Over the Counter Acid Reflux Medicine?

Roland_Flagg

My 11 year old Lab started making a hiccup sound a few days ago, and was bringing up his food.

We saw a Vet. She wasn't 100% sure of the cause without further investigation but thought it was a Gastric problem, probably acid reflux and give us Zitek (cimetidine), which was very expensive per tablet, but I don't mind if it does the job (although long term I wouldn't want to be paying that much if possible)

Since then he is a lot better. Not 100%. A bit subdued, but no more episodes of hiccup/reflux sound, or being sick.

My question is, if he get's this again, and I'm out of Cimetidine (which I believe is difficult to get in the UK) and I can't get a vet appointment, would a OTT human alternative such as Ranitidine do the same job?

I've heard conflicting opinion regarding which works the best, and there are other alternatives such as Famotidine and Oxymetazoline, but Ranitidine would be by far the most cost effective long term solution *if* it works as well as the others.

Also, in the past due to having a dodgy tum, the vet has said given him Buscopan will help. Can I combine Buscopan with Cimetidine/Ranitdine?

Thanks.

Battybird

I think shops and chemists have stopped selling Ranitidine as their is a question of the safety of one of the ingredients. Quite a few years ago my vet told I could give my dog Buscopan. I think he weighed thirty kg and I gave him half a tablet. If you ask at a chemist, don’t tell them that they are for your dog, as they may not sell them to you. I remember a chemist telling me they are not supposed to sell for animals.

Savvy_Sue

I think I'd ask a vet before the problem recurred.

elsien

I've given mine Zantac/ranitidine before but it was on the vets advice. I wouldn't give anything without checking with them first.
It's been stopped in the USA, still available here. But you must talk to your vet before giving any over the counter medicines to a pet. There may be contraindications for your animal, interactions between different drugs or a filler that is ok for humans but not other animals. Which is why the forum says people should not post any sort of medical advice.

Battybird

Elsien, some ranitidine has now been taken from sale in this country, not just the USA.

Icandothisby2023

Look at Tree Barks powder from Dorwest herbs.

Skint_yet_Again

Our lab has recently had stomach issues and our vet prescribed Omeprazole. Next time our vet recommends this I will try & get it from the chemist as the cost was £14 for 14 tablets. I would only give her them on vet advice

Savvy_Sue

I believe Omeprazole for humans is prescription only in the UK, available OTC in Spain.

However there's a generic equivalent of Omeprazole which can be bought OTC in the UK.

Do take advice from vet, maybe ask pharmacist for name of generic "in case I run out of Omeprazole and can't get the prescription renewed immediately" and then take that to vet.

Guess who has twice gone away without DH's Omeprazole....

Skint_yet_Again

Ok not sure but nhs website states ...

You can buy omeprazole 10mg tablets and capsules from pharmacies

Savvy_Sue

Skint_yet_Again wrote: »

Ok not sure but nhs website states ...

You can buy omeprazole 10mg tablets and capsules from pharmacies

OK, maybe things have changed: it's a few years since we arrived in Spain to find a single Omeprazole with us, and a huge relief to find a pharmacy open on a Sunday, and an even bigger relief to find it was available OTC. The UK incident was slightly more recent and involved an entire suitcase being left at home by mistake, DH saw a GP and was told that Omeprazole was POM, but that there was an alternative which was available OTC.

since then we've been rather more careful to pack the Omeprazole ...

KimBaumgart

I gave my dog omeprazole half an hour before breakfast. It worked fine.