question about ulcers

So I have a saddlebred/Percheron gelding. 7yo. he has dropped some weight and feels and looks ribby. He is on a regular worming schedule. He was fed 5lbs of sentinel performance per day while in heavy work. Now in no work he is fed almost 8lbs and is dropping weight. Someone suggested it might be ulcers, however I'm having a hard time getting a vet out in a timely manner (their schedules don't match mine). My question is, is if I start him on something like smartpak ulcer guard and he doesn't have ulcers, is it going to hurt him?

Thanks

Have you had his teeth checked?

Yes, his teeth were just floated in April. He isn't my first horse, I have 3 others, all of which are in wonderful if not a little chubby

Decrease the amount of grain, and increase the amount and frequency of hay he receives. If it is ulcers, this will help buffer the stomach acids.

He has access to hay 4
24/7. He is now in a paddock of his own and has his own hay, but all my horses have access to hay 24/7 and always have.

couchhound274 said:

He has access to hay 4
24/7. He is now in a paddock of his own and has his own hay, but all my horses have access to hay 24/7 and always have.

Click to expand...

The ulcer guard won't hurt him if he doesn't have ulcers.

Thanks

Get a vet out. Losing weight despite having enough food is a serious red flag.

If your schedules don't mesh, change your schedule, call a different vet, take a day off work, whatever it takes.

No, don't reduce his grain when he's already losing weight. In fact, there is absolutely no evidence that a sensible grain component of a diet has anything to do with ulcers.

This whole ulcer thing has gone crazy. These days everyone jumps to giving an ulcer supplement (as if they do anything at all...) even before they know what the animal has.

In fact this whole supplement business is insane. My friend's horse had chronic diarrhea, she gave it this clay supplement....well it had a severe gut infection causing that diarrhea, and she never even had the vet look at the horse, just got online, got this damned supplement and that was the end of that. And that was the end of that horse.

Yes I've seen horses killed by this sort of thing - it's neglect and not in the horse's best interest. Supplements are NOT a substitute for veterinary diagnosis!!!!!!!!

There are a million possibilities - not every horse in this world has ulcers and when there is weight loss ulcers are really not the first thing that should come to your mind.

It could be so many different things - your person who floats the teeth may not be doing a good job(very common), or something may have happened to the teeth after his teeth were done - like a rock getting wedged in his mouth and breaking one or more teeth. Your worming program may not be adequate. He may have cancer, or an infection in his gut.

Even, as a Percheron Saddlebred cross, he may simply need a different feed program than what you are used to.

But the bottom line is I have NEVER seen a horse lose weight in spite of adequate feed, when there was NOT something seriously wrong, and NOT ulcers.

NEVER give supplements to treat a problem until AFTER you have a veterinary diagnosis and are absolutely, positively, 100% clear that you know what the horse has and that he does not need it treated medically - then and only then, consider a supplement, and only if your veterinarian thinks there is any point to that particular supplement. Supplements are 100% unregulated and they can claim they do all sorts of wild things that they just cannot do.