Horse has a previous history of gastric ulcers during a long layup for an injury 6 years ago. Was treated and resolved at that time.
I’ve been told Cox 2 inhibitors (Previcox) do not cause gastric ulcers, but considering her history I’m concerned about long term use (arthritis…she’s 23).
Any one have Previcox cause uclers? Experiences?
TIA
My older TB was on it for months and never developed any symptoms, if that helps.
Yes – my old quarter horse (28).
I have a pony prone to getting ulcers on both banamine and bute. She has been on previcox for an extended period of time and has been fine. I do give it with one dose of ranitidine a day. I crush it altogether and give it in applesauce. I do not know how she would be without the ranitidine given with it, so I am probably not helping you much, but I thought I would relay my experience. The previcox keeps her very comfortable.
I had my old pony Doodles on it for almost three years without any problems. It worked a miracle on his hock arthritis.
Thank you.
I had this mare’s elderly dam on it for years without problems (she never had a history of ulcers before though).
I like the Zantac idea though. She does okay if I give her Ulcerguard with the Previcox, but if not, she goes off her feed. Pretty classic symptoms. That’s getting pretty costly, so I may try the Zantac as an alternative and see how she does.
Thanks again.
Nope, know many on it and none showed signs of ulcers. I wouldn’t believe that it “won’t happen” in some horses but I think there is “less” chance than if a horse was on long term Bute.
I have had five horses on Equioxx/Previcox and no ulcers so far. One very old mare was on Equioxx every day for the last six years of her life and never had an issue. My current horses have been on Previcox for 2 to 7 years with no issues.
I never scoped but my old guy goes off his feed after a few days of previcox which is a tremendous improvement from one dose of bite taking him off his feed.
[QUOTE=Laurierace;8244200]
I never scoped but my old guy goes off his feed after a few days of previcox which is a tremendous improvement from one dose of bite taking him off his feed.[/QUOTE]
Actually, her original ulcers resulted from a 6 month stall layup (fracture femur), when the live on help said she was feeding 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. late hay, but was not. Empty stomach way too long over the course of months…argggh!
Again, this was 6 years ago. Was treated with Gastroguard and recovered beautifully. She seemed to do fine when I started her on Previcox last Fall, but over the last 3 months has been more and more “spotty” in wanting her grain (Fibergized) – so not like her. Particularly her p.m. meal (she gets the Previcox in the a.m. meal). So the warning signs are there.
To experiment, I administered whole tubes of Ulcerguard, concurrently with the Previcox and bingo, started cleaning it up her p.m. meals again…so I took her off both the Previcox and the Gastroguard to see what she’d do. Eating everything down just fine.
Next step is to put her back on the Previcox and she if she backs off the p.m. meals again. If so, that’s pretty conclusive that is DOES bother her.
She really does need the relief from Previcox, so I may try the ranitidine and see how that goes. I don’t want to haul her to the hospital to have her scoped. The treatment would be the same anyway.
Mine did. Well - disclaimer, I didn’t actually scope, but he had ulcer symptoms that totally resolved when treated with omeprazole, so I’ll say he got ulcers.
I know for sure it was the Previcox as it happened 3 separate times after starting treatment. He’ll get exactly 2 weeks on Previcox without issues and then wham - ulcers (or ulcer symptoms). Add omeprazole and within 24-48 hours my normal laid-back horse is back.
He’s been on both bute and banamine before with no ulcer symptoms though, go figure.
As others have said, as a cox-2 inhibitor it tends to not cause ulcers like bute and banamine, but it’s horse dependent. My vets shake their heads too. He’s special. 
We’ve had several horses on daily previcox and only one developed ulcer symptoms. To be fair he had been on it daily for almost two years at that point. However he started going off his feed and at first we didn’t even think about the ulcer/previcox possibility. However we did finally go “maybe he developed ulcers from the previcox after all this time.” Took him off the previcox (we had tried a few other things before wondering if the previcox was the issues and nothing resolved his spotty eating) and within a few days he was eating 100% normally again. So we didn’t scope but I’m 100% sure he had ulcers from it after being on it for almost two years, so I can’t say it gave him instant ulcers either.
Great info. So I know I’m not nuts…
No med is perfect and it is said that Cox 2 don’t cause ulcers (they are marketed that way…but I haven’t seen how long that study was done. They say only for 14 days no signs. Not sure if a study has been done for very long term…especially with horses that have had a history.
Thanks very much. Glad I posted. I’ve had no problems with any others, in fact it was a life saver for those could not take bute long term. I’m grateful for the drug.
But in this case, causing some problems for sure. Yes, like you this problem came on slowly.
There’s a “zebra” in a crowd of horses sometimes.
No NSAID on the market is free of risk from developing ulcers. Cox-2 have a lower chance or so they say, but they all mess with cox pathway and can have effect on the good cox and not just the bad.
I used it for almost 6 months for my 25 year old mare to help with some pretty severe arthritis. Never had issues with her going off her feed or acting ulcerish. Not even with the occasional double dose on bad days.
[QUOTE=Lynnwood;8245242]
I used it for almost 6 months for my 25 year old mare to help with some pretty severe arthritis. Never had issues with her going off her feed or acting ulcerish. Not even with the occasional double dose on bad days.[/QUOTE]
As I said, I’ve never had any problems with it either on other horses that were on it for extended periods (one for a year). But neither of them had a history of prior ulcers. That’s the rub.
No NSAID on the market is free of risk from developing ulcers.
Correct. Previcox can absolutely cause ulcers. Depends on the horse.
I had a mare that had ulcers (not caused by Previcox), confirmed by scope, treated with GG. After we got them healed, I could not put her on Previcox for her hock arthritis without her ulcer symptoms coming back. I cannot say with 100% certainty that it was the Previcox causing it, but that was the only addition or change that was followed up shortly thereafter by her ulcer symptoms returning.
Mine have not had a problem with it. But that is just my experience.
Update. No Previcox, stopped the Ulcergard too. Eating like champ.
Thanks for all your experiences. Clearly most horses don’t (or at least those without a prior history of gastric uclers) and that’s a good thing having used on some of my other oldies without problems.
But it seems that some do! Wish the study on the product had been longer than 14 day (max dose recommended) and on horses with a prior history of ulcers.
Then, that why this BB and sharing information is such a good thing, trying to be science heads as best we can when the data may not be totally complete for super long-term use on horses with a prior history.
She’s doing great. Have ordered ranitidine to see if I can get her back on Previcox for her mild arthritis which is really a huge help for her, but fend of ulcer recurrence.
I’ll keep you posted. Could help others too.
Well, it sounds like being laid up is enough stress for her to develop an ulcer.
[QUOTE=kdreger;8247809]
Well, it sounds like being laid up is enough stress for her to develop an ulcer.[/QUOTE]
She’d been laid up before 10 years earlier for quite awhile, but not 6 months. Never had a problem. But then, I was managing her myself, as I have my own farm.
In this case, I had a live-on person who was basically lying about giving her late hay 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. hay --for months. Took me awhile to figure it out when she started dropping weight and started going off feed. Argggh.:mad:
The layup did not cause the “stress”…having an empty belly of forage for 12+ hours for months was the cause.
My stallion Boleem was laid up for a full year – never had a problem, but then I was the one feeding him and tending to him 24/7.
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