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Ulcers in Miniature Horses

I Am Ranch Miniature Horses is sharing with you what we do to maintain the health of our horses. This is not intended to direct you on how to care for your horse. The intent of this is only to share what we do, and raise questions for you. We advise you to consult your veterinarian before making any changes in your horse's health care. The information found on our website is not to supersede the advice of your veterinarian. I AM Ranch Miniature Horses cannot be held liable for the care of your horse(s).

Do ulcers only happen in your horses that are highly stressed due to showing or to your horses being fed hot diets? Not necessarily. We have had broodmares even develop ulcers. They are pastured more than half of the day on a grass field, and seemingly do not have a lot of stress in  life. 

Ulcers can be in the beginning of the intestinal tract, or there can be hind gut ulcers. Hind gut ulcers cannot be seen via a scope; whereas, a vet can scope your horse and see the ulcers in the tummy. I have found it more economical to treat for ulcers and not always diagnose. Ulcer symptoms include but are not limited to a horse who is not excited about their food (they go off and on it during a meal), poor coat and recurrent colic. The classic posture is a horse slowly laying down, rolling onto their back and putting their legs up in the air.

 Our personal ulcer diet is as follows:

 Flax seed (3T  2x/day)

Aloe vera juice (1/2 cup 2 times per day)

 Omeprazole (full dose) 4 days prior to showing, have them on it during the show and for a week afterwards   (I have found my best price at www.Abler.com )

Pumpkin seeds, raw, hulled, ground up and given 2 T 2x/day

 Fastrack (Probiotic)(.5 oz  2x per day) 

Dried cabbage (1T  2x per day) Raw gives gas, so dehydrate it

Oat flour (not oats) (1 Tablespoon 2 x/day)  which I buy from  the Azure Standard. 

 Vitamin C , not the synthetic powder, made by dehydrating and grinding up orange peels. (1 T  2x/day).

If I have a horse with painful ulcers, I add Sucralfate (3 100 mg pills 2xday), Gastricsmoothe (15 mls 2x/day) and Maalox to the above diet.  We have used Banamine to manage the pain. Banamine can cause ulcers too, so there is a fine balance between managing the pain of the ulcer and aggravating it. One tip is to give Maalox each time about 10 minutes prior to giving the Banamine. I give the injectable Banamine orally so I am very sure of my dosages. It is a challenge to measure exact dosages of the paste Banamine. The GastricSoothe is excellent when ulcers are causing a lot of pain.

All of these tips are what works for us, but I strongly recommend that you consult your veterinarian before changing the diet of your horse.   There are many more tips and ideas at this link. Her article is excellent and gives the reason behind my strange ulcer diet. I don't see much point in my rewriting it.

Another good thing to know is that Gastroguard and Ulcerguard have the same amount of Omeprazole in each tube. The only difference is the instructions on the tubes regarding dosages. The other difference is the price and that Gastroguard requires a prescription to buy. Ulcerguard does not require a prescription. And, still more cost effective yet is buying from the Abler company in the link above.

 

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I Am Ranch Miniature Horses is sharing with you what we do to maintain the health of our horses. This is not intended to direct you on how to care for your horse. The intent of this is only to share what we do, and raise questions for you. We advise you to consult your veterinarian before making any changes in your horse's health care. The information found on our website is not to supersede the advice of your veterinarian. I AM Ranch Miniature Horses cannot be held liable for the care of your horse(s).

 

Mickey  Zantac 1.5 of 75 mg tablets every 8 hours,    200 ml IV every 3 hours, give slow,  should take 15 min. ,    xylacine .25 cc IM prn but not more than every 2 hours.