Favorite ulcer preventative?

[dungrulla]

Some of you probably inputted on my ‘picky TB won’t eat’ thread. Well, good news! I kept with the ulcergard a few more days and both last night and this morning he polished off his food, licked the bowl clean, then wanted more food. We’ll be doing the full 28 days of ulcergard then tapering with ranitidine.

This does mean it’s the third time poor pony has had ulcers–once on the track VERY badly confirmed by scope, and once with me suspected but not confirmed by scoping (symptoms cleared up with treatment). We are hoping now that he’s on the mend he will start putting weight back on.

I want to prevent further reoccurrences of ulcers once our course is through because ulcergard is expensive. What’s everyone’s favorite daily preventative? He is already on smartgut ultra but would be very happy to get him on something to coat his tummy I have access to outlast, and he eats the following:

-3 quarts ultim gastric care 3x/day
-A sprinkle of alfalfa pellets because he likes them
-Purina Amplify 1/2 lb 3x/day
-Smartpaks 1x/day
-Free choice hay

He does no work at all, has very bad kissing spine, and is a full-time retired very attractive lawn ornament, which is nice because that means no one is ever alone when I take a horse out to ride.

The gastric care already has outlast in it so I’m not sure how much adding outlast is really going to help him. Any suggestions or advice are very welcome, he has already started to gain a bit but like I said, I am hopeful now that he’s eating that he’ll start packing on those pounds

[Obsidian_Fire]

I’d add more alfalfa, don’t be stingy. Both on the weight gain and the ulcer-preventative side.

[dungrulla]

@Obsidian Fire

I’d add more alfalfa, don’t be stingy. Both on the weight gain and the ulcer-preventative side.

In addition to the ultim? Can definitely do that. He’s basically getting a quart scoop for flavor because the standlee timothy/alfalfa pellets are his favorite favorite thing. Which is confusing…there’s…just hay in them. There’s not any molasses, they shouldn’t be that tasty, but he goes absolutely nuts over them.

He does get free choice hay.

[scrbear11]

Equine Elixirs Ulceraser.

I started it. Took my mare off (it’s a little pricey ~$60 a month). Regretted that decision. Put her right back on.

[Simkie]

I like Uckele’s GUT. But also consider WHY he’s developing ulcers with a low stress life. Guessing it’s pain. If you can get him more comfortable, you may not need anything for his stomach.

[dungrulla]

@Simkie

I like Uckele’s GUT. But also consider WHY he’s developing ulcers with a low stress life. Guessing it’s pain. If you can get him more comfortable, you may not need anything for his stomach.

He just moved two barns in two months, traveled 7 hours across state lines, and was on bute for a few days. I know exactly why he developed ulcers He’s only been at my house for a month or so now. So from May until now he went from MA to NY, then from the barn I had him in temporarily in NY to my house in June. That’s a lot of change for a routine-oriented animal in a very small space of time. Hell, it was a lot of change for ME, as a human!

I didn’t consider his needs enough when I did it. If I had him on ulcergard preventatively we probably wouldn’t be having this issue. I’m going to treat and chalk this one up to a learning experience.

[mmeqcenter]

A grain/feed free of molasses and corn (so definitely not Ultium) is, IMO, the best way to prevent. Corn and molasses irritate ulcers; it’s a vicious circle supplementing with “preventatives” and still feeding irritants as well.

After that, alfalfa, aloe, the new Purina gastric care stuff.

[AKB]

Lots of alfalfa hay or Standlee compressed alfalfa hay or Dengie alfalfa.

[dungrulla]

@mmeqcenter

A grain/feed free of molasses and corn (so definitely not Ultium) is, IMO, the best way to prevent. Corn and molasses irritate ulcers; it’s a vicious circle supplementing with “preventatives” and still feeding irritants as well.

After that, alfalfa, aloe, the new Purina gastric care stuff.

I have triple crown senior on hand for my other guy. IIRC it has no hard concentrates in it, though it does have a little bit of molasses.

[PNWjumper]

I’ll second Ulcer Eraser. I have posted many times about my ulcer management diet. For the last 5 or 6 years I’ve fed free choice orchard, a flake of alfalfa at one feeding. Then a grain (doesn’t really matter which, though I’ve gone between LMF Showtime and Super Supplement) with SmartDigest Ultra and Platinum Performance top dressed with apple cider vinegar (1 oz on grain morning and night). Then at shows I’ve always added in omeprazole (which I hate for reasons I’ve also posted a million times) and a Chinese Herb called Stomach Happy.

I’ve kept my super ulcery-type TB in great shape for a long time on that diet.

I picked up a mare last year who puts my TB to shame. Took a little while to figure out that ulcers were her issue. But once I did I started playing around with her food a bit. I switched from Platinum Performance to a new supplement (Equine Edge supps) and partly because of their gut product. And then I added in the Ulcer Eraser.

I still have my TB on the old diet (but with Ulcer Eraser added in, which seems to have helped keep him more even across transport and relocation at each show), and then my mare gets orchard grass plus grain plus the Equine Edge gastro product plus Ulcer Eraser. I am absolutely blown away at how consistent and even it keeps her. Much more so than the “big gun” products.

I also love that the ingredients are recognizable. It looks like you’re feeding granola!

[BoldMover]

Great daily preventative for ulcers that is not too expensive is Stable Nutrition Daily Probiotics for Horses. When I am going to be moving or shipping horses I use their Stable Nutrition Probiotic Boost for Horses. I get it on championblends.com Even my picky eaters lick their bowls clean! Good Luck! Ulcers can be tough to figure out! Sometimes you have to try different products and see what works best with your horse.

[bugsynskeeter]

Alfalfa and UltraCruz Advanced Gastric Support.

[Atlas_Shrugged]

@mmeqcenter

A grain/feed free of molasses and corn (so definitely not Ultium) is, IMO, the best way to prevent. Corn and molasses irritate ulcers; it’s a vicious circle supplementing with “preventatives” and still feeding irritants as well.

After that, alfalfa, aloe, the new Purina gastric care stuff.

yes the purina well gel as a top dressing- start off slowly with it though or they get kind of “up”

[Simkie]

The Ultium Gastric Care is high NSC, IIRC–25%? Not an awesome choice for an ulcer prone animal. (Really, Purina? Get with it!!)

If this horse’s ulcers can always be tied back to a big, stressful event, though, he probably doesn’t need day to day help–just some foresight about treating him with a PPI before big, stressful events.

Dun, have you seen the Nexium thread? A whole lot of us have had some really beautiful results with it. The accessibility and low price makes it much easier (IME) to be really proactive about pretreating for stressful stuff. Or just getting them feeling better ASAP when you realize you screwed up. I have one of each on it right now–the one mare who spent some time on banamine and SMZs for her cellulitis was a slam dunk in recognizing she needed it as soon as treatment started. The other mare is playing a bit of catchup–I am finally realizing that when she goes off the deep end with herdbound screamies, her belly is bothering her.

Don’t beat yourself up over not recognizing your horse needed help through the move. We’ve all been surprised with something like that a time or two!

[dungrulla]

@Simkie

The Ultium Gastric Care is high NSC, IIRC–25%? Not an awesome choice for an ulcer prone animal. (Really, Purina? Get with it!!)

It’s 17% which is still high. At 25% I might as well feed him molasses out of the bottle.

[luvmyhackney]

Beet pulp, alfalfa, and cut back the grain. I don’t concern my self with NSC value because I feed minimal grain and top dress with a ration balancer as needed for minerals/vitamins.

[dungrulla]

Alright guys so I talked to my vet. She is having compounded omeprazole sent from a company that is currently pursuing a patent and FDA approval on their (much cheaper) product. We are going to do a wean on that and all in all he’ll be on it for about 3 months.

I switched him from ultim once I ran out to triple crown senior, he gets slightly more because TSC is lower in calories but is MUCH better at eating it now that we’re through the first few days of thumbing his nose at it because it’s not loaded with sugar. Not a crumb behind. He still gets amplify and some timothy/alfalfa to top everything off.

We add outlast as a top dress for all three meals.

[LuvRedHeads]

@dungrulla

Alright guys so I talked to my vet. She is having compounded omeprazole sent from a company that is currently pursuing a patent and FDA approval on their (much cheaper) product. We are going to do a wean on that and all in all he’ll be on it for about 3 months.

I switched him from ultim once I ran out to triple crown senior, he gets slightly more because TSC is lower in calories but is MUCH better at eating it now that we’re through the first few days of thumbing his nose at it because it’s not loaded with sugar. Not a crumb behind. He still gets amplify and some timothy/alfalfa to top everything off.

We add outlast as a top dress for all three meals.

@dungrulla PM sent