I was going to break into song, you know, that song by Stevie Wonder..."Cause I've got an upset stomach..." but it's about a broken heart, not due to gut issues, so I refrained, mostly for your sake!
Okay, so Maxwell has been on his Abprazole (omeprazole) stomach ulcer treatment for 6 days now. Obviously we're hardly a week into treatment, but I've decided to get a jump start on better supporting his stomach once the treatment is complete, to hopefully eliminate the risk of developing the ulcers once again. I realize some horses are just more susceptible, regardless of dietary support, but before I label my horse a lost cause on ulcers, I want to ensure I'm doing all I can to help his stomach out. His diet is already extremely compatible with an ulcer horse's needs, so we're good to go on that front.
Maxwell came to me on a great acid buffer called U-Gard. It is an extremely cost effective supplement to create a neutral PH in the horse's stomach, not to mention how highly rated and highly spoken of, it is. I haven't changed my views on this supplement; if you're looking for something that will buffer acid in the stomach, this is an amazing product. Increased magnesium and calcium are also beneficial. However, Maxwell recently underwent a diet overhaul and his diet is now extremely high in calcium. It's partly the calcium in this product (and in things like Alfalfa) that cause the buffering effect on the stomach, so because Maxwell is consuming 13 pounds of alfalfa per day, I needed to re-evaluate my stomach ulcer support medications and eliminate any extra calcium.
Before I go any further, I want to also mention the hind gut. I've posted about it before, and I'm sure I'll do it again after this post, but the hind gut is so very often overlooked. Those who have done their research on gastric ulcers realize that if their horse wasn't already suffering from colonic ulcers in addition to the gastric ulcers that they were most concerned about, almost certainly after treatment with omeprazole you can expect at the very least some colonic distress. Maxwell has been on SmartDigest Ultra pellets for several months now, following a 2 month course of Succeed paste. His hind gut has greatly improved from the time before Succeed until now, as has his weight. I'm a little nervous to see how his hind gut responds to 30 days of omeprazole followed by a wean-off period, but I'm confident that SmartDigest Ultra will support better than nothing at all.
The logical thing to do in my situation, needing a stomach support supplement that works well with my hind gut support supplement, would be to put Maxwell on (a great but expensive) product from Smartpak called SmartGI Ultra pellets which essentially combines Smartpak's stomach ulcer support supplement SmartGut Ultra with their hind gut support supplement SmartDigest Ultra. At a whopping $95 a month, I dived into trying to find a more cost effective alternative. I needed to find something that had a more supportive ingredients list than the U-Gard, at a cost effective price, that complimented the SmartDigest Ultra that is currently being fed. So research I did, and this is what I've come up with as something to try: G.U.T by Uckele
G.U.T has a lot of the supportive ingredients that we read about over and over again on various ulcer-based websites. It doesn't have them in the same quantity per dose as say, SmartGut Ultra, but it's also less than half the cost. I would consider upgrading to SmartGI Ultra to simplify my supplement feeding, IF and ONLY if a stronger concentration of these ingredients seems warranted, after a fair trial on the G.U.T.
I'm not here to explain the reasons why these ingredients are important to gut health, that's something I think every person interested benefits from researching on their own. Smartpak does offer a basic oversight of many popular ingredients in their offered supplements, found HERE, however I do still recommend further researching to better educate yourself before you make any decision on the supplement you are choosing.
I have taken the liberty of regenerating the comparison chart on Smartpak so that it can be posted here for my readers to see. Please note all nutritional facts listed here are courtesy of Smartpak.
This chart reflects the similarities and differences between my current choice for stomach support, and my NEW choice for stomach support. Remember, I have nothing against U-Gard being a very cost effective way to buffer acid, but in my horse's current dietary case, more calcium is NOT warranted, and I was looking for further support. Literally the only downside I can see as an outsider who hasn't yet tried this product, is that G.U.T is only offered in powder form from Smartpak. I have learned they do in fact make a pellet, at a higher cost, direct from Uckele. I'll consider that version only if Max decides this powder is no good.
As you can see, G.U.T offers a much more powerful punch in the fight against stomach ulceration, than does that of U-Gard. Remember, I don't necessarily want an antacid in my horse's everyday diet. The purpose of antacids and proton pump inhibitors are to decrease (or eliminate) the acid in a stomach. Acid is important for proper digestion in a health horse with a healthy gut. Once the treatment period with omeprazole is complete, I don't want to inhibit all acid production in Maxwell's stomach. The calcium and magnesium in U-Gard are what create the buffer in a horse's stomach, so in Maxwell's case, the large quantity of Calcium he consumes daily via Alfalfa would far surpass that of a supplement containing the same. I cannot yet comment on it's efficacy, as I've just added it to my SmartPak's and won't receive the first month's supply until February 15th, but I will be sure to report back both on how it's working, and how Abler's Abprazole has done for Maxwell's treatment.
My second chart is a just for funsies one. I placed G.U.T side by side with SmartDigest Ultra. While SmartDigest Ultra is marketed as a digestive and colon aid (hind gut), some people might get confused and assume they are supporting their horse's stomach as well. This isn't the case unless you're feeding that combo supplement I mentioned earlier on, or some other combination of supplements. I placed these supplements side by side to ensure I wasn't missing something or repeating ingredients and wasting money.
It's the little things in life that get me most excited. This happens to be one. Look at how beautifully these two products compliment one another. What one lacks, the other makes up for. All for $2.40 a day, or roughly $70 a month. That's a great savings compared to SmartGI Ultra, which is currently $95 a month. Again, I realize there are more potent quantities of some of these beneficial ingredients in that product, however not every horse requires such a large dose, and obviously not everyone can handle a $95 a month supplement. $70 is way more reasonable, and leaves me the $25 a month I need to support my horse's joints with a product not offered by Smartpak.
Of course, I've not put this supplement into use, but I wanted to share some of it's information and I hope if you're as curious as I, that you stop back here to see my thoughts on it in a month or two, once Omeprazole treatment is over, and these products alone are working on my horse's digestive system.
What are your thoughts? What do you use to support your horse's gastrointestinal system?
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