Assure Guard Gold Palatability

[erinmeri]

TLDR: Is (the uber expensive) Assure Guard Gold palatable for picky eaters?

Long story: My mare has had intermittent diarrhea that was well managed on GUT until it wasn’t. A few weeks after GUT stopped working, she developed a pretty significant fecal water issue. Even when balls form, there is a LOT of fecal water. This is a new issue… when her diarrhea was managed prior, her poop formed balls, it was normal. No water.

We did a fecal and it was negative, so a 14 day course of Sand Clear followed by putting her on Assure Guard Gold was recommended.

On day 2 of Sand Clear, she left some food behind that had some supplement pellets in it, but plenty of “good stuff, too. I would estimate around 1/4-1/3 of the Sand Clear remained in her bucket with beet pulp and hay stretcher she normally hoovers. I hand fed it and she chewed for a minute before spitting out the masticated ball and refusing to touch any of it again. On Day 3, she was off her feed entirely. I have a call into vet about Orange-flavored Metamucil and our barn manager will be back from showing to help triage.

I hear GREAT things about Assure Guard Gold, but I almost fell off my chair at the price. I am nervous about spending so much on something my mare might not eat.

Is it palatable???

Thanks in advance for any anecdotes!

[cnd8]

AGG is a pelleted supplement and it has a licorice smell to it, which some do not like. For my horse, we hid it by adding a handful of soaked alfalfa pellets atop his feed to cover the smell.

Arenus also makes one step down and it is called Assure Guard. It is a granular supplement with many of the same benefits, but less psyllium. The smell is much tamer than the AGG. The AG is also a fraction of the price.

A vet specialist put my horse with a GI issue on AGG for the rest of his life. It changed my horse and he is like a different animal now. A couple years in, we switched to AG and added a partial psyllium dose (to try to replicate the AGG purpose). It is cost effective and is working equally as well. I selected Su-per Psyllium because it is processed in much the same way as AGG which is the process they tout as being so special.

We are 4 years in on either AGG or AG now. Highly recommend the products.

[starsandsun]

AGG was recommended by my internist after multiple colics. My horse would rather die than eat it.

I do wish he would, though, but absolutely no chance. Nothing will convince him to try it.

[Calhoun]

I have a horse with fecal water, and put her on Assure Gold. She ate the pellets with no problem, but it does have a definite smell. After feeding the loading dose and buying another month, which cost well over $500, the horse still had fecal water issues. You do get free colic insurance when purchasing the product.

[EventingMaff]

My horse is not a picky eater and she wouldn’t eat it. Ended up donating it to the barn to use on school horses – all of them eat it, including the aged mare who is known to be quite picky.

So unfortunately I think it’s a bit of a case-by-case basis.

[wahoowa]

I had to start small with my picky eater (refuses food if anything changes); introduced a little each day and slowly worked up to the proper dose. I’m glad I did because he’s a completely different horse on it: loose/liquid manure firmed up, gained weight, attitude improved, etc. Been supplementing for almost two years now.