Ranitidine for ulcers

Ceriann

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I’m considering whether my horse has ulcers. Recently diagnosed with an injury to medial branch suspensory of left hind - I’d struggled to get her back to work after a field hooley a few months earlier. Pre and immediately post injury she was 100% to tack etc. A month or so into ridden rest (we initially thought she had a back injury) she got crabby to put the roller on and hated the back massage pad I’d bought - this and the movement issues led us to believe she might have a back problem. Fast forward a few months, injury diagnosed - no back issues. She’s been bone scanned and x-rayed very thoroughly. So we are rehabbing the injury, we won’t ride for a good while but I’m starting to tack again, idea being she has saddle for our in hand walks. She’s grumpy - for her she’s very grumpy - it screams ulcers. She’s also fence chewing with gusto. I’d like to trial her on ranitidine- honestly the injury diagnosis has cleaned me out so I’d really like to avoid the cost of peptizole and I’m not comfortable using abler (though understand lots have used it successfully). Anyone used ranitidine, has it worked, where do you buy it in those quantities and how do you go about getting vet support? Mine is very sensible so will work with me I’m sure. Thank you.
 

SEL

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Pretty sure I bulk bought from Tesco but it didn't make much difference - but there were a tonne of other issues going on.

Our local health shop recommends a month long course of l-glutamine along with slippery elm for human ulcery customers. I've also found the Thunderbrooks herbal gut restore v good.
 

ycbm

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I’m considering whether my horse has ulcers. Recently diagnosed with an injury to medial branch suspensory of left hind - I’d struggled to get her back to work after a field hooley a few months earlier. Pre and immediately post injury she was 100% to tack etc. A month or so into ridden rest (we initially thought she had a back injury) she got crabby to put the roller on and hated the back massage pad I’d bought - this and the movement issues led us to believe she might have a back problem. Fast forward a few months, injury diagnosed - no back issues. She’s been bone scanned and x-rayed very thoroughly. So we are rehabbing the injury, we won’t ride for a good while but I’m starting to tack again, idea being she has saddle for our in hand walks. She’s grumpy - for her she’s very grumpy - it screams ulcers. She’s also fence chewing with gusto. I’d like to trial her on ranitidine- honestly the injury diagnosis has cleaned me out so I’d really like to avoid the cost of peptizole and I’m not comfortable using abler (though understand lots have used it successfully). Anyone used ranitidine, has it worked, where do you buy it in those quantities and how do you go about getting vet support? Mine is very sensible so will work with me I’m sure. Thank you.


Ranitidine is a recognised and proven ulcer treatment for horses but the dose rates are very high and the ideal dose interval is three to four times in 24 hours. (Though I have heard of success with twice a day). Dose rates per kilo are available online if you Google for them. EBay sellers provide it in bulk, but just like Abler it ships in from Asia usually and you have no idea if you can trust the source. Unlike Abler, I believe it is legal as it is a non prescription medication.

I have used it to test for ulcers on two horses in the past and got a good reaction, which then led me to treat properly (and more easily because it's once a day) with a full course of omeprazole.

Hope that helps.
 

Pearlsasinger

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Can I suggest that you trial Aloe Vera juice to see if that helps? I used to buy it at Holland & barrett, usually on some kind of offer, a couple of capfuls daily made a huge difference to my mare, who had never been scoped but certainly showed symptoms without the AV. I followed a tip on here and was very glad that I had.
 

Britestar

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For horses you need 300mg tablets and up to 10 three times daily initially. Ask your vet, and maybe they'll write you a prescription which will be much cheaper. Also ask about Sucralfate which is effective with ulcers too.
 

ycbm

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For horses you need 300mg tablets and up to 10 three times daily initially. Ask your vet, and maybe they'll write you a prescription which will be much cheaper. Also ask about Sucralfate which is effective with ulcers too.



Four human 75mg tablets will do the same job as one 300 mg horse tablet :)
 

Ceriann

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Ranitidine is a recognised and proven ulcer treatment for horses but the dose rates are very high and the ideal dose interval is three to four times in 24 hours. (Though I have heard of success with twice a day). Dose rates per kilo are available online if you Google for them. EBay sellers provide it in bulk, but just like Abler it ships in from Asia usually and you have no idea if you can trust the source. Unlike Abler, I believe it is legal as it is a non prescription medication.

I have used it to test for ulcers on two horses in the past and got a good reaction, which then led me to treat properly (and more easily because it's once a day) with a full course of omeprazole.

Hope that helps.
Thanks - I’ve got dosage and stuff and with a system I can manage the 3 times a day. As you say though, buying it in sufficient quantities is an eBay international job so you’re sort of in the same place as with abler!
 

Ceriann

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For horses you need 300mg tablets and up to 10 three times daily initially. Ask your vet, and maybe they'll write you a prescription which will be much cheaper. Also ask about Sucralfate which is effective with ulcers too.
Thanks - I guess the 300mg is to lower the tablet numbers. 150mg are much easier to get hold of online and 75mg you can off the shelf but you have to feed so many! Sucralfate is on the list too - thank you.
 

Frumpoon

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Sorry to hijack but does any one know the mechanism of action of sucralfate...also I understand the rationale of feeding ulcer medication on an empty stomach but as this is nearly impossible is there any therapeutic benefit to giving with food to a grazing horse?
 

Fruitcake

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The thing with Ranitidine is that, as it works differently to Omeprazole, the dosing interval needs to be closer. (Omeprazole can suppress acid production for 24 hours, whereas with Ranitidine, it’s less than 8). This means that dosing three times a day isn’t enough if the dosing inteval isn’t divided into three equal intervals. If a horse goes longer than 8 hours between doses (as may happen overnight), there is apparently, an issue with acid rebound hypersecretion, where acid is produced in much higher amounts than usual, making the issue even worse.
 

Fruitcake

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Sorry to hijack but does any one know the mechanism of action of sucralfate...also I understand the rationale of feeding ulcer medication on an empty stomach but as this is nearly impossible is there any therapeutic benefit to giving with food to a grazing horse?
As far as I know, Sucralfate acts as a physical barrier for ulcers by creating a kind of slippy coating to protect ulcers from stomach acid, working in a similar way to the likes of Slippery Elm and Aloe Vera. It’s not a treatment in that it doesn’t affect acid production but can support treatment.
 

Ceriann

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The thing with Ranitidine is that, as it works differently to Omeprazole, the dosing interval needs to be closer. (Omeprazole can suppress acid production for 24 hours, whereas with Ranitidine, it’s less than 8). This means that dosing three times a day isn’t enough if the dosing inteval isn’t divided into three equal intervals. If a horse goes longer than 8 hours between doses (as may happen overnight), there is apparently, an issue with acid rebound hypersecretion, where acid is produced in much higher amounts than usual, making the issue even worse.
I can manage this with the horses at home. I’m up really early and can do a late night feed (she’s out in front of house overnight). OH can do the 3rd feed when he gets home from work. It’s a bit of hassle but I can achieve it. I’ve ordered enough for a 10 day trial.
 
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