How do you treat hindgut issues in horses?
A primary goal for horses with hindgut ulceration is to reduce the amount of work the colon has to do by limiting long fiber hay consumption. Hay should be replaced with short fiber hay cubes, pellets, or chopped hay. In some cases, a complete feed is suitable.
What are the symptoms of hindgut ulcers in horses?
Hindgut ulcers tend to have more profound clinical signs than gastric ulcers, according to Andrews. Signs include a recurring lack of appetite, lethargy, intermittent fever, colic bouts, occasional edema on the belly from a loss of protein in the blood, weight loss and thin body condition.
How is EGUS treated?
GastroGard (Omeprazole) is one of the most studied medication in horses. It is an “acid pump inhibitor” and inhibits gastric acid secretion regardless of the stimulus. GastroGard is a paste and is given to horses once daily for 28 days to treat EGUS.
What is used to treat hindgut ulcers in horses?
Sucralfate acts to line the stomach and intestines with a buffering substance, and can be used with ranitidine for the treatment of hindgut ulcers. Sucralfate should also be given every 8 hours. Succeed is is a product that I like to use to treat a horse with ulcers.
Does sucralfate heal ulcers in horses?
Sucralfate is used to treat gastric ulcers and ulcers of the right dorsal colon in adult horses. It usually is used with an H2 receptor antagonist or a proton-pump inhibitor such as omeprazole. Sucralfate appears to provide significant pain relief in horses that show abdominal pain due to ulcers.
How is EGUS diagnosed in horses?
Currently, detection of EGUS by gastroscopy is the only reliable ante mortem method for definitive diagnosis in horses [16] and is considered the gold standard against which all other diagnostic tests are compared [1].
Can horses be on omeprazole long term?
Similarly, omeprazole is widely believed to be effective for long-term administration as a preventative for equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) and it is registered for this purpose. However, little systematic evaluation has been performed on the efficacy of long-term (>60–90 days) dosing.
How do you treat hindgut ulcers in horses?
When should I give my horse sucralfate?
What causes EGUS?
When a horse experiences prolonged periods of fasting/starvation, excessive amounts of acids build up causing ulceration. High grain/low roughage diets are also thought to contribute to EGUS as grain requires less chewing which in turn stimulates less saliva.
How long does omeprazole take to work in horses?
Peak absorption of omeprazole from the gastrointestinal tract into the circulation occurs around 60 minutes so the horse should remain unfed for 30 to 60 minutes after administration. Start treating horses with only 2 mg/kg omeprazole per day.
How long should a horse take omeprazole?
Omeprazole has been shown to promote healing of spontaneously occurring gastric ulcers in horses when administered for 28 days at a dose of 4 mg/kg bwt/day and to prevent recurrence of ulcers in almost all horses when treatment is continued at a dose of at least 2 mg/kg bwt/day.