Banamine Trial after no improvement on Bute/Equioxx

[luckycricket123]

Has anyone’s vet ever suggested a banamine trial? I have a lame horse, we’ve already thrown the kitchen sink at him. I mentioned to my vet that in addition to our diagnostics I have done a bute trial with no luck, then a couple months later a equioxx trial with no luck.

The vet said maybe they just didn’t offer enough oomph to bring that horse sound again. He asked later if we had ever tried a banamine trial and I said I had not. He said it might be something to try next, but no reason to try anything right away since we were expecting a storm and I couldn’t ride if I wanted to.

Curious if anyone has found a banamine trial improved lameness when bute and equioxx did not. Would this be because banamine is used to target soft tissue issues? Or maybe because banamine is more powerful?

[No1]

I can think of no reason why banamine would work if either of bute or equiox didn’t.

Has the horse been blocked? Has the horse has any type of imaging done? Has your vet run a Lyme titer?

I would be looking for a second opinion.

[luckycricket123]

Horse has been blocked, x-rayed, bone scanned, ultrasounded and I’ve lost track of the number of additional veterinary opinions that have been brought in, but he’s had at least 6 different vets weigh in on his case. I really don’t think I need another outside opinion

Fwiw, the vet didn’t say: banamine might fix your horse. He also didn’t instruct me to do it. He just said it was something else we could try if I wanted. I didn’t think to ask at that time why it might help when the others didn’t.

[Amy3996]

The only time I’ve ever seen it recommended by a vet was in a last ditch effort to provide relief to a horse with advancing laminitis. At high doses it made her comfortable, but it wasn’t sustainable and didn’t address the root issue. It was just a stopgap while arrangements were made for euthanasia and burial.

[No1]

So, has he been diagnosed then? That may help others provide a more educated opinion.

To me, it sounds like grasping at straws, unfortunately.

[Simkie]

I agree that a banamine trial doesn’t seem like it would offer anything significantly different than a bute and equioxx trial.

A gabapentin trial might be interesting, though. It’s specific to nerve pain.

Gabapentin for the treatment of neuropathic pain in a pregnant horse - PubMed

[luckycricket123]

No, never diagnosed.

There were plenty of findings from the bone scan, but nothing that they were able to block out.

I’m definitely grasping at straws now, but in fairness to my vet, it’s more me than they are

[No1]

Without knowing much about your situation, this may be a crap suggestion, but…
Has anyone mentioned doing a prednisone/gabapentin trial? That would be significantly different from another NSAID trial and would attempt to treat any nerve pain that might be present.

[SLW]

@luckycricket123

Has anyone’s vet ever suggested a banamine trial? I have a lame horse, we’ve already thrown the kitchen sink at him. I mentioned in addition to our diagnostics I have done a bute trial with no luck, then a couple months later a equioxx trial with no luck.

The vet said maybe they just didn’t offer enough oomph to bring that horse sound again. He asked if I had tried a banamine trial and I said I had not. He said it could be something to try next.

Curious if anyone has found a banamine trial improved lameness when bute and equioxx did not. Would this be because banamine is used to target soft tissue issues? Or maybe because banamine is more powerful?

The old timers say use bute to help things from the knee/hocks down on a horse. Use banamine for everything above the knee/hock.

I would do a banamine trial because it would be a diagnostic test given everything else you have done.

[Scribbler]

Banamine has muscle relaxant properties that make it useful in colic, it relaxes the gut.

[luckycricket123]

Nope - but I can ask if they think it’s worth trying when I call and clarify about the banamine trial. I went back and edited my post a little bit, because re-reading it, it didn’t seem to accurately reflect my conversation with the vet and it was a little unclear.

I’d be happy to try to describe the history with this horse, though I fear that everytime I try to summarize my previous conversations with my vet I end up losing half of it in translation when I try to regurgitate the info.

[4horses]

You could try Aleve. It’s a different painkiller. Again I’m not certain what that would accomplish, even if you can get the horse pain free, doesn’t mean you should ride the horse without a clear diagnosis. You really need to know where the problem is, otherwise any treatments are just being wasted.

If you suspect arthritis, i would try Adequan or Pentosan.

[BoyleHeightsKid]

@Simkie

I agree that a banamine trial doesn’t seem like it would offer anything significantly different than a bute and equioxx trial.

A gabapentin trial might be interesting, though. It’s specific to nerve pain.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17764439/

This!

[BoyleHeightsKid]

@luckycricket123

Nope - but I can ask if they think it’s worth trying when I call and clarify about the banamine trial. I went back and edited my post a little bit, because re-reading it, it didn’t seem to accurately reflect my conversation with the vet and it was a little unclear.

I’d be happy to try to describe the history with this horse, though I fear that everytime I try to summarize my previous conversations with my vet I end up losing half of it in translation when I try to regurgitate the info.

When you did the bute trial, now much bute was given for how long?? Same question for the Equioxx.

[luckycricket123]

I honestly can’t remember the bute trial, but for equioxx I did one tablet a day for 3 weeks.

[BoyleHeightsKid]

@luckycricket123

I honestly can’t remember the bute trial, but for equioxx I did one tablet a day for 3 weeks.

Normally in a bute trial you would give 1g of bute twice a day for 3 days then ride. Does that sound familiar at all?

[luckycricket123]

I honestly can’t remember if I did it once or twice a day, but I’m fairly certain I only gave a half gram.

I did the equioxx more recently and remember exactly what I did. I could even go read the bottle to determine the pill sizes if needed.

[Weezer]

I recently switched from bute to banamine for my foundering mini and the results were fantastic. As a chronic founder case, her feet tend to easily get sore on the hard frozen ground. I’ve also had luck with prevacox.