coat condition. Neither the Walker nor my guy ever yawned or ground teeth or dog sat. Really made me feel awful. All my other kids are healthy fatties

Hope this helps you out, I'll keep my fingers crossed for your furkid

: [/SIZE]

Joy