Best treatment for suspected hind gut ulcers?

[Brtripp]

Anybody have experience with hind gut ulcers, have a treatment recommendation?

My senior horse has chronic gastric ulcers, likely a result of the previcox he is on for lifetime. We are wrapping up another 30 day treatment of omeprazole (on week 3), and today he left half of his grain, a classic sign. He improved remarkably when we started him on omeprazole, but I’m thinking he may also have hind gut ulcers given that he has not gained weight back like he normally does, and now left grain.

Any suggestions?

I am waiting for my order of abler abprazole blue pop rocks that I planned to keep him on after this 30 day treatment - but i’m reading more and more how long term omeprazole makes things worse, given that there is no acid to digest the food, making things bad on the hind gut.

We really need relief and advice . TIA

[Obsidian_Fire]

My vet recommend psyllium and an all-mash diet - no dry forage (hay). I let my boy have wet grass since that was soft, but otherwise fed him senior, and pellets (beet pulp, alfalfa, grass hay) all of it soaked to a sloppy oatmeal consistency.

I did this for a good 6 mos, and now he is back to eating hay just fine (but I still feed him mash twice a day, and psyllium).

[Obsidian_Fire]

Oh and one more thing… during all my trials with my ulcer horse, my vets mentioned that perhaps “too many/much” probiotics were not helping my cause…

[ToTheNines]

Equishure by KER

[sascha]

Sucralfate. It actually works.

I use probiotics and 1/4 cup baking soda daily and add Omeprazole AND Sucralfate when necessary - stressful times. Since my horse is on and off it I can’t speak to long term use, but if I were in your situation I’d be asking my vet!

[Inclinedtowhisper]

Okay this is going to sound really funny, but dried banana powder.

Aparently its an old remedy the Olympic riders have been using for their horses for years. Before and after travel throughout all their competitions the horses tend to get ulcers with all the stress, so during that time they’d be feeding their horses bananas, either in normal form or in a dried powder. It has a natural property in it that heals the inner lining throughout the digestive system. Once it is fully healed, it maintains it to keep any further issues from occurring.

I’ve used it on a few youngsters I’ve had that were easily stressed and had issues when first coming here. It didn’t take long at all for the ulcers to go away

[Watermark_Farm]

I have a 7 year old OTTB with chronic hind gut ulcers, likely right dorsal colitis.

Most effective thing for him is to take him off all long stem fiber, ie, diet consists of hay pellet mash (dry also works) and green grass. Initially I did this for 6 months, then gradually started adding in hay. When he has a flare up, we go back to mash for a while.

Prebiotics also useful – YeaSacc or Kombat Boots are what I’ve used.

Slippery elm bark powder is great for soothing the Gi tract. I only use it for up to a week, not all the time.

NO BUTE. Ever. For my horse it’s like feeding him acid.

[Brtripp]

Thank so! We also never do bute but precicox or ban amine. What about ranitidine ? I bought some at Walmart and wonder if I can give full doses of that along with treatment omeprazole.

[tpup]

Our vet offers Ranitidine powder and you can also buy it at Costco inexpensively. I have used it successfully. KER Equishure is the only product I know of that is specific for hind gut ulcers. Their Rite-Trac product is good too - I used that for my old and now passed Appy who had chronic ulcer issues. I think when they are chronic, you need to really manage their diet. 3 feedings a day vs. 2, smaller meals and something to buffer like some alfalfa before meals is very helpful per my vet.

[walkinthewalk]

I used “Succeed” on my horse with hind gut ulcers. I kept him on Succeed for 2-1/2 years, until he passed at age 27 from Strangulating Lipomas.

The vet had prescribed Succeed after the EquiShur didn’t do anything to help him.

He was on a strict and very bland diet:

Succeed
Rice bran
Omega-3 Horseshine
Ration balancer that was grain and soy free.
Soaked and hand mushed hay cubes plus hay
8 hours of pasture

I don’t know if lipomas naturally go along with hind gut ulcers or if they were a bad piece of luck but, the Succeed worked miracles on this horse and was worth every penny it cost me.

To reiterate, I had tried Equishur on him in the beginning. He didn’t stop colicking until I put him on Succeed.

2-1/2 years later, he had another colic and it was too much for him. The vet came and we laid him to rest on this farm.

It was the lipomas that caused the final colic.

Were it me, I would not waste my time on things that work for gastric stomach ulcers such as Ranitidine or Omeprazole. You’re going to have to spend the money on a product designed to target hind gut ulcers.

The only two I am aware of are EquiShure and Succeed.

[Larbear]

[QUOTE=Inclinedtowhisper;8304957]
Okay this is going to sound really funny, but dried banana powder.

Aparently its an old remedy the Olympic riders have been using for their horses for years. Before and after travel throughout all their competitions the horses tend to get ulcers with all the stress, so during that time they’d be feeding their horses bananas, either in normal form or in a dried powder. It has a natural property in it that heals the inner lining throughout the digestive system. Once it is fully healed, it maintains it to keep any further issues from occurring.

I’ve used it on a few youngsters I’ve had that were easily stressed and had issues when first coming here. It didn’t take long at all for the ulcers to go away :)[/QUOTE]

That’s really interesting, never heard of that before! How much were you feeding?

[Beethoven]

Misoprostol

[Katy_Watts]

Hay <8-10% dm WSC. That’s the fraction that is fermented in the hind gut to fatty acids. Know of a horse put down during surgery that was being fed high WSC hay full of sweet clover. Sweet clover can contain coumarins, ie rat poison that causes bleeding. Worst case of hind gut ulcers the university team had ever seen.

[One_Two_Three]

Succeed and Equishure. I went with Succeed first (and am still using it) because they offer something called the Succeed Challenge. If after 2 months you’re not satisfied, they will return your money. I’m about halfway through the second month now, and my horse is doing amazing on it. My second option was going to be to try the Equishure once the Succeed challenge was over, but instead I believe I’m going to switch him to a smartpak which consists of many of the same ingredients as Succeed and keep him on a maintenance dose of that. YMMV some people think Succeed does nothing, but the indisputable proof is in the photos that I’ve taken from day 1 to day 30 (and soon day 60)… It’s worth a try since it’s a money back guarantee!

[joiedevie99]

Sucralfate, Misoprostol, and diet changes (all mashes, no long-stem hay).

My vet does a fecal occult blood test, and ultrasounds the colon, to diagnose.

[Inclinedtowhisper]

Start with about 2 tablespoons of the banana powder a day (per 1000 lbs of body weight) If in a week or so there aren’t any improvements, feed 2 tablespoons twice a day. Because it is a natural thing and non-chemical, increasing it is entirely safe and is sometimes needed when the ulcer is worse than your typical small issue.

[Rallycairn]

Neigh-Lox Advanced is formulated for the hindgut AWA the stomach. Great product ime.