GastroGard Alternatives

[Remy.Martin]

I am looking for alternate ways to get gastrogard into my gelding. I am also interested other pharmaceutical treatments that can be given in pill or powder form. I have looked into injectable omeprazole but am concerned about the side effects.

He is a master at getting out of tubed medicine. Before telling me that I need to fix this problem - it is his one issue. I think they/we are all allowed to have something that we just don’t like.

Thanks!

[JB]

Some battles just aren’t worth trying to fix!

Nexium/esomeprazole is one option. The question is, do you use the common 3-4 capsules and hope that’s enough, or do you hedge your bets and use the whole bottle? (assuming 1000-1200lb-ish horse)

I wouldn’t do the injectable - way too many horses are just not fine after the 2nd injection

You could try Abler “pop rocks”.

Both those alternatives would be placed right on top of the meal. When I’ve used them - Abler years ago, esomeprazole much more recently - I put them front and center, so the first hangry bites are less likely to get chewed (well), so more of the drug gets into them intact. And, enough horses are scoped before/after showing healing, to prove that method can work.

The question is - what kind of ulcers are there? These drugs don’t work well/at all on glandular or pyloric ulcers, but do work well on squamous ulcers. If you’re just basing “it’s ulcers” on symptoms, I’d add in sucralfate, which will help glandular ulcers as well

[EmilyM]

you can get compounded omeprazole powder. Jury is out if it’s ok for treatment vs maintenance. I would discuss it with your vet

[FromTheGalaxy]

I tried the compounded injectable omeprazole and my mare got bad injection site reactions both times.

I am currently using the AbPrazole Tablets from Abler. They are reportedly 700 mg of omeprazole each (one full tube of Gastrogard is 2280 mg) and $1.85 each. My mare is currently getting one a day, disguised in a German Horse Muffin. When we travel I give both her regular tablet and 1/2 tube Ulcer/Gastrogard. I think most people use their granules or “pop rocks” but I know my mare would refuse to eat those in her grain, so the tablets are easier to just hide in a treat. Bonus points, the tabs are bright blue/teal colored, so I can usually find the pieces she occasionally spits out

There were some reports a while back that Abler products did not contain the amount of omeprazole they claimed: sometimes more, sometimes less. My vet cautioned me against using since it’s not FDA approved, but no other omeprazole is FDA approved for use in horses in the US except Ulcer/Gastrogard, which as we all know is $$$. The Abler products seem to be mostly doing the trick for us for now. My mare has retained her appetite and held weight much better than she did with no treatment. Of course a full tube per day of Ulcergard has been what works for her the best, but that’s not really practical long term.

I’ve heard people have had good luck with Nexium/exomeprazole, but I have not yet tried that myself.

[CanteringCarrot]

I’ve had success with Abler granules. My horses that I’ve had to treat have all been hoover’s apparently, and ate the granules fine, but YMMV. If I couldn’t or didn’t want to use Ulcer/Gastroguard, then I’d go for Abler.

[sami-joe]

Pure anecdote alert. No science in sight.

I got an ulcer-y 30-ish year-old Irish Draught through the 2014-15 Polar Vortex with Costco/Sams Club Omeprazole tablets.

At first I soaked them with his mash (usually alfalfa pellets), then, after it got so cold that everything froze in minutes, discovered he’d gobble them up in anything resembling grain. He was tall, so he got 11-16 tablets a day for two-three weeks then I’d take him off for a week or longer. At the first sign of not cleaning up his hay, put him back on for two or three weeks.

While I’ve been told that my dosage was off by a country mile (in both directions), he went from eating almost nothing to eating, drinking and gaining weight during a winter that nearly never got above zero for about nine weeks straight.

https://www.costco.com/kirkland-signature-omeprazole-20-mg.%2C-42-tablets.product.100989077.html