I squirt right into the feed bucket. I don’t want any sticking to any container, as yes, it’s a big gooey.
Yes, I am feeding Lecithin and Apple Pectin after reading an article on HorseTalk. My mare was treated for ulcers in the fall so I am looking for ways to prevent them from coming back once we start trailering and foxhunting.
Where are you getting these, and how much do you feed?
(I’m trying Gut-X first, when my mare is off her latest round of Gastrogard, because I already have it. But am always interested in other options.)
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I bought the Pectin and Lecithin on Amazon. Dr. Getty recommends feeding 1/2 cup of the lecithin granules and 2 tablespoons of pectin up to twice a day. I’m feeding it 1x/day. I’m also feeding 2 oz of Papaya purée. When I can get Papaya at Costco, I just cut it up and add it her meal. She won’t eat papaya as a treat, but she will eat it when mixed in. She gets beet pulp, a ration balancer and Purina Outlast.
I started GutX about 4 days ago so it’s too soon to say if it’s working. But, my picky eater is clearing his bucket (I also seem to have finally found him a soy free feed that he’s willing to eat since he’s decided that alfalfa pellets were no longer edible). The first night he was a little perturbed by the goop in his feed but his bucket was empty by morning so it couldn’t have been that bad.
I don’t think my guy currently has ulcers but he’s ulcer prone. We did 3 months of ulcergard last spring after 2 months of Nexium before he finally scoped clean. He’s been on succeed which keeps him happy, but recently decided he can’t eat it. He’s had extra smelly and soft manure since I got him. The last two days it’s appeared normal. Not getting ahead but maybe this product could help?
I will say after I placed my order GutX reached out immediately to asked about my horses and provided dosing advice and offer nutrition advice. A lot of our problems are based around a soy allergy/intolerance (he is so uncomfortable on soy and has colic like episodes after each meal plus acts like he has ulcers—soy free is so important for this horse), but I really appreciated their customer service!
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My 5yo TB was just diagnosed with glandular ulcers via scope. We started misoprostol on Friday and GutX yesterday. Will see how it goes - rescoping in 30 days.
A representative from GutX also reached out to me within 24 hours of placing my order, offering help and advice from their nutritionist if I wanted it. I was really impressed with the customer service. Shipping speed was great too. Ordered on Wednesday, received on Saturday.
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Welp, the first attempt didn’t go super well.
TJ seemed to think someone snotted in his bucket so he didn’t eat his feed. Since he’s on ($$$) misoprostol, I def can’t have him not eating.
The awesome customer service at GutX recommended squirting it down his throat for a few days til he gets used to the taste then try again.
After 3 days of going this route, he’s definitely less dramatic about the taste but I’m not going to try in his feed again til we’re off the miso.
Update: my mare is currently on a short course of Gastrogard, and once that’s done I will be trying Gut-X. I don’t think she will be bothered by the texture; she is not picky about her food.
(Except, well, when a vet suggested using celery as a treat. She was quite offended. These days she gets the Outlast treats, which are actually not terribly expensive, and tiny low sugar treats used for clicker training.)
She didn’t like celery?!?!?! My mare loves celery. She also loves cucumbers.
So… I figured something was going on with my 3/4 Arab gelding late last fall - he was acting very weird - lot of pawing, spookier than normal, didn’t want to go on the bit etc. Had him scoped - he had one tiny spot that wasn’t really an ulcer according to the vet, but notable. At the same time we switched him to low starch feed. Then he had 2 months off because he had some surgery on skin lumps. Started riding again regularly in late February and he was completely A-OK, calm, easy, just great. Was it the feed change or?
I trailer him out once a week for lessons so I’ve decided to give him Ulcergard 2 or 3 days before he gets on the trailer, the day of, and the day after. After reading this discussion, I think I’m going to add the oat bran and see how that goes. It’s clear he doesn’t need any heavy artillery but he appears to need something. I also need that something to be easy for the barn staff to measure out and feed.
I would appreciate your comments on the maintenance dosing of Ulcergard - will talk to my vet but curious about your experiences.
This was a very timely and useful discussion for me. Thank you!
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Since I have had as much problems with hind gut ulcers as I’ve had with stomach ulcers, and omeprazole can cause and/or exacerbate hind gut issues, I am not a fan of a maintenance dose of ulcergard. I’d be more likely to use sucralfate, which can address both hind gut and stomach issues. I’m also cautiously optimistic that Gut-X would be an effective preventative for stressful activities (like hauling). The pump makes it easy to measure and administer.
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I too have GutX coming, it should arrive tomorrow according to tracking. We did our course of Omeprazole, he’s on Succeed now, hoping the GutX gets us the rest of the way. There was improvement after a week on the Omeprazole, but not huge progress after that first improvement bump, he’s definitely not to 100% yet. There are parts of him I can groom now though, and he is definitely happier under saddle, although saddling and mounting still bring on some major tail swishing. On another forum I’m on, someone that had tremendous success with the GutX reached out to me with her results after nothing else seemed to work for her mare, and it was stunning, so it gives me hope. She’s actually local, and it turns out its a really small world LOL! According to tracking, I should have it tomorrow, I too will post an update. Following this thread closely!
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Two questions: ANy updates?
And is the HA is Gut X also working on the horse’s joints? After all, we do feed HA for joint issues…
My horse is very happy and healthy on Gut-X, but his lifestyle is less stressful too (his were likely caused by a major lifestyle change). He’s only 7 so no joint issues so I can’t really comment on the HA for joint issues.
I have a horse on gut-x and I’m hoping that the HA is working on his joints, too. I feed him the two-pump dose all the time. I have another on the joint-x and seeing how that works but I’m expecting it to take 6-12 months, not be quick.
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Not the news we were hoping for at all.
He doesn’t have active ulcers but his pyloric area is extremely, extremely inflamed. Vet said even without the presence of actual ulcers, she’d still call it a Grade 4 based on the level of inflammation. He had the lowest PH measurement of his gastric fluid that our vets had ever seen - 1.6. His pylorus is swollen to 3x its normal size.
New Bolton did his initial scope, so I couldn’t be present to see what it looked like at that time to know if it was better or worse than what we saw today. Hoping I can get ahold of the images from that scope.
He’s had 30 days of miso and GutX. We’re going to do 28 days of GastroGard and another 28 days of misoprostol and rescope after that.
This poor kiddo - he must be in so much pain and he’s been such a trooper about it all. Hoping we can get him fixed up.
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Poor pony - I hope you can get his feeling better! You may want to ask your vet about sucralfate with the gastrogard and/or instead of the misoprostol. I know that is what my vet recommended specifically for pyloric ulcers and it made a big difference for my ulcery horse.
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Obviously your vet knows best, but FWIW, when my horse showed polyps on her pyloris from chronic gastritis, my vet talked to someone he described as the preeminent person on equine ulcers (I didn’t ask who), and we ended up doing an extremely long course of misoprostal, like I wanna say 6 months or so, where we reduced the dose very slowly, every two weeks. I haven’t rescoped her since then (plenty of other things going on that were higher priority), so who knows what’s going on down there now … and she’s not in work so hard to evaluate but in hand she seems pretty good. So maybe something to consider/ask your vet about?
Btw, not sure where you’re getting your misprostal, but GoodRX was a lifesaver for me. Had to have a bit of an awkward conversation with pharmacist as to why I needed such a ridiculous amount of misoprostal. 
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