Pedigree Query

Someone recommended Omeprezole to treat ulcers in horses.. Has anyone here had any experience with Omeprezole?/

griff

The best stuff you can get, also the most expensive.An old horseman from Ireland told me to feed cabbage,any one out there ever heard of that?

The gweneric name is OMEPRAZULR [notg Omeprezole]. The brand name is PRILOSEC and it was developed to take care of the bacteria that caused ulsers in humans.

griff

Prilosec is the end to acid indigestion for people. Would imagine it would work well for horses with stomach problems.

I've used Tagamet for horses but not Prilosec. You can get compounded Omeprezole and sometimes it works and sometimes not. I've learned to just pay the difference and use Gastro-Guard as it has always been effective. Others may have had different experiences.

Compounded omeprazole isn't cheap but I have found it to be very effective. I've also had success with Sulcrafate pretty inexpensive.

We've turned two claims around BIG TIME by doing nothing other than putting them on the generic omeprazole. I didn't mind the $300 a month when the horse I took for $20k won by 4 1/2 for $50k 5 weeks later.

griff wrote:The gweneric name is OMEPRAZULR [notg Omeprezole]. The brand name is PRILOSEC and it was developed to take care of the bacteria that caused ulsers in humans.

griff

What?

The active ingredient in gastrogard/ulcergard is omeprazole.

Omeprazole is a proton pump inhibitor. It does not have ANY effect on bacteria.

I don't believe there is any evidence that equine gastric ulcers are caused by Helicobacter pylori, which is the causative agent in a significant number of human stomach ulcers.

Ascot, quite a story but why is this stuff so expensive? Isn't it a generic?

No, there is no generic. The patent on gastrogard does not expire until 2015.

Compounded omeprazole is available at a significant savings, but it's up in the air if it really works or not. Merial uses a buffer to protect the omeprazole from stomach acid; without a buffer the acidic environment in the stomach breaks down omeprazole before it can work.

Oh, and $300 a month is nothing--if you are actually treating with gastrogard, you will be spending ~$900 a month. It costs right around $30 a day at the treatment dose.

ckaye

We get gastrogard for n $30 a tube which provides 4 daily applications which come to approximately $255 per month

. We get omeprazole for $15 a tube which gives us three daily application which come to approximately $150 per month/

griff.

I have used both the Ulcergard/Gastrogard AND the compounded Omeprazole. GG/UG costs over $30/tube, and the compounded is about $10-15 tube. Regardless, the recommended dosage is one full tube per day for one month. However, when I have treated for ulcers I use one full tube/day for 7 days, then down to one half tube for a week, and then down to 1/4 tube/day for 2 weeks with excellent results.

I have also read that you can feed cabbage, not to HEAL the ulcers, but as an alternative as a part of a GRAIN FREE diet. IMO, there really is no point in treating ulcers in a horse if you are dumping gallons into cereal grains into it and keeping it stalled 23 hours each day. OK. Well, there is a POINT, but you'll be treating them with the maintance dose forever, or until they are transitioned from that lifestyle.

I, for one, have always been more than pleased with the compounded Omeprazole. You can get it at Precision Pharmacy.

www.myprecisionpharmacy.com

You need a prescription.

Does anyone know what the buffer is in gastragard?/

My Vet supply offers a 3 does tube of Omeprazole with and without Bismuth and I was wondering if the bismuth was a buffer.

Also I found one liter of Omeprazile Suspension Buffered for $335 and I think that comes in at less than $170 per month. The ad for the one liter buffered does not mention bismuth.

griff

The 1/4 tube of gastrogard per day is the dose that is labeled to prevent, not to treat. If it works for you, great--but that dose has not been proven to heal like the full dose.

I did recently purchase compounded omeprazole from myprecisionpharmacy.com and it did not help my horse. A full tube of gastrogard a day sure has, though :sigh: I'll try the compounded stuff again after a couple weeks of gastrogard, and maybe I'll pair it with U-Gard...

I SWEAR I did run across a site that went into what Merial does to get the omeprazole through the stomach, but I can't find it now. Bismuth IS a buffer, but I don't know if it is THE buffer. IIRC, bismuth is the active ingredient in pepto.

where can i find some gastrogard? Point me in the right direction..