Horses on Ranitidine permanently.

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vanrim

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Horse treated successfully for gastric ulcers with GG and scoped clear but symptoms persist. Equishure and succeed help a bit but Ranitidine has made a massive difference. She is on 20 300mg tabs a day. Trouble is she has been on it 3 months and every time I try and reduce the dose the symptoms return. Has any one else had a horse on it long term?
 
i know this is not answering your question but how do you get the Ranitidine? Does your vet prescribe it or is it an over the counter drug. my horse is on month 6 of GG and I can't wean him off it!!!!!! money is running out fast so I have to find an alternative. thanks xxxx
 
You can buy 75mg from supermarket but 16.2 horse would need 90 tabs a day. You can buy 150mg on Internet from Costco in America. I have done this successfully. Or if your vet will agree to prescribe it you can get 300mg tablets. Works out about £15 a week on prescription. You have to sign a disclaimer form because Ranitidine isn't licensed for horses.
 
They sell it in Aldi although as above you would need a lot of tablets for a horse. I would be interested to know if anyone had a horse who changed character at all on it. In humans there are a lot of known side effects - depression for a start! and I think stiff/sore joints also off the top of my head. For hiatus hernia or severe reflux it is about the cheapest thing the doctor can prescribe so it is used a lot but I am not convinced that it is necessarily the best solution. I appreciate horses are different but it could be interesting to find out about side effects
 
How are you weaning off, what doseage and time structure have you been implementing? Have you also been flexible with weaning off, dependent on your environment and any stressful activities, such as travelling?
 
Mines been on it since November last year. He had gone down to 8 x 300mg daily, but with the new grass its back up to 10 a day, as that seems to suit him better at the moment.

I get a prescription and buy it from a pharmacy.
 
Britestar could you tell me what symptoms your horse had and how you and your vet came to decide on using Ranitidine. Are you using it for stomach or hind gut issues? I was convinced mine had hind gut ulcers but they seem quite gassy at the moment so I am wondering if they have pain from trapped gas.



Britestar said:
Mines been on it since November last year. He had gone down to 8 x 300mg daily, but with the new grass its back up to 10 a day, as that seems to suit him better at the moment.

I get a prescription and buy it from a pharmacy.
Click to expand...
 
My horse was scoped, and found to have duodenal ulcers. Omeprazole does not work apparently, so he was straight onto ranitidine. He was meant to get 12 tablets twice daily, but he will not eat breakfast, so he went onto a longer course of 12 daily, and then dropped to 8 daily. The Vet says some horses remain on it all the time, at a low dose either once or twice daily.

He didn't have many symptoms as such, just a bit narky and sometimes tried to bite when tacking up. He is a natural stresshead too, so that adds to his likely hood of getting ulcers. However, once he started on the rantidine I became aware that he was much more confident out hacking and was happy to take the lead again - something I hadn't really noticed he has stopped doing.

At the moment he has increased again because of the new grass, and he was getting a bit behind the leg again. So up to 10 until that first flush of grass is away. The vet is happy to let me adjust the doseage as I see fit. He wont be scoped again as there was a bit of a problem the first time, and the Vet says as long as I am happy he dosen't see the need to repeat.
 
You have a very good vet. I have had awful trouble with vets and had to change before someone would accept my horses had a problem. I was the one who researched Ranitidine as none of the vets I have dealt with has used it. Do you mind me asking which part of the country you are in and which vet you use? I am in Cheshire but will travel for a good vet.




Britestar said:
Mines been on it since November last year. He had gone down to 8 x 300mg daily, but with the new grass its back up to 10 a day, as that seems to suit him better at the moment.

I get a prescription and buy it from a pharmacy.
Click to expand...
 
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