Ulcer fix

We believe our steer has an ulcer.  We wormed him with safeguard today and will be giving him yogurt tonight.  I was reading through all of the old posts about ulcers and read where a couple of people recommended GastroGuard.  Has anyone else used it?  I'm curious if the dosage and treatment length is the same for cattle as it is for horses.  The cost made me take a deep breath, but we've invested so much in the project already I'm willing to try this if others have had really good results.

I know people that feed yogurt to horses to treat ulcers long term and they claim it works.

Ranchmom said:

We believe our steer has an ulcer.  We wormed him with safeguard today and will be giving him yogurt tonight.  I was reading through all of the old posts about ulcers and read where a couple of people recommended GastroGuard.  Has anyone else used it?  I'm curious if the dosage and treatment length is the same for cattle as it is for horses.  The cost made me take a deep breath, but we've invested so much in the project already I'm willing to try this if others have had really good results.

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Please do not shoot the messanger
GastroGard (Omeprazole) is a prescription drug not approved for use in cattle. As such it is basically illegal to use unless you follow ELDU and AMDUCA. Belief that your steer has an ulcer is not a diagnosis which (among other things) is required for ELDU. Ulcers although common (and documented by endoscopy) in horses are relatively rare in cattle, and are most frequently seen in calves on milk, often caused by Clostiridium perfringes type A.  If you are worried about the steer (and you did not provide the reasons why you think this steer has an ulcer) call your veterinarian - if you are not that worried keep giving yogurt

Obie105 thanks for your response.

DL I sent you a PM.

Can you share some more info with us?  What his diet was at the time the issues arose, signs and symptoms he has know, what has been done as far as treatment so far and any diagnostic test that have been performed.  Also calves age and approximate ADG's to this point.

Thanks, I would like to learn something from this.

One family in our area had a calf with gut problems, they ended up drenching him with buttermilk for about a month, he healed up and went on to win reserve. I am not sure of the amount or if it was once or twice a day. I do seem to remember it had to do with the water, crows or something along those lines. Calf would not gain and had blood in his stool, tested for cociliosis it was negative.

At least I think that was all the same calf.

The steer scoured a month ago. We have a problem with birds around his pen so we assumed coccidiosis and treated with sulfa boluses. He was firmed up the next morning and aggressively hungry for the next 72 hrs. He slowed his eating and scoured again the 5th day. We bolused him again according to directions and he firmed back up and became aggressively hungry again. (We slowly introduced grain both times.) Anyways we spoke to a large animal vet out of town who said he thought he was a little acidic and we needed to mix 1 Tbsp baking soda into each feeding. We did that and he was eating his 14lbs of grain per day well. As soon as I increased it to 16 lbs he slowed his consumption and 2 days later has scoured again. We (our breeder, a vet and a few others) think its an ulcer because he becomes hungry when he is given boluses and even though grain was reintroduced slowly and probiotic paste was administered as well as the baking soda he still has issues.  In communicating with others they have said they think he has acidosis rather than an ulcer and I am beginning to think more that way myself.  I hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply and please keep us updated on treatment progress and results.