FOUNDERGUARD

[akehurstannabel]

Holly has been on this since January and touch wood no laminitis and about 5 hours turnout a day which is fantastic. However there seems to be fuss now about getting some more as the rules have changed and quite frankly trying to get info out of my vet is like getting blood out of a stone. Has anyone tried to buy it personally. Did you succeed? I have some on order at the moment but I am not convinced I will get it. Any advice gratefully received.

[merlinalison]

Merlin has been on this for 3 years now, as have other ponies on the yard and it is great stuff. Unfortunately it isn't licensed for use in Britan so vets have to apply for a special licence for each individual equine. Whats more, the rules have tightened this year, so that unless your horse/pony has Cushings related laminitis vets are only allowed to apply for a licence for up to 6 months of each 12 month period (on the grounds apparently that they are only at risk when the grass is growing. Unfortunately - in Lothian at least - the weather conditions are such that the grass doesn't seem to stop growing until December and starts growing again in February....) My vet wants to be helpful but warned me at the end of March that they were running low, that they had been told that all licences would run from 1st May until end October and that they would not be sent any more Founderguard until 1st May. I was lucky - I got enough to keep Merlin going until May, but I am still dithering about whether I should stop his at the end of September so that I can feed him it in April. I would be very surprised therefore if you do manage to get it personally ( but let me know if you do and I'll see if I can buy an extra month to tide Merlin over the worst risk period!) I know they have to be careful about indiscriminate use of antibiotics (and this is one that I understand farmers were routinely feeding to their livestock as a growth promoter until very recently....) but where there is a clear clinical need I really can't see why they have to apply an arbitrary judgement as to when the risk develops...

(I would also be interested to know how much your vet charges - I pay £38 for a 1kg tub, but think thats cheap compared with what other vets in the area seem to charge.)

[merlinalison]

Just found this from the Vet Medicines Directive (And also saw in their newsletters that they are prosecuting Dog breeders, farmers etc every month for possession of illegally imported vet emdicines particularly anti-microbials):

We are aware that increasing amounts of Founderguard
are being imported from Australia into the UK.
Founderguard is not authorised in the UK so has not been
assessed for quality, safety and efficacy by the VMD. This
means that there is an unknown element of risk associated
with its use in so far as the UK licensing authorities are
aware.
In order to legally permit the importation and use of
Founderguard a Special Treatment Authorisation (STA) is
required. An STA is intended solely to allow the treatment
of individual animals suffering from conditions which cannot
be treated using the medicines available to a UK veterinary
surgeon by the normal means. Founderguard is considered
to be a preventative of laminitis, not a treatment, and
therefore should only be approved for use in equines with
chronic intermittent recurrent laminitis.
To fulfil the requirements of an STA for Founderguard and
to ensure use of the product only at the correct times of the
year, a veterinary surgeon should provide sufficient
information in Sections 10 and 11 of the STA application
form to confirm that the laminitis is chronic and is
unresponsive to the usual preventative measures (which
are considered mandatory ‘alternative therapy’). Should a
diagnosis of Cushing’s disease be claimed, full
documentation to support this will also be required.
For the laminitis cases that appear to be uncontrolled,
even after management changes advocated by the
veterinary surgeon have been adhered to, a maximum of 6
months supply of Founderguard will be approved per year,
based on the weight of the affected equine. Veterinary
surgeons should make owners of horses treated with
Founderguard aware of this. This will allow oral
administration as a preventative measure during the
particularly high-risk periods of the year. Only in exceptional
circumstances, and assessed on a case by case basis,
will more than 6 months supply be approved.
It is recommended that this notice is read in conjunction
with AMELIA 10 in our series of guidance documents.
Should you wish to seek further information, please
contact Lori Hughes (VMD, 01932 338442 e-mail:
[e-mail]) or Viv Saville, (VMD,
01932 338496, e-mail: [e-mail]).

[akehurstannabel]

Thank you very much for your replies. Holly does have cushings syndrome, which was proved by testing. I paid £144 for 5kg from my vet. The payment that has been taken from me was £144 + £77 carriage. I am going to phone them after 11.30 tonight to see what is happening.
I had and STA which I paid for but I didn't know anything about any new limitations until I phoned my vet to order some more (I'm down to 1Kg) when I started on my last container as they asked me to. I am tearing my hair out at present!

[mickey]

A mare on our yard is on it and has in the last couple of months got her licence renewed, she never said anything about only getting 6 months worth? Trouble is the harder it becomes to get legally the easier it is to get illegally and thats when the problems start with products not being what they say.

[akehurstannabel]

Told a lie. It is £97 + £77 carriage. I phoned them and it left a few days ago so watch this space! It seems that was is happening is that vets are only allowed to buy a certain amount so I guess it depends how many customers they have using it.

[merlinalison]

That sounds very reasonable then - one vet near us was charging £78 per kilo....

My vet practice is attached to the vet school here so they have a lot of horses on it. I know they have to be careful and have to comply with legislation but it does seem daft that it is harder to get a preventative than it is to get something to treat it once it has happened - particularly with laminitis where prevention is so important. I'm just wondering if Merlin's gastric impaction at Christmas and the resulting ban on feeding him hay or haylage and insistence on keeping him at grass 24/7 would count as special circumstances for perhaps obtaining a 7 month supply instead of a 6 month supply.

[mickey]

Does anyone know why it hasnt got a licence in the UK? Just curious really.

[akehurstannabel]

I think it's something to do with the EU and antibiotics and cows. You can get it in germany though so that squashes the EU thing. Spoke to my vet Oliver this morning and he said that as Holly has cushings he is going to try for a 12 month licence for me. I wish he had said that a few weeks ago! Re: merlins impaction: I doubt they would go for that but i you go onto the founderguard site and click on the GB flag you can download an STA application form, so you could see exactly what questions they ask. I'm sorry to say though I don't reckon they would let you have it in anticipation of Merlin getting laminitis. Does he have cushings or insulin resistance? or has he had laminitis in the past. If so your vet might be willing to play ball. It really is upsetting when you find a product that helps your horse so much, only to then have it taken from you. It has transformed Hollys life. Without it she cannot tolerate even 1 hour in a starvation paddock without coming down with lami. She also had her acute episode (one of the worst my vet has ever seen, and he is a specific equine vet) in November. Rant rant rant.....sorry!

[akehurstannabel]

Hooray, It's arrived! looks like the real thing too!