# New gastric ulcer treatment - Egusin



## Oberon (30 January 2012)

Anyone who has read any of my threads will know I am suspicious of company bumpf.....

But this has caught my attention.....

Developed in Denmark - I have heard that Dr Kerry Ridgway has used this product on around 30 horses so far with no failures or side effects and it appears to be working on foregut and hind gut ulcers.

You are supposed to feed the Egusin SLH twice a day for 21 days 
and the the Egusin 250 for prevention and maintenance.

http://www.egusin.net

Will be interesting to see how it develops......


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## Goldenstar (30 January 2012)

Heres hoping its effective and more cost effective than gasraguard.


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## YasandCrystal (30 January 2012)

Goldenstar said:



			Heres hoping its effective and more cost effective than gasraguard.
		
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Gastro Gard cures or allows ulcers to heal. Egusin may be effective for the ulcer prone horse following treatment with Gastro Gard, but it won't heal ulcers. Many people swear by Ulcer Gard and Coligone as a maintenance and preventative measure, but they are still expensive costing around £40 pm


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## kirstykate (30 January 2012)

YasandCrystal said:



			Gastro Gard cures or allows ulcers to heal. Egusin may be effective for the ulcer prone horse following treatment with Gastro Gard, but it won't heal ulcers. Many people swear by Ulcer Gard and Coligone as a maintenance and preventative measure, but they are still expensive costing around £40 pm
		
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Have to disagree ever so nicely with this one  They both contain Omeprazole, which blocks the acid.  I think it looks quite good, I know Alfalfa and oats are supposed to be good for ulcers.  Had to do an awful lot of reserch as one of my boys has IBS


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## SpottedCat (30 January 2012)

kirstykate said:



			Have to disagree ever so nicely with this one  They both contain Omeprazole, which blocks the acid.  I think it looks quite good, I know Alfalfa and oats are supposed to be good for ulcers.  Had to do an awful lot of reserch as one of my boys has IBS


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The only thing in the UK which contains omaprazole that is licenced for use in horses is gastrogard. The product linked above doesn't, and neither do any of the supplements which you can buy over the counter. Merial has the patent and omaprazole is a prescription only medication for horses. You can't buy it over the counter (legally) in the UK. You can in the USA, where Merial also sell an over the counter product called Ulcer Gard.  

There's not a lot in that new supplement which isn't in Feedmark's UlcerCalm....which is significantly cheaper, especially if you get it on one of the offers they are always doing!!


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## Oberon (30 January 2012)

YasandCrystal said:



			Gastro Gard cures or allows ulcers to heal. Egusin may be effective for the ulcer prone horse following treatment with Gastro Gard, but it won't heal ulcers. Many people swear by Ulcer Gard and Coligone as a maintenance and preventative measure, but they are still expensive costing around £40 pm
		
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Dr Ridgway has said, "The main ingredients are pectins and lecitin both of which coat over ulcers and form a bandage while the ulcers heal. It also contains buffering agents agents, etc."

He has used it on 30 horses so far with no failures - with both fore and hind gut ulcers.

It's being researched by the Louisiana Veterinary College at the moment.

Gastroguard's effectiveness on hind ulcers is poor

I trust Dr Ridgway's judgement on this - he has reviewed many different ulcer treatments and supplements in a recent book by Pete Ramey. I genuinely don't believe he would support a product against Gastroguard if it wasn't going to be effective.

Working in human medicine - I am a huge fan of Omeprazole.....it's saved many people from bleeding to death in front of me


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## cptrayes (30 January 2012)

kirstykate said:



			Have to disagree ever so nicely with this one  They both contain Omeprazole, which blocks the acid.  I think it looks quite good, I know Alfalfa and oats are supposed to be good for ulcers.  Had to do an awful lot of reserch as one of my boys has IBS


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Am I being thick? I can#t see omeprazole in the ingredients list, and if it was there then it would be illegal to import this product into the UK, where omeprazole is a controlled drug and only the makers of Gastrogard have a licence to use it for  horses, which is why it is so ridiculously expensive.


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## SpottedCat (30 January 2012)

If it can help with ulcers caused by bacteria then brilliant - the current treatment for those in horses is pretty horrible, for horse and handler!! I would be surprised if it could though, because part of the regime of treatment for ulcers is antepsin tablets, which effectively bind to the surface of the ulcer as described above. Nothing 'conventional' helped the glandular ulcers my horse had, and a course of antibiotics in conjunction with GG, antepsin and pepto bismol was needed.


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## SpottedCat (30 January 2012)

cptrayes said:



			Am I being thick? I can#t see omeprazole in the ingredients list, and if it was there then it would be illegal to import this product into the UK, where omeprazole is a controlled drug and only the makers of Gastrogard have a licence to use it for  horses, which is why it is so ridiculously expensive.
		
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Omaprazole is not in the ingredients list, so no, you are not being thick! It also isn't in the ingredients list of anything you can buy over the counter here in the UK


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## Oberon (30 January 2012)

In the US Gastroguard and Ulcerguard are basically the same product.

However Gastroguard is px only and expensive

where Ulcerguard is less expensive and available to buy.

The makers justify this by saying they are recommended at different doses on the packaging!

I am just lucky my horses don't suffer


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## SpottedCat (30 January 2012)

Oberon said:



			In the US Gastroguard and Ulcerguard are basically the same product.

However Gastroguard is px only and expensive

where Ulcerguard is less expensive and available to buy.

The makers justify this by saying they are recommended at different doses on the packaging!

I am just lucky my horses don't suffer 

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They cost exactly the same in the USA! it's just Ulcergard is available over the counter and you are supposed to give 1/4 of a tube a day whereas GastroGard is prescription only and you give a tube a day. So it's no cheaper to buy Ulcergard and give a whole tube.


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## YasandCrystal (30 January 2012)

Oberon said:



			Dr Ridgway has said, "The main ingredients are pectins and lecitin both of which coat over ulcers and form a bandage while the ulcers heal. It also contains buffering agents agents, etc."

He has used it on 30 horses so far with no failures - with both fore and hind gut ulcers.

It's being researched by the Louisiana Veterinary College at the moment.

Gastroguard's effectiveness on hind ulcers is poor

I trust Dr Ridgway's judgement on this - he has reviewed many different ulcer treatments and supplements in a recent book by Pete Ramey. I genuinely don't believe he would support a product against Gastroguard if it wasn't going to be effective.

Working in human medicine - I am a huge fan of Omeprazole.....it's saved many people from bleeding to death in front of me

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My horse had hind gut ulcers (well 1 actually) and he was treated for a month worth GastroGard along with Sucralfate. Sucralfate is similar to products like Rantacidine and probably contains pectins and lectin which coat the ulcers to sooth them while healing. Likened by many as an ulcer bandage, but without the Omeprazole the ulcers couldn't heal I was advised.
My vet trained in the states and had experience of prescribing one with the other for better success.

A holistic vet I use also stated that the hind gut fauna is actually destroyed within a few days by the use of Omeprazole and I had to give my horse a course of herbal treatment over a 6 week period to restore this, without which she said it would remain unbalanced.


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## kirstykate (30 January 2012)

SpottedCat said:



			The only thing in the UK which contains omaprazole that is licenced for use in horses is gastrogard. The product linked above doesn't, and neither do any of the supplements which you can buy over the counter. Merial has the patent and omaprazole is a prescription only medication for horses. You can't buy it over the counter (legally) in the UK. You can in the USA, where Merial also sell an over the counter product called Ulcer Gard.  

There's not a lot in that new supplement which isn't in Feedmark's UlcerCalm....which is significantly cheaper, especially if you get it on one of the offers they are always doing!!
		
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  didnt read Compare What Egusin® Does this bit properly, feeling really thick now!!!  Although I do like the sound of it and would give it a go


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## YasandCrystal (30 January 2012)

When I looked at diagnosing a horse with ulcers other than gastro scoping I found material regarding the use of Rantacidine and lectin and how by dosing the horse up with these on a frequent basis you could see if there was an improvement in the ridden behaviour. Similarly I think you can use limestone flour to show an improvement.

I seem to recall that whilst one could possibly cure low grade ulcers via the use of Rantacidine or Sucralfate you would need to administer it every 3 or 4 hours as it only works for a short period. Clearly that is not possible overnight etc for most people. GastroGard on the other hand works for hours on end and I believe has a continued effect of shutting down part of the acid pump production, so this is the reason it makes it so effective.

Maybe the Egusin has a longer working period for protecting the ulcers, which would be good and enable healing.


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## alsiola (30 January 2012)

YasandCrystal said:



			A holistic vet I use also stated that the hind gut fauna is actually destroyed within a few days by the use of Omeprazole and I had to give my horse a course of herbal treatment over a 6 week period to restore this, without which she said it would remain unbalanced.
		
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There is no logical reason why hind gut fauna would be destroyed by Omeprazole, and I can find no evidence to back up this statement.


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## YasandCrystal (19 June 2012)

alsiola said:



			There is no logical reason why hind gut fauna would be destroyed by Omeprazole, and I can find no evidence to back up this statement.
		
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It's NOT destroyed by Omeprazole, but by the passing of undigested food caused by the lack of stomach acid. I trust my vet's words on this one and I also did some research and I found several sites telling me that the hindgut fauna dies with so many hours due to the undigested food passing through. Seemingly the lack of stomach acids breaking down the food cause this problem. it sounds logical enough to me - I have no reason to disbelieve my vet or the internet for that matter.


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## Dab (19 June 2012)

YasandCrystal said:



			My horse had hind gut ulcers (well 1 actually) .
		
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Hi Y&C, can you tell me how your horse was positively diagnosed with 1 hindgut ulcer? I didnt think there were any definative tests, as they can't scoop the hindgut.


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