Wednesday, February 11, 2015

ulcer update

I wrote last November that my trainer and I talked about Isabel maybe having ulcers. After consulting with the vet, Isabel's owner and I opted for a two week treatment of omeprazole, followed by maintenance via gastric supplements - mostly magnesium and calcium, with a little diatomaceous earth and zinc and other goodies. 

So this post is mostly just to check-in on how she's doing. 


The supplement we started on was this pink powdery stuff. It seems to have the desired effects, but it's pretty messy and Isabel consistently leaves some behind. I suspected that was simply from too much powder given Izzy's small meal size (she's an easy keeper!). 

So now I mix the powder version with the more expensive pelleted version (she gets 1oz of each per day) to increase the surface area for powder to stick to. I pre-measure it in cups since I buy in bulk and our pharmacy feed room has limited space.



The powder, when bought in bulk, costs us about $0.17/day, and the pellets run about $0.36/day for this particular feeding regiment. Definitely cheaper than a full course of omeprazole!! 

So far Isabel seems to be doing really well with managing her stress, and all the little factors that led up to the diagnosis have mostly disappeared. Every few weeks I start to get concerned again - until I realized the concerning aspects were just related to her heat cycle. 

These supplements appear to be doing a good job of maintaining things, tho I expect to pick up a couple tubes of ulcer-gard paste for big show weekends - just to keep that tummy happy! 

16 comments:

  1. Great to hear that things are ticking along ad they should and that the extra hauling for riding during the winter months aren't having a negative effect ☺

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    1. thanks - i'm relieved that we haven't seen any reemergence of the issues!! (so far haha)

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  2. Interesting that he only had you do two weeks of omeprazole. What's the pink stuff?

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    1. the vet recommended two weeks with an optional third week if we didn't see a difference, i think maybe bc izzy is a pretty small horse? the pink stuff and pellets are both u-gard, just different forms of it

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  3. Interesting! I will be treating Apollo for ulcers shortly as well...

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    1. good luck!! it's all new to me, so i'm just trying to stay observant .. but hopefully we've got it all under control now!

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  4. Maybe she just likes having pink all over her lips like horsey lipstick....

    Glad to hear that its been helping. Keep us updated! Btw, from where do you purchase?

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    1. lol she luvs her lipstick (and rubbing it all over me!).

      i've been ordering from smartpak, but my trainer recommended Valley Vet Supply and their prices appear to be better. so i'll probably check them out next time

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  5. Glad Isabel is feeling good now, hopefully she will be easy to maintain. FYI for show season, entirely pets is usually the cheapest for ulcergard once you find a promo code.

    Mr. P is going to go on ranitidine for a little while since he hasn't had the ravenous appetite he normally does. Evidently he finds his brother's lameness issues stressful too!

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    1. ooh thanks for the recommendation! my trainer uses ranitidine too, and put that forward as a suggestion as well... hopefully it helps Phoenix feel more like his usual self!!

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  6. Glad it's better! Just bought an UG tube for Simon for showing/trailering stress as well.

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    1. thanks! yea, i never much believed in the power of these things (esp for the price tag!) until i saw first hand how unhappy my mare became.. now a $30 tube of happy paste for a show weekend seems like a worthwhile investment!

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  7. This was perfectly timed for me!! I am trying to figure out the best gastric supplement for Murray to keep him ulcer free in the future (and I don't want to go the ranitidine route), so this is awesome!

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    1. oh glad it's helpful!! you'll have to let us know how it goes!

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  8. GLad to hear she's doing better! You are such a good horse mommy!

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    1. thanks!! i suspect isabel would disagree about the 'good horse mommy' thing (she likes to remind me that i'm not her real mother haha) -- but i do what i can!

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