Need advice on next step - maalox, ranitidine, ulcers?

[Flying Hearts]

I have a mare who has been gassy and uncomfortable lately. It actually started a long time ago but was very slight, but more recently she has had no energy, gets out of breath quickly, won't hold the canter, and is very gassy when ridden. We gave her a little maalox with her grain twice a day and it's drastically lessened her symptoms. I took her back off the maalox to experiment, and she's bad again. So I gave her maalox this morning, but I need to figure out a next step and diagnose exactly what's going on. I have been talking to my vet, and we're considering a treatment with omeprazole, but I'd like to get opinions from others as well.

She's outside almost 24/7, free choice hay, one pound or less of sweet feed twice a day.

Do you think it's ulcers? Or something else? And I really can't afford to do the omeprazole only to find out it wasn't what she needs and it was a waste (that stuff is insanely expensive!) Is it a) safe and b) a good idea to just give a little maalox every day? It doesn't seem like it's solving the problem to me to just do that. Should I try Sucralfate? Ranitidine? Also, the vet did say there is generic compounded omeprazole that works - last I heard, it was really hard/impossible to find it and if you did there was some reason it wouldn't work as well as Gastro Guard or whats-it-called. So...I just don't know what my next step should be. Thanks for any help.

[tpup]

My horse responded to Ranitidine and Sucralfate within 48 hours, but his symptoms were more obvious (went off grain completely after given Banamine/Oxytet injection). He started eating within 12 hours and at 48 hours, was finishing his grain meals very quickly. Ranatidine and Sucralfate "cured" my guy's ulcers - I did finish with a week or so of Gguard, only because I was going on vacation and didn't feel comfortable asking our barn mgr to continue 27 pills diluted, 3x per day. One tube per day of Gguard was much easier, and I felt more assured he was getting his meds while I was gone. The pills are a PAIN to dilute and give, but a much cheaper alternative to Gguard. I know people have said Ranitidine is not as effective as Gguard, but our vet insisted it was just as effective, and for us, it was - you just have to be willing and able to do the pills....

Our regimen was to give the Sucralfate first, ideally on as empty a belly as possible. Wait 1/2 hour and give Ranatidine.

If I were in your shoes, I might "invest" in 3-4 tubes of Gguard. I would think you would notice a difference in a few days, and if so, then continue treatment. IMHO, Maalox is not enough to cure the ulcers, if that is what it is. Good luck!

[Riley0522]

My guy has also responded well to Ranitidine. We were kind of at a loss as to what was wrong with him (really, insanely spooky under saddle...dead quiet otherwise). We started him on 10 days of 3600mg (12 pills) of Ranitidine 2x/day and he responded within 48hrs. After the 10 days, we have gone down to 3000mg of Ranitidine 2x/day and my vet got the Sucralfate in, so he is now on that, 5g 2x/day. My guy is a very picky eater so it is fed together with the Ranitidine, and my vet said that should be okay. We will do 2 weeks of 3000mg of Ranitidine twice a day, then try to wean him down some more, with the end result of him hopefully being maintained on an antacid, but he may just need Ranitidine for awhile. My vet said he likes atleast 3 months of Ranitidine.

[Cowgirl09]

I would recommend trying ulcergard or gartrogard for 4 days and see if it helps. My horse had all types of weird symptoms but never went off his feed. He tucked up and parked out and acted crazy and spooky under saddle. He was barely rideable. After going on the ulcergard for a couple of weeks he was back to his old wonderful self. He stayed on for a the recommended treatment course of 2 months.