Assure Guard Gold NG - but in a syringe?

[starsandsun]

My internist recommends AGG, but my horse absolutely refuses to eat it. Please don’t think I’ve tried every single thing the company and others have suggested - he will not eat any of it. Not one speck.

But. He probably would benefit from the product, so I have an alternative idea.

AGG sells a nasogastric-delivered product for vets. My vet is going to talk to the rep to see if it would work if I split the bag into 4 doses, mix with water at the dosing time and deliver via 150 ml syringe. The product is specially treated so I would have 10-ish minutes before it gelled.

What do you think?

Anyone use it before? Would this application work? I think based on price I could only afford to do it weekly, but even that would help his gut.

[cnd8]

I would not do that. The concentration of the psyllium is far greater in the NG version, if I’m not mistaken.
My horse has a GI condition requiring AGG longterm (foreseeable future). I have now actually switched to the lesser version, AG, and have added my own pelleted psyllium (Su-per psyllium is a brand, in particular, that uses a very similar process as Arenus to make the psyllium pellets) to save a significant amount of money. But I did feed the AGG product for 3 years before switching to the AG/psyllium combo of my own.

My horse goes through phases where he decides that the supplements are just not for him. LOL When he does that, we soak a handful of alfalfa pellets in a generous amount of water and dump that on top of his grain/supp mixture. It covers the scent and then he will then gobble it all up, no problems.

When he’s being good though and is in his phase where he’s being less picky (usually), we hold his grain bucket under the faucet for a few seconds and toss it all around so by the time it gets to him 15 minutes later, it’s all nice and wet. Makes the supplements and the grain mix less distinguishable, and gives him a slight amount of hydration too, which helps with GI matters. This is how we normally serve his grain.

[Pico_Banana]

I have a horse who is so naturally chubby she just gets a v/m supplement with some timothy pellets rather than grain, and she suffers from FWS so she gets psyllium powder with every meal.

Mostly she eats it okay even though she doesn’t love it. Every once in a while she’ll refuse to eat it altogether and I sprinkle a handful of Triple Crown Senior in it and a tiny sprinkle on top and she will eat it then. That usually only needs to happen for a few days and then she’ll go back to eating it.

This is probably similar to something you’ve already tried but just throwing it out there. Best of luck.

PS, I don’t know why you are using AGG, but if using for FWS, maybe just try straight psyllium powder or the pellets mentioned by @cnd8. I use Uckele. I did have to experiment for a while to figure out how to mix it as if you add water to it it is very gooey and unpalatable. What seems to work best is I add boiling water to the timothy pellets and v/m supp, let them fluff up, then dump the powder on top and mix together so it’s a dryish fluffy mixture.

[starsandsun]

So why, even if it’s concentrated, if I used 1/4 of it, wouldn’t it work? And, fwiw, it’s the dose he is getting in the clinic now every day through an NG.

And no, he won’t eat AGG … not with anything. Not wet, not dry, not with sweet feed, not without. It’s a no-go.

[cnd8]

Sounds like you’ve made your mind up. Good luck to you and your horse.

[JB]

@starsandsun

I think based on price I could only afford to do it weekly,

I wouldn’t bother if that’s all you can do it (and I get the cost issue)

What are you wanting to try it for?