Do you give your horse Banamine orally or through injection?
Orally (but my vet gave me a tube of the paste, so it’s only oral).
I have the injectable liquid, but someone told me that injections can cause problems and that I should administer it orally. What is the best way to administer the liquid Banamine?
I have given the injectable kind orally as well. Beware–they’ll hate the taste.
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I have used injectable Banamine orally many times.
Don’t squirt it on their tongue, squirt it under their tongue.
It tastes yucky.
Do not give it IM.
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Only inject if you’re comfortable doing IV. Doing it IM can cause a myriad of issues.
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Injectable banamine is meant to be given IV, intravenously…not intramuscularly. If you’re not comfortable giving IV shots, then you can squirt the same dose into the mouth. It does taste nasty, so horse won’t like it and make shake their heads and try to spit it out, so be ready. I have mixed the banamine dose with a strong flavor, like liquid molasses in a large syringe and squirted that into the mouth. The thicker mixture coats the mouth for better absorption, it doesn’t taste SO bad and it’s much harder to spit out.
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My vet had me give the injectable orally. It works just fine that way.
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Liquid is cheaper than paste.
Paste can only be given orally
Liquid can be given IV (ideal, not required, and runs the risk of complications with frequent use, unless a catheter is in place)
Liquid can be given orally, with the same effect as IV.
It states it can be given IM, but IMHSNO that should be removed from all labels, and no vet should say it’s ok. The caustic nature of flunixin means there is more muscle damage, which means that any clostridium already present (very, very common), or introduced with the needle, greatly increases the risk of an infection you simply do not want to deal with. At best it’s expensive, time consuming treatment, and at worst, it’s a dead horse.
Not all horses hate it. I used anywhere from 4-15cc at a time for my 31yo try to to save a uveitis eye, and he just didn’t care all that much. Getting the syringe back and to the side, so squirting against the cheek, doing half and half if using larger doses, all but guarantees none gets dribbled out.
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Thanks everyone! Great advice. I will start giving it orally.
I have paste in the tubes where you can preset the dose. I just get the horse in a headlock and squirt it down the back of her tongue like wormer.
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Banamine liquid is intended for IV injection. But like many drugs, the IV form of banamine can also be given orally. Now the term orally is misleading, because it is not intended that the horse swallows the drug. The IV liquid form of banamine is given SUBLINGUALLY - placed under the tongue in the floor of the horses mouth In case you are confused, the banamine liquid is squirted under the tongue, not injected. And it does not need to be swallowed to work.
Drugs placed sublingually are quickly absorbed through the thin mucosa in the floor of the mouth, which has a rich vascular supply, and thus gets directly into the horse’s bloodstream, almost as quickly as with a direct IV injection. This is the same way nitroglycerin is administered to a human who is having anginal chest pain, where the nitroglycerin tablet is placed under the human’s tongue.
If you do not want more of a clinical pharmacology lecture - stop reading here. Drugs administered sublingually avoid the first-pass effect of drugs that are swallowed orally. The first pass effect means that a swallowed drug is absorbed from the gut, and then passes through the liver first before it finally gets into the bloodstream. The liver removes part of the drug before it gets into systemic bloodstream, so oral doses of a drug frequently need to be higher that the same drug given IV.
Drugs can also be given by applying to the buccal mucosa (cheek inside the mouth) but the buccal mucosa is thicker than he mucosa under the tongue and bucally administered drugs are absorbed into the blood more slowly. An example of buccal drug administration is spit tobacco or snuff - “just a pinch between the cheek and gum”). Drugs given into the rectum are absorbed and also avoid the first pass effect. An example is rectal alcohol administration, a process sometimes referred to as “boofing.” A “boofer” can achieve alcohol intoxication more quickly and with less alcohol than by drinking it.
Drugs given IM or by inhalation also are directly absorbed into the bloodstream, and avoid the first pass effect that swallowed drugs go through. And if you have read this far, a summary. The IV (liquid) form of banamine should be given either directly IV, or sublingually as an alternative. The paste form of banamine is intended to be swallowed by the horse.
I apologize to anyone who read the lecture part. I taught clinical pharmacology courses for 30 years and I was reliving those days.
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Thank you, Your vet can coach you in IV injections, if they feel you are a likely candidate.
Thank you for the great information!
THIS!
Reason is there is quicker absorbtion through the tissues/mucosa under the tongue AND less drug destruction from gastric fluids (if drug is swallowed) .
It does taste vile, so sublingual also minimizes contact with tastebuds.
ETA:
Apologies @LCDR - had not read your excellent post before I chimed in.
I am no pharmacologist - nor do I play one on TV 
- but I have tasted banamine when giving it sublingual to my 16H horse 
ETA#2
Will not attempt Boofing 
Not the horse, not the 34" mini 
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