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Endoscopy experiences?

Hey everyone,
I have been dealing with gelding having ulcers for a few months now. While it does not seem long, for a neurotic horse mom like me, it seems like a lifetime! I had another vet see him this past week while mine was out of town (same practice) and this vet decided that it was time for an endoscopy. My regular vet suggested it a while ago but a former trainer talked me out of it.

The appointment is scheduled for Monday, June 17 at 9:30 am and I am a nervous wreck! Could everyone please share their experiences and hopefully put my mind at ease.

Thanks in advance!

I have done it a couple of times. It is stressful for horse and owner. I wish I could say it wasn’t. Make absolutely sure your horse does not eat for the whole 24 hours before the scope or you will waste your time looking at food.

I respectfully disagree with MRoades… Not stressful so long as you’re not squeamish. I’m a retired equine vet tech and have assisted in many gastric scopings, including my own horse’s.

Yes the horse must be fasted and that can make them cranky, but frankly they survive just fine. If you don’t think you can withhold food for the duration, or are afraid someone might take pity on him and feed him despite your instructions not to, overnight him at the clinic.

Here’s how it’s done: Horse is put into position, whether that’s stocks or being held. Typically a nose twitch is applied after some light IV sedation. The scope is passed up a nostril (and they’re MUCH thinner than any NGT tube used like in the event of colic). The scope is guided, and there’s a camera attached so it’s even easier then going blind with a tube. The vet waits for the horse to swallow and passes the scope into the esophagus and into the stomach, watching as he goes. Then the scope is maneuvered as needed to see the stomach and search for any ulcers. It could take up to an hour, but most scopes are over within a half hour.

Just so you know what to expect, the stomach will have sloshing green digested material floating, and it’s lining is two separate colors. As a noob, this may freak you out, but it’s perfectly normal:

“oesophagus and the dorsal portion of the equine stomach are lined with stratified squamous epithelial mucosa, which has minimal resistance to peptic injury”. In other words, it’s supposed to be there because it protects the stomach from the digestive fluids in a healthy horse.

In order to clear the camera from some of the stomach contents, the vet will occasionally use a large syringe to flush water through the scope and over the camera. Yes, it’s a syringe, but it’s just water and no reason to worry. Perfectly normal.

All this is on camera as big as an old style TV. The technician usually ‘drives’ the scope and helps the vet position it to thoroughly exam the horse. Think of how the head of a cobra turns and arcs, very similar. Once the scope is in, the horse won’t care in 90% of the situations. The other 10% might fuss a bit if they are especially sensitive to things in their nose.

There’s a slight chance the horse might get a nosebleed if he flicks his head at the exact wrong moment of removing the scope. Don’t panic. Horses can bleed about a liter or two with no ill effect. THAT is hard not to react to, but still not a reason to freak out. It’s just disgusting to witness. Coagulated horse blood reminds me of The Blob circa 1958.

Horse is usually allowed to recover as he stands in the stocks, or he’ll take a short walk to a vacant stall if you go to the clinic. If he’s home, the vet simply closes the door of the stall and tells you not to feed him anything until he’s fully awake and any chance of choke is well passed. About an hour in most cases, more or less.

Relax. You and your horse will be fine.

Oh the scoping didn’t bother me, it was the 24 hours prior. I guess my barn just wasnt set up for fasting easily

[QUOTE=mroades;7026966]
Oh the scoping didn’t bother me, it was the 24 hours prior. I guess my barn just wasnt set up for fasting easily[/QUOTE]

Not many are. I had to have my horse in overnight cuz I couldn’t bear the screaming and pathetic looks :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

You’ll both be fine! My horse had one done recently. Interestingly, I had to reschedule the first time because when my horse didn’t get breakfast, he decided to do something about it and let himself out of his stall. We didn’t know he could do this! I rescheduled and basically locked him in overnight. We kept an older gelding in with him in the morning, and he was fine (he’s very high strung). He had to be sedated twice (did I say he’s high strung? He was an expensive “drunk”), but the whole procedure went very well. THe vet and the technician advanced the scope, which fed the image into a laptop computer, and it was all recorded. The vet explained each of the areas of the stomach and the top of the small intestine. He had grade 1 ulcers, which the vet showed me on the screen, and we opted to treat him with omeprazole. Afterwards, he was fine, and I was happy because I expected bleeding, awful ulcers but only had grade 1. And I was happy to know what I was dealing with. Oh, and lastly, happy to deal with other things, such as pulling a wolf tooth and giving vaccines because he was ‘out of it’. You and your horse will be fine, and you’ll learn a lot about what the inside of a horse looks like! Do be sure to go to the barn yourself and remove leftover hay 12 hours prior. Report back! PS. All of this was done in my horse’s stall so he was comfy. I waited around until he was “up” enough to go outside. Didn’t take him too long…let me tell you! PS., if your horse has ulcers and you treat, be sure to ask your vet about promotionals from Merial. I got a chunk-o-change back from them on a promotional when I purchased my gobs of Omeprazole.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I’m at a small private farm so withholding feed won’t be an issue. His attitude from not being fed, well that is another story! He also is not one for being in a stall. I did ask the vet if we can give him Quia-Cal paste to keep his nerves from being too shot. Otherwise I don’t know that I would want to be in the stall with him! With his ulcers flared up he turns in to Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.

I’m not too worried about being squeamish. I have been a nurse for 11 years and worked both in the ER and a currently work in hospice so it takes a lot to make me squeamish. The fact that it is my baby having the procedure is what worries me. I have had several endoscopies myself and they don’t bother me much.

The situation of how it all happened is what worries me. We never scoped in the beginning. My vet (whom I LOVE and put on a pedestal) suggested it but gave me the option. My trainer at the time talked me out of it. We treated with Ranitidine and saw fabulous results. He was treated for 3 months and when we would attempt to taper we would notice he would flare back up. So we started the Gastroguard. Did 16 days of treatment (all I could afford at the time) he did AMAZING!!! One and a half weeks off and boom, he flares up again. My vet was out of town so one of her partners came to see my gelding. He was awesome as well. He said based on the fact that the horse responded so well to the Ranitidine it could be Gastritis versus Ulcers although the horses history would lead towards ulcers. Also something about the horse’s manure made him wonder about gastritis. He suggested the endoscopy for a better answer so we can come up with a plan of treatment. He mentioned that any of the vets could do the scope since they are all experienced and I work with another vet primarily, plus he would be gone the next week. Then the office staff called me and said this particular doctor said he wanted to do the scope and in fact rearranged his previously scheduled patients to put me on the schedule. That’s what concerns me. Do you think he suspects something and isn’t saying anything until he scopes. Or am I just being overly paranoid and neurotic? I don’t have kids so my horse is my baby. I’d do anything for him but now I am pretty sure I am over thinking the situation.

Thoughts?

I think you should just relax until you see what your horse’s stomach looks like and go from there :slight_smile:
Gastroscopy is very routine; this is a minor procedure. This is one of those times that getting a proper diagnosis first is almost always cheaper than guessing and treating. Without it you guess and treat and think they improve but you don’t know if they are healed all the way, or if they had ulcers in the first place. Then they back-slide and you don’t know if it’s ulcers or what. Then you start all over treating again.
If your horse is a piggie you might have to muzzle him if he will eat his bedding or manure.

OP: Invest in some U7 by Finish Line if you don’t see ulcers. And use it after treatment with omeprazole is done in the future.

Best of luck. And stop stressing. Things will be fine.

As to your worry about the comment the vet rearranged his schedule for you. Please dont’ let that concern you so much. There’s so much going on in a multi-vet practice, you just never can tell if it was truth, or if that’s the pitch they made so you’d accept the change in doctors. Yes, original vet might want to do it for continuity’s sake. Or backup vet preferred not to scope anything due to personal preferences. Or one vet has a guest intern they wish to have participate in or witness this procedure. Or the scope itself is going out for repair, or just back from repair and only one vet can evaluate the repair thoroughly. It could be anything and you’re over thinking this.

Relax.

Well, if you want to know what it might look like, see here: www.photobucket.com/ulcers

I had my mare scoped, hmm, two years ago now? Can’t remember. I highly suspected ulcers, and because my vet at the time was insisting that it was not ulcers, I had to find out for myself. Glad I did, because, well, the pictures will show you why!

It’s not a big deal, the horse cannot eat for 24-48 hours prior to the scope, so the stomach can be empty and they can actually see around in there. Of course if the horse has ulcers, this fasting will probably make them quite crabby, nobody with ulcers wants to stand around on an empty stomach. But, if you scope and find ulcers, you can treat immediately. I think the fasting is a small price to pay to know for certain whether or not its ulcers.

I’ve had my mare scoped twice, and as the others described, it’s really no big deal. My only word of advice is to have a haynet for the ride home.

If it is ulcers, check into the abler product, known here on COTH as Blue Pop Rocks. Good luck!

I did last year and it went fine. I think it is hardest on the owner! The actual procedure itself is no big deal – they are pretty doped up for it. As others have said, the fasting is the worst. Nothing like skipping breakfast and then shoving the poor thing on a trailer to make you feel like a bad Mom. I wish I had a vet clinic that could records digital pictures of the scope – I would recommend this if possible. My horse had an “I don’t know what that is, but I don’t think it’s an ulcer” blotch on an area of her stomach where ulcers commonly occur. The lack of definitive results really frustrated me, and without a digital image, I couldn’t get a second opinion.

My horse has been scoped twice - in addition to withholding food, I was told to remove shavings and add a grazing muzzle. I skipped the grazing muzzle part and for the second follow up scope we discovered that he had eaten his manure, blech! Something I’ve never seen him do in 5 years. Couldn’t see a portion if his stomach because of this. Supposedly some horses will eat shavings as well. It will be fine, worst part was feeling sorry for leaving him in all night with no hay and having a very cranky horse in the morning!

UPDATE: Horse scoped today :frowning: jingles please

I had my boy scoped this morning. That was quite stressful on both of us. We suspected the ulcers back in January and once we felt very confident that he had them, we started treatment. He recieved 3 months of Ranitidine 3x a day and 2.5 weeks (16 tubes) of Gastrogard, then 4 tubes of Gastroaide. He flared back up within a week hence the urgency for the scope.

The vet (let me say he was amazing) had a right to be concerned. With all this treatment my poor boy still had Grade 3 bleeding ulcers and Gastritis. Vet said he had a lot of scar tissue as well. Looking through the scope broke my heart. Based on the severity of them (and the amount) the vet said 70 days of Gastrogard then following up with 3 months of Ranitidine then follow up scope. One more HUGE roadblock for use but hopefully this will help. Vet said there is a good chance he will be followed up on the Ranitidine for a year.

My poor guy feels horrible and I wish there was more I could do. He has tried his heart out for me and is such a pleaser. I can only imagine how amazing he will really be once he is healed. I’m confident he is one of those “once in a lifetime” horses.

Wow, you have to wonder what is causing them. Poor guy! I hope you can get him healed up and kept that way! :slight_smile:

[QUOTE=CrowneDragon;7037689]
Wow, you have to wonder what is causing them. Poor guy! I hope you can get him healed up and kept that way! :)[/QUOTE]

He had two things going against him. First he is an OTTB, so probably always had them but he was a neglect/rescue case and in baaaaaaad condition when we got our ands on him.

Wow, I’m really sorry to hear this. For What it is Worth, my vet had me taper the Omeprazole treatment down for a whole month to prevent flare-ups. Alfalfa hay is a great buffer for excessive stomach acid. Good luck with your guy!!