Efficacy of Intravenous Administration of Combined Acid Suppressants in Healthy Dogs

BACKGROUND Short-term intravenous co-administration of famotidine and pantoprazole is used by some veterinarians to treat gastrointestinal bleeding in critically ill dogs. However, clinical studies have not evaluated the efficacy of combination acid suppressant treatment in dogs. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES To compare the effect of intravenous co-administration of famotidine and pantoprazole to monotherapy with pantoprazole on intragastric pH in dogs. We hypothesized that single agent pantoprazole would be more effective than combination with famotidine. ANIMALS Twelve healthy adult colony dogs. METHODS Randomized, 2-way crossover design. All dogs received placebo (0.9% saline) for 24 hours followed by 1.0 mg/kg i.v. q12h pantoprazole or combination treatment with famotidine and pantoprazole for 3 consecutive days. Intragastric pH monitoring was used to continuously record intragastric pH for 96 hours beginning on day 0 of treatment. Mean percentage time (MPT) that intragastric pH was ≥3 and ≥4 were compared between groups using ANOVA with a posthoc Tukey-Kramer test (α = 0.017). RESULTS The MPT ± standard deviation intragastric pH was greater than ≥3 and 4 were 79 ± 17% and 68 ± 17% for pantoprazole and 74 ± 19% and 64 ± 23% for combination treatment, respectively. There were no significant differences in MPT intragastric pH was ≥3 and 4 between groups. Pantoprazole administered alone achieved pH goals established for humans with acid-related disorders. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE These results suggest that short-term combination treatment with famotidine and pantoprazole is not superior to pantoprazole alone for increasing intragastric pH in dogs.