My horse has been on ranitidine for about 20 days and seems like a different horse. (No longer grumpy about being groomed, no longer aggressive in his stall, more willing to go forward under saddle, etc.) So, how long can I keep him on it? And how do you go about taking them off but making sure their original symptoms don’t recur?
Some horses live on a maintenance dose for many years. My horse was on it for a year at treatment strength with no ill effects. I’d treat for 60 days, then scope the horse to see if they are healed. If so, I’d wean off it. Diet and lifestyle changes are most likely to prevent recurrence, although some people swear by assorted supplements as well.
I didn’t scope him to begin with. He had ulcer symptoms so decided to try ranitidine to see if it helped. It is helping. He is out 24/7 with grass and lots of hay. Can get into his nice 12x18 stall whenever he wants. But, he was hurt in Dec/Jan and was on stall rest for 4 weeks and on antibiotics. That could very well be the cause of the issues. I only had him a month before he got hurt but some of the symptoms were there prior to him getting hurt, although not so severe.
Glad to know I can keep him on the full dose for 60 days. Then I can see where to go from there. It may be that he is settled into my place enough that the issue won’t recur. I do plan on doing Ulcergard for shows to be safe.
Scoping is a great idea, even though you didn’t scope to begin with. It would at least confirm that any ulcers (if the horse had them) are healed.
In my opinion, and the practice that I follow, is Ranitidine for up to 2 months, possibly 3, for “treatment” and then just as needed after that (like to trailering, horse shows, etc).
Generally, a full treatment course of ranitidine is in the 60-90 day range, compared to omeprazole at 30d. That’s assuming you give every 8-ish hours, though I’ve heard some say you can do just 12 hours.
Beyond that, it’s generally not a good idea to keep them on any PPI long-term. We know that does bad things in people (including a recent article of how long-term use is linked to severe kidney damage, even in the absence of symptoms), and while it’s not accurate to just extrapolate all that to horses, it’s just a road you don’t really want to go down unless it’s really, truly necessary.
Ha. I just read about this today. Weird timing 
The article, for those interested: https://medicine.wustl.edu/news/popu…kidney-damage/
@inca I don’t know if your reason for using ranitidine is financial, or something else, but I’m treating my horses with esomeprazole for $40/month. I posted about it here. I haven’t scoped so I can’t tell you FOR SURE how it’s going, but Dove’s cribbing has all but stopped (back to her pre moving levels) and Piggy has put on probably close to 100 lbs. I’m calling it a success. I will start weaning carefully in a few days/week to avoid acid rebound.
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Definitely, ranitidine isn’t the cheapest treatment, and it’s not nearly the most user-friendly either, given the dosing timing. It’s MUCH easier for everyone involved to dose just once a day. Abprazole granules (or paste) is a good bit cheaper than the 2-3 month course of ranitidine, though I haven’t priced it in comparison to the esomeprazole which I’ve only recently learned about.
I am actually doing twice a day with the ranitidine and it is super easy. Costs me $40 for 18 days worth. I do have to crush the pills but not a big deal. My husband was able to give it while I was away at a show with another horse. I have used Abrazole granules before but those were going to be more expensive (and take longer to get) than the ranitidine. Since it was an experiment, I took the easiest path.
The Nexium is $40 for a month of 60 mg/day, with once per day dosing. Available via Amazon Prime (or your local pharmacy for slightly more $$) Super interesting option, IMO, and more info at that thread I linked above (including paper detailing dosing, etc.) Don’t want to derail any further here, but worth considering if you’re going for easy and cheap.
Crushing the ranitidine is counterproductive. They are coated for a reason - survive the stomach acid so the active ingredient can be absorbed in the intestinal tract.
Ranitidine (whole 
) is a cheap and fast way to do a test to see if things will improve, especially if you can give it every 8 hours. Because it really only reduces acid production for about 8 hours (omeprazole about 24 hours), you really do need to give it about every 8 hours to get the full effect if you’re looking for treatment. But doing every 8 hours for 3 months is more $ than Abprazole.
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Ranitidine isn’t a PPI. It’s an acid reducer. Generally safer for long term use in humans over PPIs like Prilosec (same ingredient as Ulcerguard) and Nexium. Ranitidine is the active ingredient in Zantac. I’ve not used on horses though and it doesn’t sound quite as user-friendly as Ulcerguard paste. I’d confirm with your vet but I think it’s safer to keep the horses stomach healthy vs not. Maybe add Uckele’s GUT supplement or something as adjunct support?
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We use it regularly for horses showing symptoms of ulcers. Usually dose 2x per day via syringe (dissolve them in water and then dose orally). Most of ours go a week to 10 days. Symptoms disappear, appetite increases, etc. Haven’t had any issues with symptoms returning.
