Best pill grinder for horse pills

[Renn_aissance]

I had it all planned out. Last year, my horse’s daily dose of metformin (10 huge pills) broke the coffee grinder I usually use to crush pills, and then on top of that he hated it and wouldn’t eat it. So this year I was going to get it compounded into a flavored powder. Well, up until I saw the cost, which will be $350 a month.

So! I am looking for a pill grinder that will hold up to horse pills and let me crush 10 of these suckers and some peppermints. I do not want to use a mortar and pestle and I am tired of the ziplock bag and hammer methodology. Help.

[Fiesta01]

No idea, but I feel your pain. Hopefully someone will have a brilliant idea.

[Renn_aissance]

The coffee grinder method had served me well for robaxin, bute tabs, pentoxifylline, and many other medications throughout the years. But the metformin tabs actually broke the blade in half.

If you all tell me that the solution is a $75 coffee grinder instead of the $15 one I got at Target, I will a) buy the grinder and b) hold you to it.

[IPEsq]

Wow those must be some ridiculous pills! Cheapo coffee grinder works for me for daily Robaxin.

Jokes aside, perhaps a pricier grinder might work if the mechanism is different (but grinder, ceramic, etc.) compared to the cheap coffee grinder blade. But I can’t verify if a certain one will actually work if those pills are that bad!

[DMK]

I’m pretty sure a pricier coffee grinder is still going to be designed for coffee beans so it might not be the answer. Short of a mortar and pestle the best answer may be to keep a spare cheapo grinder on hand for the primary ones inevitable demise.

[Sdel]

Search pill grinder/mill on Amazon. Lots of options there….

[luvmyhackney]

They use a pill crusher called Silent Knight at my vets office.

[erinmeri]

I have this one for cat meds and it’s great.

Amazon.com: Pill Mill Pill Crusher - Crushes Multiple Tablets to a Fine Powder -...

[Lusoluv]

When I had to give my mare foul tasting Metronidazole tablets, I soaked them in a cup of warm water as soon as I got to the barn. It took an hour+ for them to soften, they’re really hard. Then I’d add a glug of molasses or Stevia peppermint syrup and stir it up. Maybe worth trying…?

[Live_Wire]

I soak them in warm water for about 5-10 minutes then I strain that over my horse’s mash and put the pills in a manual coffee grinder that had a detachable bottom. Once I’ve grinded them, I put a little bit of water in there to make sure I get all the goodies out and dump that into his mash, too.

[trubandloki]

@Renn_aissance

The coffee grinder method had served me well for robaxin, bute tabs, pentoxifylline, and many other medications throughout the years. But the metformin tabs actually broke the blade in half.

If you all tell me that the solution is a $75 coffee grinder instead of the $15 one I got at Target, I will a) buy the grinder and b) hold you to it.

I am no help. I am thankful that my $15 coffee grinder has not failed on me yet. Darn it that yours failed.

Can’t we blame it on your coffee grinder being well used at that point?

I can say my experience trying to grind peppermints in the coffee grinder did not go well. They get stuck to everything even though everything started out totally dry.

[Renn_aissance]

Oh, it’s been two or three coffee grinders over time. I’m skilled at dropping it on the feed room floor and breaking the lid or something. The metformin killed a new one!

[2DogsFarm]

Maybe pre-crush the metformin (bag & hammer) before using the grinder to finish the job?

[Showbizz]

I know you said no to mortar and pestle, but that’s what we use for metformin (and methocarbamol) and it’s really not terrible. Not fun, but not terrible!

[Simkie]

I also use a mortar and pestle. Important to have a big heavy one, not one of those small, fine porcelain ones! As you say, not super fun, but definitely gets the job done, and not a terrible experience.

Although that pill mill linked above looks pretty damned cool!

[Small_Change]

A purpose made pill crusher is what you need. We crush meds all the time, including metformin. I would suggest a bigger one that you can fit all ten pills in for saving time, as the smaller versions would probably only take one metformin tab at a time, and take more than one go to get the job done.

The Silent Knight is pretty good, but you would need a continuous supply of heavy duty plastic sleeves to hold the tabs to be crushed. It also wouldn’t do more than a couple at a time. A pill crusher with a bigger holding area would allow you to do without the plastic sleeves and do more pills at once. The one erinmeri linked to looks good!

[clanter]

@2DogsFarm

Maybe pre-crush the metformin (bag & hammer) before using the grinder to finish the job?

that is what we have done, used the good old wooden rolling pin to smash the big things in to small pieces that were then run through the coffee bean grinder

As a caution, do not crush more pills than needed at a time as there is the remote possibly that you could alter the drug’s concentration if you carried over unused product (per my oldest daughter who was head of a QC lab at a small pharmaceutical drug company that specialized in generic over the counter drugs)

[trubandloki]

I realize reviews on either end of the spectrum are suspect…

I went and read the reviews on this unit and one of the complaints is it does not work well on large pills.

[sorrelfilly721]

I too use the mortar and pestle. I had to crush up 1000 pills and it worked great.

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[luvmyhackney]

Might be a terrible idea, but could you use a single serving blender and blend with applesauce? The ninja blender is pretty tough.