Sam and His Ulcers

Sam isn't over his ulcers. We had him on ulcer meds for 14 days. I should have called the vet immediately after we ran out to see what the plan was. Sam isn't back up to snuff and you can tell.

I called our vet this morning and we are putting Sam on ulcer meds for 30 days. Youch! I am not going to like that vet bill.

We are supposed to give him the ulcer meds for 30 days at full dose and then do another 30 days at half dose. Double Youch!

And when I say youch, I mean 14 days of ulcer meds cost just over $100. So there's the 14 days that we did already at $100, there's the 30 days at full dose at $200 and another 30 days at half dose so that'll be another $200. So to get Sam back up to snuff, we are looking at a $500 vet bill.

I'm going to have to do some additional research as one vet said feed alfalfa and remove senior/calf manna and one said take away alfalfa and keep with the senior feed. I wish there was a better diagnosis for ulcers. Better yet, I wish Sam didn't have ulcers altogether.

We'll be starting ulcer treatments tomorrow after getting the medicine. We could buy the over-the-counter Gastroguard or Ulcerguard but the vet has their Gastrogaurd compounded with pepto to help the horse feel better faster. The cost is almost the same as far as I can tell.

So here's the plan. Start Sam tomorrow on Omaprizal (I'll get the true spelling later). Give him meds for 30 days at full dose (aka half a tube). Then we'll go for another 30 days at half dose (aka a quarter tube). We'll see where we are from there. Hopefully we'll be on to pasture so life will be easier and the ulcers will be gone, gone, gone.

But there is one additional caveat. Both vets I've talked with recommend continuous feeding. That means evening graining isn't good enough. I need to spread it out throughout the day. I'm not sure how that'll work but I'm betting I'll be getting up earlier to get Sam eating in the morning. If I can feed him half his beet pulp in the morning and the other half in the afternoon, that should keep the "hay shelf" covered and the ulcers will heal faster. Or so I hope.

So that's the plan. Early to rise to feed Sam some of his normal grain ration and afternoon feeding with a dose of ulcer meds. Not sure if this will be the new routine for the future or just for the next month. I know with Sam, it should be for the rest of his life. We'll see how I handle it.