[Susan]

Hi, what I did when Patch was on Zantac, I woke up around 6am & had the syringe fill with water & the tablet near my bed & cause Patch slept on my bed with me, it was easy, I would get up open his mouth & put tablet on the back of his tongue push & then give him the water in the syringe, make sure you push the tablet down the throat & wash it down with water, I even get my hand & rub downward on Patches throat, the tablet needs to be in the stomach to work not stuck in his throat/esophagus & start dissolving… then we both went back to sleep & got up 30-40mins later, now he’s on Losec you don’t have to give before food, Losec works in a different way it’s a Pump Proton Inhibitor (PPI) the brain sends a msg not to make Hydrochloric acid in the stomach, I think some stomach acids are made but not as much like normally is made, you can give a PPI with or without food in the morning, it lasts for 24hrs, but you can’t just stop giving a PPI after they have been on it for more then 20days you need to slowly reduce a PPI….The Gastro vet when Patch gets his acid reflux bad just give the Losec for 3-4 days then stop & Patch would do really well again then maybe 1 week later he’d have his bad acid reflux again, then I’d give him a Losec straight away again for 3-4 days & stop, but I noticed he did heaps better the days he was taking the Losec so now he’s on it permanently, he’s 8 yrs old & probably won’t get better.
I feed him 1/2 cup kibble 7am & give him Losec tablet around 8.30am then around 9am I feed Patch the other 1/2 of cup of kibble, Patch cant eat 1 full cup of kibble, he gets pain & burps up food, 1 cup kibble must be too much when it all swells up…. You’ll work out a routine, the famotidine may not work that well, it didn’t work for Patch, Patch needed something stronger… or give tablet as soon as you get up in the morning & they have to learn to wait 20mins, maybe go out for a wee, my dog & cat just sit/sleep & wait & I do what I have to do, make a cuppa, put on a load of washing, maybe get dressed, I do a few things to past the time while the tablet is doing what it has to do, with the Zantac it’s about 45mins-1 hour before food, I prefer the Losec…