Our New Gastroscope
We are excited to have recently acquired a 3 meter video endoscope. This new piece of equipment will allow us to “scope” stomachs and will allow us to provide a higher level of service and diagnostic capability to our clients.
As you probably know gastric (stomach) ulcers are highly prevalent in horses. Studies have shown that over 60% of performance horses are afflicted with gastric ulcers. Rates for race horses are over 90%! Even horses involved only in typical pleasure activities can have concerning rates of gastric ulceration (between 40% and 70% depending on the study). If these numbers weren’t bad enough, studies have also shown that gastric ulceration can occur in as little as 3 days under certain circumstances.
The behavioral and clinical signs of gastric ulceration are varied. To name only a few, they include:
- Poor performance
- Back soreness
- Weight loss
- Colic
- Behavioral problems
Because gastric ulcers are so prevalent and because their effects can be pervasive and potentially severe, it is important to identify ulcers in our horses — and then treat them. The best way to diagnose ulcers is through gastroscopy, visualizing the stomach with an endoscope. Scoping a horse allows you to see the severity of the pathology of the stomach and to craft a treatment protocol targeted to that pathology.
Because some will be interested, and to reinforce that we should take gastric ulcers seriously, a few images from our new scope (showing ulceration):
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Rest assured, the horses that these images came from are on their way to recovery.