antacids and alfalfa coating the stomach

[courtney vincent]

ok patti

what is the deal on feeding the horses antacids?

and 2 times in the past week i have heard clients referring to an
article that says feed a little bit of alfalfa and it will coat the
stomach with calcium and prevent ulcers????

[Patti]

They don't "coat" the stomach, they raise the pH which neutralizes stomach acid.

If you recall, horses produce stomach acid 24/7 (as opposed to humans who increase acid production as a food response). Because they are grazers, they are meant to be eating and have forage based gut fill almost all the time. The gut fill forms a mat about midway up the stomach that effectively keeps most acid from sloshing up. 

But when we meal feed horses and require intensive activity without allowing them to maintain adequate gut fill, the acid can slosh around and attack the less protected upper areas of the stomach as well as affecting the lower parts - especially when high grain meals which are fast moving in the GI system are fed.

Hay/forage helps in several ways - forage particles make up the "mat" which forms a physical barrier while contributing calcium and magnesium (base) to help buffer (neutralize) acid. As the particles are digested and move on, the fairly constant intake of forage renews the protective upper mat. 

Calcium, magnesium and aluminum based anti-acids are base - which neutralize acid. http://www.maaloxus.com/index.shtml?regularLiquid

The simethecone helps reduce gas but really isn't a factor with ulcers.

Anti-ulcer meds such as omeprazole (Gastrogard and UlcerGard) suppress acid production. This can be a double edged sword as stomach acid is a prime barrier to GI infections. (In humans, the use of H2 blockers or proton pump inhibitors used prophylactically to prevent ulcers in hospital patients is a risk factor for developing C. difficile, a serious and possibly life threatening GI infection which is becoming more and more common.)

They can affect absorption of some nutrients.

Other medications include sucralfate, which does for a viscous coating http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucralfate and kaopectin http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e078d1-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5 - which has some absorption properties (kaolin) and some coating properties (the pectin). 

The best ulcer (and colic) preventative is free choice hay - grass hay will provide more than enough calcium, you don't really need alfalfa. It takes only hours for a horse to develop ulcers - when allowed full access to forage, most will heal spontaneously. But frequent or constant stress - including foot pain from laminitis, use of bute, etc.,  may encourage ulcers to develop or keep them from healing - in these cases antacids or acid inhibitors may be useful.

Patti

[letha....@vaisala.com]

Hi Patti,

 

What category does ranitidine (hopefully I’m spelling it right) fall into.  It seemed to help a youngster after worming lead to weight loss.   We thought he might have had an ulcer.  It did help though.

Thanks,

Letha

Letha Simmons
Application Support Engineer 
Vaisala Inc., Tucson Operations
Telephone: 800.221.9779
Technical support: us-techni...@vaisala.com
Direct: letha....@vaisala.com
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[Patti Woodbury-Kuvik]

Hi Letha ~

Ranitidine (Zantac) is an H2 blocker (histamine H2-receptor
antagonist) which inhibits stomach acid production. It also can help
reduce general inflammation (so might be used as an adjunct for asthma
or skin conditions).
Along with the other acid inhibitors it can be useful for targeted use
(i.e. see if it helps suspected ulcers) but, like any of them, I
wouldn't keep a horse on them long term (such as over three months).
One month should be sufficient for healing ulcers if the base cause
has been removed.

As a side thought, I had forgotten about using ranitidine as an anti-
inflammatory adjunct until I looked it up again - you might ask Dr. K
on the pemphigus group if she thinks it could be helpful for Sierra
(or you could simply try it yourself and report the results there).

Patti