My horse is going to be scoped for ulcers in two weeks probably. (No trailer, need a ride. Or it’d have been done already). I’m almost 100% sure he has them. I decided to just plod around bareback until he can get his medicine. He’s my only horse so I’m dying to actually ‘ride’ him. I’m afraid the ulcers are causing pain while I ride. Should I continue to ‘play’ with him bareback and stick to grooming? Or do the ulcers not cause any pain while riding? Also what are stomach cancer symptoms that horses show? Thanks!
I think if your horse seems happy when ridden, then by all means, ride him. Allowing him to eat some forage before your ride may help, or perhaps some antacid (even a handful of Tums).
Stomach cancer in horses is so exceedingly rare that I have no idea what the symptoms would be, other than probably a very sickly appearing, uncomfortable horse. Perhaps similar to severe ulceration? I would not worry about that right now 
Ask your vet about perhaps doing a “trial” of an ulcer med to see if that helps. I’ve never scoped, if they improve on ulcer meds, I treat them for ulcers Maybe an idea to run by your vet while you wait? FWIW, I’ve never scoped for ulcers. If they improve after a week “trial”, then I just treat them.
When you ride or the horse moves, the stomach acid can splash around in his stomach so to speak, potentially causing pain.
If you think your horse has ulcers, start him on the correct dosage of gg or ug.
When you have him scoped, the ulcers will still be apparent and the degree of how bad.
Of course tell the vet for how long you have been treating.
I decided to just plod around bareback until he can get his medicine.
Riding bareback vs. riding with a saddle isn’t going to make a difference if the horse has ulcers. Riding is riding.
[QUOTE=SuckerForHorses;7120829]
Riding bareback vs. riding with a saddle isn’t going to make a difference if the horse has ulcers. Riding is riding.[/QUOTE]
I don’t actually ‘ride’ him bareback. Just walk around the field.
I’d not ride a horse that I thought had ulcers and was waiting to scope. I would treat with an OTC stomach buffer if you’re not ready to go with omeprazole yet. The buffer won’t heal, but will provide some relief.
I continued to work my horse lightly while treating her latest round of ulcers. Normally I would have given her the time off but she had just had a month off due to an unrelated injury, her weight was becoming a concern, and I wanted to get her moving. In her case, severe back soreness was her major symptom so with my vet’s approval, I treated her with robaxin and worked her VERY lightly long & low to start to stretch those sore back muscles and burn a few calories.
I’m concerned about your long wait time between strongly suspecting ulcers and getting your horse scoped. Do you realize that if you do find ulcers, that it will be an additional 2 weeks before the medicine really takes effect? That’s a solid month that you’re asking your horse to wait for relief. Are you sure you can’t find a trailer ride or an appointment earlier?
Sort of an aside, but I personally would never scope unless the horse was insured and insurance required it. Treat for a week and if you see improvement, treat for the month then taper.
My horse was put on sulcralfate for the first two weeks of the ulcer treatment to coat the ulcers and relieve the acute discomfort while the omeprazole was doing its thing. Sulcralfate isn’t all that expensive (relative to gg) and I’m a big fan of whatever offers relief from pain during the healing process.
Also, depending on how bad the ulcers are, sometimes the recommended 28 days of omeprazole isn’t long enough so scoping at the end of 28 days if he seems to respond to the treatment is probably a better use of $$ to make sure they are gone before you start tapering. Otherwise, if they aren’t all healed, they’ll come back and in a couple three four weeks and you’ll be back to square one.
This sounds like a very good protocol. I wonder why more vets don’t prescribe it. From what I’ve read, the sulcralfate needs acid to create its coating, so it must be given at least 30 minutes before the antacid. It does very much what I’m trying to do with the U7.
[QUOTE=longwaitover;7126004]
My horse was put on sulcralfate for the first two weeks of the ulcer treatment to coat the ulcers and relieve the acute discomfort while the omeprazole was doing its thing. Sulcralfate isn’t all that expensive (relative to gg) and I’m a big fan of whatever offers relief from pain during the healing process.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Laurierace;7121739]
Sort of an aside, but I personally would never scope unless the horse was insured and insurance required it. Treat for a week and if you see improvement, treat for the month then taper.[/QUOTE]
I treated for over 8 days with GastroGard, saw no improvement whatsoever, but still strongly suspected ulcers. I did have my mare scoped, and she had grade 4 ulcers. Had I not scoped and said “oh well, the week’s worth showed no improvement so it must not be ulcers” (which is what the vet was telling me, by the way) then my poor mare would’ve continued to suffer with her ulcers.
Depending on the horse, depending on how bad the ulcers are, a week’s worth is not a surefire way to know if your horse has ulcers or not.
And, even on the 28th day my mare didn’t seem all that “improved” - I wasn’t sure we would see improvement when we rescoped her, but thankfully, we did.
If you want to know for sure, scope.
If you don’t need to know for sure, but highly suspect, just do the month of treatment.
But don’t half-ass it.
Advice: don’t Google human medical conditions and extrapolate to horses. Avoids lots of unnecessary worrying about “stomach cancer”.
A week’s worth of omeprazole will definitely knock down acid production and may give SOME horses SOME relief, but it’s not enough to make a dent in serious ulcers. I think what LR was saying was that a brief empirical trial, IF it seems to help the animal, would be a reasonable way of making up one’s mind as to a presumptive diagnosis. I don’t think she’s saying “treat for a week and if no change then it can’t be ulcers”.
Why would not vets prescribe the sulcralfate after the omeprazole regime since the acid rebound problem is well documented? Wouldn’t weaning +sulcralfate protect the healed stomach well?
I don’t think sucralfate coats anything but actual ulcers, so if the ulcers are healed, there is little benefit from sucralfate. I prefer an H2 blocker in the PPI weaning phase if acid reduction is still necessary.
[QUOTE=SuckerForHorses;7126073]
I treated for over 8 days with GastroGard, saw no improvement whatsoever, but still strongly suspected ulcers. I did have my mare scoped, and she had grade 4 ulcers. Had I not scoped and said “oh well, the week’s worth showed no improvement so it must not be ulcers” (which is what the vet was telling me, by the way) then my poor mare would’ve continued to suffer with her ulcers. [/QUOTE]
Both times I have treated for ulcers, it has taken my mare longer than a week to show improvement. A week just isn’t enough.
