Just curious what method everyone prefers when giving bute - paste or powder? Or tablets?
I’ve used paste and powder. I find the paste is incredibly hard to squeeze out and most of my horses won’t eat the powder.
I recently started mixing the powder in with some applesauce and syringing that in…it is easy to syringe and my horses actually don’t mind it, so it doesn’t get spit out and turn into a battle!
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Our Bute is a ‘liquid’. Not a paste. Just syringe it in. Most of mine love it.
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I use tablets, they’re cheap, and easy to make into powder with a larger pill crusher. It can be added to food (mine eat it fine), or put in a syringe with your choice of liquid(s)
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I’ve never had a horse willingly eat the powder, so that is my least favorite because I always have to syringe it.
Some of the brands of bute paste squeeze out of the tube REALLY REALLY hard, so not the best there either.
By far, top choice–> tablet. I can easily hide that in a cookie or a small amount of grain. Then I KNOW they are eating it.
Powder. I don’t trust any of them to eat it when I put it in feed, and the paste is so thick it’s hard to get out. I always add flavored powder to water and syringe it in, with added molasses or applesauce if the horse is being particularly grumpy about it.
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My info is 10+yrs out of date, but there’s a compounding pharmacy in KY that makes a flavored Bute powder: Wickliffe.
Orange, molasses or peppermint.
Your vet faxes them a script & they mail to you.
My Poison Detector TB would lick the mint flavor out of my hand.
He was on a daily gram dose for arthritis in his mid-20s. No gastric issues when I lost him (to a trailer accident) at 27
I’ve gotten molasses and orange flavored bute powder locally - I don’t even know if anyone carries unflavored anymore.
Powder in a syringe with tube fruit is what I find easiest. Tube fruit is what I call apple or banana baby food that comes in plastic packages with a little screw top. Super easy to squeeze how much you need directly into a syringe and then screw the cap back on to keep it fresh for the next dose.
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I prefer the peppermint flavored powder if I can get it. Some of the online pet pharmacies carry it for a bit, then discontinue it.
I do crush and syringe tablets if I can’t find the powder, but I find that difficult due to how chalky the bute is.
Powder. Horse is a pig and eats it with his grain.
I use the flavored powder as well. I’ve had no problems with horses eating it in the feed. I do wet their feed down, as well (always), so I’m not sure if that helps.
There used to be a brand of powder that was microencapsulated and came in sealed 1 g sachets, 10 to a box.
I tested it on a client’s horse who refused to eat anything if he even suspected it was doctored, and he scarfed it down.
Bought a case of the stuff.
I loved it because most horse owners don’t need a bottle of 100— it gets outdated before they finish it, and t was quite convenient–already ground up and easy to use.
Apparently the manufacturer discontinued it in the US because the sales were disappointing.
I put the powder in a syringe with water and molasses. My horses love it so much, I don’t even have to halter them. I conditioned them by syringing them with molasses and water only several times first.
Tabs.
I put one tab in a fig newton, hand it over and the newton with the pill gets eaten.
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My vet gets apple caramel flavored bute. My pony loves it and will eat it right out of my hand.
Otherwise I just get tablets.
I dissolve a tablet in water and syringe it in–put the tablet in a 10-12 cc syringe, fill with water and let sit until the table dissolves. Then mix it up and syringe it in. Then refill the syringe with water 2-3 times and give it to the horse to wash out the residue. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to give any bute, but that worked for me. My horse cooperated well enough, but you could also add a little sugar or peppermint to the water to help the taste.
I use tabs most of the time. Most of mine will eat them crushed up with their grain (always feed with wet beet pulp so they can’t just sift out the meds). I used to get the paste for one especially picky eater, but the last time I looked the cost of a tube of bute paste had more than doubled in price, so now she just gets the tabs dissolved in water in a syringe. If I’m feeling generous I will add applesauce or some other flavoring to make it taste a bit better.
My horse will eat anything…except powdered Bute. And he cannot be fooled by the flavored powder versions. Molasses, alfalfa, he won’t touch it. He will walk off from his whole serving of grain.
I don’t want to waste the powder I purchase, so I just put a gram in a syringe and add a few drops of water and make a slurry. Then shoot it into his mouth.
I’ve used both, although it depends on what is going on like acute or chronic pain. I do have a warning: if you get the paste, and the syringe doesn’t work, bute doesn’t taste good.
