Unfortunately a long misoprostol taper likely wouldn’t be an option for me because of insurance caps and claim perameters. But I’ll keep that in mind pending how this next round of treatment works out!
Update:
He got rescoped yesterday and we finally got some good news. He’s improved from Grade 4 to Grade 1 in 30 days on GG and misoprostol. He’s also getting 24/7 turnout on good grass and as much alfalfa as we can stuff into him. PH went from 1.6 to 5.19. We’re going to do another round of meds to hopefully get him the rest of the way healed, but the vets were thrilled with his progress.
We’ve pulled him completely off any hard feed, so I stopped the GutX this month. I didn’t want to have to syringe anything else when he’s already getting meds syringed 3 times a day and being an absolute trooper about it. So I don’t know if it would’ve done anything for him treatment-wise, but I do plan on keeping him on it as a preventative when/if we re-introduce hard feeds this winter when the pasture grass is gone.
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Wonderful news! Because of this thread, and after talking to the nutritionist at 1000XEquine, I decided to give the product a try. Currently my horse in on the Gastroguard and Misoprostol. The SmartPak Smart GI Ultra didn’t to be having the protective effect I had hoped after the last round of meds Nov. 2020 through Feb. 2021, but it could just be coincidental. The rehab barn stopped giving it to him while he was doing treadmill work, and/or the ulcers could have come back from the acid rebound after being on PPIs so long. Realizing that this horse has a more sensitive GI even without all the showing and trailering. Low grade lameness issues are really hard.
Pico_Banana,
Thanks for the tip on GoodRX. Misprosol is very very expensive - even compounded, where I am, and my horse was on it for three months. For the hindgut pain, it really works though.
Any updates by anyone using GutX ?
My gelding has been on GutX for several months now and is doing great. He’s eating well (he’s never been a good eater) and now cleans his feed tub (supplements and all) every meal, has gained a massive amount of weight, and just looks good. I no longer give him ulcergard before lessons/rides as he just doesn’t need it. He seems happy and healthy. The only difference is with his new health is he definitely has a lot more energy (not spooky energy, just “I feel really really good!” energy) and I’ve had to learn to ride this version of my horse, but I’ll take it.
I have kept him on the loading (or performance dose) of GutX as he seems happier on that versus the maintenance dose, but I’ll take it. I may try the maintenance does again in a couple of months, but if he stays happy on the higher (2 pumps) dose, I’ll just keep him here. It’s been a 18 month battle to get him happy and healthy.
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My gelding has been on the performance dose of either Gut-X or the very similar Vitalize Alimend since January, through one of the most intense periods of travel, training and showing he’s ever been through, and he’s doing absolutely amazing. His coat has never looked better and he’s just generally relaxed and going well with no ulcer symptoms whatsoever. I’m keeping him on it indefinitely, the dollar whatever per day is worth it.
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I ordered GutX for one of my horses who has a history of ulcers and had started showing symptoms again. I started him on a course of GastroGard and Sucralfate at the same time so I can’t say whether the GutX did anything for him, although he’s doing better now.
However, I also decided to give it to my other horse that I’ve had just a couple months. He didn’t have symptoms of ulcers, but I figured it couldn’t hurt for prevention since it isn’t that expensive. I wasn’t expecting to see a difference in him, but after a week or so on GutX he suddenly started being friendlier and more interested in people, more alert in his stall when normally he’d stand at the back and look out his window, and he stopped kicking out at the whip or spur. So I’m a believer!
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I started one on Gut X because he would leave his food and would paw. Now he paws because he wants more food!
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I took my horse off daily Ulcergard in October after show season was over. My niece is an equine vet and she and I discussed about 4 options I could try to address his superficially minor but to him major stomach issues. Per her suggestion I tried the easiest/cheapest thing first. Put him on Outlast 2x a day plus another dose of it if I ride. He is doing great on Outlast, maybe even better than with the Ulcergard. And it’s waaaaay cheaper, easy for barn to feed, and he really seems to like it. It doesn’t happen this way very often but YAY!
ETA: Just re-read my post from last year and remembered that I tried the oat bran. That was a major flop - it made him very uncomfortable. So I did switch to daily Ulcergard after that. Kept him on it from May to October as mentioned above. Hell on the wallet but it did help.
I’ve had several on Gut-X, including a horse that arrived after a cross country trip and was basically wild. Four days on Gut-X and he was fine again as he was when I tried him.
I now just keep everything on it. It’s inexpensive enough that $150 per 3-month period (2 gallons) is totally fine for maintenance.
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How do know he didn’t just take a few days to settle after his trip?
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well, he was completely different than what he had been before we shipped him, and this wasn’t the kind of “settle” I would expect, since he was fine from the beginning until you tried to do any work or put a saddle on him. This four days was after he’d been with us for over two weeks.
That said my older horse seemed better on it and I am having fewer gut issues overall, so I’m still happy with the product.
I’ll chime in here as I was using Gut X and didn’t really “know” if it was helping or not. People kept asking me and I would shrug, as I didn’t have a specific or glaring issue to compare it to.
Then I moved barns in early October. Mare had been off it for about 3 mos at this point. She was doing ‘okay’ but just seemed unhappy. I still had a gallon left, so I thought what the heck I’ll give it a go. Did the loading dose, a week later she most definitely seemed happier. So my opinion is that it does help. For reference, I do “everything right” in regards to maintaining gut health, nothing changed that way.
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I’m currently trying GutX with my ulcer prone gelding. He’s one that gets omeprazole at preventative dose any time we leave the property and has been treated more than once for ulcers. And of course I would much rather do a daily preventative than having to periodically treat a problem. Other gut supplements have not worked for him–he won’t eat rite-trac, was reactive on probiotics, and some of the others including assureguard gold made him gassy. So far the GutX seems to be making him very gassy and uncomfortable as well. It’s the only change to his diet. I am planning to pull it for a few days this weekend to see if the gassiness goes away or if it’s related to something else.
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Does anyone know what is going on with GutX?
I’ve used it for close to a year now. It used to be cheap enough that even though I couldn’t really tell if it was working, I didn’t mind spending the money on it.
The price has remained the same but they have drastically reduced the size of the bottle. I’m reluctant to buy another bottle, as it doesn’t seem like the good deal it used to be.
Thoughts?
It’s still listed as a gallon jug. Did you get it directly from them? What size bottle did you get? Did you call them and ask?
I know they changed the shape of the bottle recently, but I agree - a gallon is a gallon.
I just placed an order for 2 gallons. Price was consistent with what I paid for my last order (which was many months ago). The shape of the containers looks different on the website, but it was still the same price for apparently the same quantity. If that turns out to not be the case when the order arrives, I will be quite surprised!
I just got two gallon jugs delivered yesterday. Paid around $162 I think. There was a 10% off code automatically applied when I checked out.
