Ask the Nutritionist: Dr. Getty's Forum for Equine Nutrition
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Dr. Getty
Hello,
The best way to treat an ulcer is to remove the cause and then provide Gastrogard (through your veterinarian). Most ulcers are caused by removing feed from horses for many hours. Horses, unlike humans, produce stomach acid all of the time, not only when there is food in the stomach. Therefore, it is very important for horses to be able to graze 24/7. This does two things. First, it promotes chewing which produces saliva flow. Saliva neutralizes stomach acid. Second, the presence of forages (hay, grass) absorbs stomach acid.
High starch diets seem to aggravate ulcers by further increasing stomach acid. And, intensive exercise and stress also increase ulcer formation.
One additional thing you can do is add corn oil to the meal – at 20 ml/100 kg of body weight (which, for a 1200 lb horse, translates into about 1/3 cup). Normally, I do not recommend corn oil, but the linoleic acid content has been shown to assist in the damaging effects of stomach acid.
You’ll want to ask your vet about administering Gastrogard. It is the same drug as found in the human medication, Prilosec.
Thank you for writing,
Dr. Getty
