A friend of mine is giving this for her horse that has ulcers. She said it cost a lot less. Does this work?
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Ranitidine can make the ulcers feel better. It does not cure them. It can set up the situation for ulcers to heal, but it does not cure them.
I used Ranitidine for a horse in a high stress situation and it helped a lot. I never confirmed ulcers, but the horse was acting like she had ulcers. Ranitidine is dirt cheap compared to Omeprazole. According to people on this forum, it does not cure ulcers. But it sure helps!
nurse weighs in here!
Yes it does ācureā ulcers. It works similarly by decreasing the acid output of the stomach and then the horses body & time heals the ulcers when the acid isnāt there to irritate the lining. Omeprazole works the same way but itās just a different chemical and the physiology of how it works is different. But the result is decreased acid.
Iāve used ranitidine successfully for acute ulcers and chronic gastritis. But you can also try cimetidine which is even cheaper than ranitidine. Ranitidine/cimetidine are similar. Omeprazole is a different drug class. All are used in human medicine so look them up!
Then there is Sucralfate for ulcers of the hind gut or colon. Very common location for ulcers though many people donāt realize this. Gastrogard will not target those ulcers. Sucralfate Iām not sure is a cure but it will coat them and Iāve seen horses make unbelievable turnarounds on it. Itās important, in any case, to know what part of the gut or stomach your horseās ulcers reside.
Ever since putting my ulcer acting horse on ranitidine she has been a different horse, gained weight and is happy again. I get it at Costco where it is $8 for 2 bottles of the 150mg tabs, I go through about a bottle a week, so less than $20 a month!
Can ranitidine and Omeprazole be used together?
I give 3000 mg Ranitidine daily for my mare as ulcer maintenance. She gets a 1/2 tube UlcerGard before we go anywhere (show/lesson/schooling etc), and then 1/2 tube the next day, and then back to maintenance Ranitidine the day after that. I tend to not give them together (seems like overkill), but my vet told me I could if I felt it was necessary (very stressful situation etc).
My vet told me Cimetidine is not as biologically available in horses as Ranitidine isā¦but I have seen other vets prescribe it.
Iāve been very happy with the Ranitidine - itās inexpensive and it seems to work. I noticed a big change in my mareās eating habits (used to be VERY PICKY and now is not) on it, and I actually attempted to wean her off over the summer, and she āheld her ownā for about 6 weeks, and then started having eating issues and weaving again. So I put her back on it, and she went back to eating well within a week or so. So, I plan to keep her on it.
Oh, and I get bottles of 250 pills, each pill is 300 mg from my vet. It costs $28 for the bottle, which lasts me 25 days (at 10 pills a day).
So, from a cost standpoint, I think itās a good option.
Lauren,
Are you giving the pills twice a day or 3 times? Do you dissolve the pills? Or put in the feed directly? My bottles are $25 for 500 pills which was lasting me 25 days at 20 pills a day (10 pills 2x a day, 3x if I was able). Iām interested in the CostCo option! When I had this mare on Ranitidine last time, I started dissolving the pills and then dosing her. But after she was eating better, I just put them directly in the feed undissolved. The mare is off her feed again, so I was thinking of starting her up again. I just started her on the omeprazole, and didnāt know if I should do ranitidine too. But Iāll wait and start the ranitidine after 10 or so days of omeprazole.
I just want to point out that if a horse has ulcers, and youāre observing improvement with āmaintenanceā drugs or supplements, why not just do a full Gastrogard cycle ā a proven cure? Yes itās expensive but has a beginning and an end (for success they must get a tube a day for 30 days then 2 weeks to wean off of it) but in the big picture, the maintenance stuff will cost you the same, or more, in the end.
If a horse does not have ulcers (and/or had a history of them that were previously cured by Gastrogard), then yes it makes sense to practice preventative maintenance going forward, of course.
I can give you MY answer to that question. 30 days of Gastroguard plus 2 weeks to wean off will cost around $1200. It will heal the ulcers, but it wonāt eliminate the underlying cause of the ulcers. Once off the meds, the ulcers will probably re-develop if the underlying cause is still there (stress, feed, ??). If the cheaper ranitidine is working for about $30 per month, then thatās the way to go for me! Obviously the best thing is to elminate the cause of the ulcers, but even if one could pinpoint the cause, its not always possible to eliminate it. For my mare, the cause seems to be stress caused by pain. 
She has had 2 tooth abcesses in the past 4 months, and recently had 2 molars pulled. Ouch. She is on bute, which could also be contributing to the ulcers. When I put her on ranitidine the first time 6 months ago, she was seriously stressed due to pain from a knee infection. I really hope this poor mare can catch a break soon and be healthy. She has been off and on her feed for the last 2 weeks since the teeth were pulled. Iām hoping the abcess is resolved and there are no issues in her jaw. But Iām running a course of ulcerguard (maintenance dose) to start and then once she is eating better, Iāll try her on the ranitidine to see if we can get her eating consistently again.
[QUOTE=Iride;3661167]
I just want to point out that if a horse has ulcers, and youāre observing improvement with āmaintenanceā drugs or supplements, why not just do a full Gastrogard cycle ā a proven cure? Yes itās expensive but has a beginning and an end (for success they must get a tube a day for 30 days then 2 weeks to wean off of it) but in the big picture, the maintenance stuff will cost you the same, or more, in the end.
If a horse does not have ulcers (and/or had a history of them that were previously cured by Gastrogard), then yes it makes sense to practice preventative maintenance going forward, of course.[/QUOTE]
ABSOLUTELY WORKS, WE HAVE BEEN USING IT FOR SEVERAL YEARS, AND KEEP BULK ON HAND, FOR OTTBS!!
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Oh yeah, we grind them up in a grinder (with a half of handful of grain)ā¦ Then wet the feed lightly, to ensure that it all sticks on the feedā¦ My horses dont even notice they are getting medicine! And I have some PICKY eaters. But we always feed a wet feedā¦
Aw - poor baby! I hope you have a good dentist Certainly the bute will not help the ulcersā¦ you could try Equioxx which is easier on the stomachā¦ ask your vet about it. I hope your mare feels better soon.
Has anyone tried this option for foals? Iāve been reading alot about foals having ulcers, though Iāve never personally experienced problems nor have the people Iāve sold foals to I wonder would this help and if so what dosage?
[QUOTE=Iride;3662962]
Aw - poor baby! I hope you have a good dentist Certainly the bute will not help the ulcersā¦ you could try Equioxx which is easier on the stomachā¦ ask your vet about it. I hope your mare feels better soon. :)[/QUOTE]
Thanks. I do have a very good dentist. She is a vet who specializes in dentistry. Right after I called her to discuss putting the mare on ranitidine or omeprazole, the mare started eating again! Knock on wood, the last 4 feedings she has mostly cleaned up her grain. I have given her 2 days of omeprazole, but she started eating before that. I just want this mare to be healthy so I can spoil her rotten in her retirement and not have to keep dosing her with nasty medicine! (She is on metronidizole after the abcess. That stuff is nasty) I do have some equioxx. I wish it werenāt so expensive! But Iāll look into it. Thanks.
Re: ranitidine for foals. My repro vet is in favor of it. Whenever I had to give them bio-sponge for diahreah, she recommended sticking a ranitidine pill in the syringe. Also, when I was feeding ranitidine in the mareās feed, I was worried that the foal would get it and the vet said not to worry, that it was good for the foal. But I never gave a regular course of it directly to a foal.
So, for those who are getting ranitidine at Costco ā are you managing that without a prescription, or did you get a script from your vet?
Ranitidine is generic Zantac, both of which are available OTC
Thanks, JB! 
FWIW, my understanding of ranitidine is that it can, in some cases, block acid sufficiently to allow ulcers to healā¦but only if administered faithfully every 6-8 hours, which most of us canāt manage for practical reasons. Note that I say āin some casesā ā according to my reading on the subject, ranitidine is not a particularly reliable choice for ulcer treatment. Personally, Iām interested in it for purposes of ulcer management.
