Diet and ulcers

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affected

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Jan 19, 2006
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My mare is just concluding a course of Gastroguard for her gastric ulcers and am at the stage of assessing her diet and making sure it is all it can be to help stop them recurring.

She has always had ample turnout...24/7 summer, 10ish hours in winter.. Acces to ad lib forage.

She is a very good doer.
Currently fed on hi fi lite one scoop morning and evening. Lo cal balancer, recommended amount split between two feeds.
Mint 12g per feed
Settlex one scoop per feed.

Am not too impressed with the settlex and am looking to move away from ant acid type supplements due to potential for acid reflux when supplement taken away and its effect longterm on natural balance of the gut environment.

Have read mixed reviews of alfalfa...come places I read it is an acidic feed and other places I have read it is good as a natural neutraliser for stomach acid?!
So many supplements out there and the one I was after( Smart digest ultra) I am unable to get hold of in the UK :-(

Equilibria range seems good anyone any exerience of this?


Just after peoples experiences of feeding horses who have a history of gastric ulceration really:confused:

Thanks in advance ,
:)
 
It sounds like you are already doing a lot to maximise your horse's comfort (is it possible to put her on 24/7 turnout in winter?)

Dengie (who, just in case you don't know already, create alfalfa based forage feeds) state:

Alfalfa as a Buffer

Recent research commissioned by Dengie and carried out at the Royal **** Vet School in Edinburgh, investigated the buffering (neutralising) capabilities of alfalfa. The acidity of the gut needs to be kept within certain parameters in order to keep the gut healthy. It is known that feeding cereals increases acidity in the gut and this is linked to problems such as gastric ulcers, colic and laminitis. The study found that feeding between 25 and 50% of the diet as alfalfa helped to counteract the negative effects of cereals.

I hope this helps! Good luck. :)

x
 
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I have been reading alot on this subject in the last couple of days.One thing which alot of people seemed to suggest was good is coligone both for treating and preventing problems to do with ulcers.
 
My horse had stomach ulcers a few years ago. I changed his feed to Dengie AlfaA and hes been doing really well. No problems with his belly and he looks fantastic on it all year round.
 
Cheers guys,
Am definatley going to try a switch from Dengie to AlfaA and see how she goes with that, also switching from Settlex to Ugard and on loading does of Pink powder...along with the mint untill that runs out :cool:

If anybody hears of a supplement that combines the pro/prebiotics with the other stuff that would be ace :D

Also found a blog where lady had real good results with human grade MSM and aloe vera gel...hmmmm seems there are still lots of avenues to follow.
Just wish I could get to the bottom of what is making them recurr as she really doesnt have the most stressful life ever..mainly hacks and a little dressage but there is obviously something she isnt happy about...

That ulcer better watch it, Im a woman on a mission ha ha

Thanks for your help guys...all info gratefully received and if anybody is interested will keep this up to date with our progress, may be of use to others at some point :)
 
Maintaining the right flora in the gut is supposed to keep a normal pH in there through times of stress etc, so more of a preventative measure when the ulcers are under control. Wouldnt necesarily increase pH if there was high acidity already there I agree.:)

Also been looking round and found a bacterial infection can cause ulcers to recurr..esp with reference to how she is already kept and fed, cant see how her acidity levels keep rising to cause the EGUS??? She is a case isnt she ha ha ...

So in theory would hope that keep putting the good bacteria down there would keep this under control???
Does that make any sense?

Not sure really though, just playing with some ideas and seeing how we go really although the vet did recommend Pro Balance for her which is a synbiotic... can only get it from the vets though so thats probably why they recommened that ;)
 
affected said:
Maintaining the right flora in the gut is supposed to keep a normal pH in there through times of stress etc, so more of a preventative measure when the ulcers are under control. Wouldnt necesarily increase pH if there was high acidity already there I agree.:)

Also been looking round and found a bacterial infection can cause ulcers to recurr..esp with reference to how she is already kept and fed, cant see how her acidity levels keep rising to cause the EGUS??? She is a case isnt she ha ha ...

So in theory would hope that keep putting the good bacteria down there would keep this under control???
Does that make any sense?

Not sure really though, just playing with some ideas and seeing how we go really although the vet did recommend Pro Balance for her which is a synbiotic... can only get it from the vets though so thats probably why they recommened that ;)
Click to expand...

Hmm, interesting, thank you! :) I had just never thought to connect the two, 'tis all.

x
 
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