Equine Gastric Ulcers
Diagnosing & Treating Gastric Ulcers in Horses by Corey Paradine, DVM from Cleveland Equine Clinic
What are Gastric Ulcers in your Equine?
Gastric ulcers are lesions in the mucosa of the horse’s stomach that can vary in size, number and severity. Mild lesions can be small and superficial, with only little reddening and thickening of the mucosa. Severe lesions can present as large, multiple ulcerations in the mucosa.
WHAT CAUSES GASTRIC ULCERS?
- Management
- Stalling/limited turnout
- Feeding meals rather than continuous grazing
- NSAIDs
- Bute, Banamine, Equioxx
- Domestic horses have added stress from training, traveling, herd changes, the wind blew differently, etc etc
- ???
-Lots of research still being done
-Differences between non-glandular ulcer disease and glandular/pyloric ulcer disease
WHAT ARE SYMPTOMS OF GASTRIC ULCERS?
• Weight loss
• Reduced appetite
• Poor hair coat
• Recurrent colic
• Attitude changes
• Poor performance
NOT USUALLY SPECIFIC!
DIAGNOSING GASTRIC ULCERS
Gastroscopy!!
- Sucralfate trial
-Acts as a band-aid over lesions
-Horses usually respond positively after a few days
- Fecal blood test??
-Not shown to be reliable
NOT by symptoms alone!
WHAT ARE GASTRIC ULCERS?
Equine Squamous Gastric Disease
Grade 1 lesion - Mucosa is intact, but there are areas of hyperkeratosis or gastritis
Grade 2 lesion - Small, single or multi-focal lesions; superficial
Grade 3 Lesion (Moderate Ulceration) - Large single or extensive superficial lesions
Grade 4 Lesion (Severe Ulceration) - Extensive lesions with areas of apparent deep ulceration
- Equine Glandular Gastric Disease/Pyloric lesions
-Not usually graded, described instead
-Fibrinosupperative
-Erythematous, hemorrhagic
-Raised, flat, or depressed
TREATMENT OF GASTRIC ULCERS?
- Omeprazole
-Only FDA approved treatment – Gastrogard
-Only FDA approved drug for prevention - Ulcergard
- Sucralfate
- Misoprostol
-Primarily used for glandular/pyloric ulcers
- H2 antagonists (cimetidine, ranitidine, famotidine)
-Used occasionally but not as effective as Ulcergard
- Compounds?
-Not worthwhile; omeprazole needs an appropriate carrier agent to get through stomach acid into the small intestine to be absorbed
- Antibiotics?
-Bacteria not shown to be a causative agent in equine gastric ulcer disease
FEED AND MANAGEMENT
- Alfalfa
- Continuous hay
- Low-starch grains
- Oil
- Turnout
-As much as possible, with friends
- Stress management
- Number of work days
-No more than 5 days/week, split up, for glandular ulcers
ULCER SUPPLEMENTS
- Soooooo many
- Ones I routinely recommend
-Protek GI
-Purina Outlast
-Relyne
-Platinum Performance GI
-Succeed
** This blog is for informational purposes only. Please contact your veterinarian if your horse has any signs of gastric ulcers.
