I recently had a vet tell me previcox should be fed on a schedule of 3 weeks on followed by 1 week off. From my personal experience, this isn’t “industry standard” in my area/at barns I’ve boarded or worked at. Over the last 20ish years, I have had both personal horses and tons of lesson horses at my jobs throughout the years taking previcox daily with no breaks and haven’t had any noticeable issues. I’ve also never had a vet instruct me to skip days, so now I’m curious to see what others do and why?
I’m not necessarily against giving your horse breaks from the medication (it makes sense considering it’s an NSAID and can be hard on their body). But I’m also wondering if skipping an entire week makes sense if previcox needs to build up in their system to be effective? Would skipping an entire week cause you to “start over” when you put your horse back on it? I would love more information/opinions/personal experience. Thanks in advance!
I’ve had a vet say 5 days on, 2 off. The thinking is that the body builds a tolerance (I know it does in humans) making the drug less effective. By giving the body a short time off period, it breaks or slows down the tolerance development.
I’d ask the vet what their thinking is.
We started my older horse on Equioxx at the end of December with the plan of only having him on it for the cold winter months. I tried the two weeks on, then one week off, and it didn’t work for him. The way my vet explained it, it’s ideal if you can take that week off, but if the horse needs it, then they need it.
For my horse, anyway, we aren’t going to keep him on it long term, just for wintertime, so I’ve just had him on it with no breaks since December. It’s finally staying consistently warm enough here that I’m going to take him off of it soon.
Some people do keep their horses on it yearround, it can be done it’s just not ideal. But again, if they need it for quality of life, then they need it.
I’ve never heard of the skipping a week but I did have two older ponies that were on it every other day for years. That was the dose that kept them comfortable.
I have two horses with navicular that in addition to other therapies, I do give them Equioxx during the spring, summer, and fall when they are being ridden the most. I like to give time off from medications when able so it is nice I can give them the winter off.
My understand of the pharmokinetics behind Equioxx is they do need to reach a therapeutic level in the system to do it’s best work (aka, it doesn’t work like bute!!!)
If I really want to get a horse feeling better quickly, my vet has always instructed me to give THREE 57 mg tablets on the first day and then one tablet every day thereafter to reach the therapeutic level quicker. I usually do this if a horse is going to need a more short course of it, like a month or two and then will be done.
If they are going to be on it more long term (months or more), then I don’t always do the loading dose, knowing they will be up to level eventually.
With my horses, it seems to take a week for it to “take effect” and I can notice a difference.
If I am going to take my horses to a lameness eval, my vet always instructs them to be OFF equioxx for at least a week. (I usually try to do closer to 2 weeks to be on the safe side).
So to have a vet tell you to use it for 3 weeks (just get the horse feeling better) then stop for a 1 week (lose all your progress) and then start over … well, it’s just does not make sense to me.
It also does not make sense to me to skip doses or give it every other day. Could some horses still have a benefit with that? Sure. But I feel like you would be under-dosing the medication and therefore not reaching that therapeutic level in their system to really gain benefits from it. JMO.
Because yes, it needs to build in their system to be effective.
Yep…it doesn’t make sense. The average elimination half life is 30hrs. It takes 4.5-5 half lives to be out of the body. 4.5 half lives (basically no active drug in the body) is 5.6 days. So if you hold it a week, you have a sore horse. I could see every-other-day dosing for senior or sensitive patients as their elimination is usually slower but holding a week a month…no.
As someone who lives on daily meloxicam I can tell you that by day 3 of withholding the med I’m in intense pain. It takes quite a while being back on it for the pain to subside.
Yes when I said “previcox needs to build up in their system to be effective” I meant “My understand of the pharmokinetics behind Equioxx is they do need to reach a therapeutic level in the system to do it’s best work (aka, it doesn’t work like bute!!!)” Sorry for any confusion! You worded it better than I did lol
Here’s an add on question…we have spring vaccines coming up, Charlie is fever reactive and our normal to get him through it is 1 doses of banamine every 12 hours post injection (3 total). THIS spring, he is also on one pill of Equioxx/day.
One vet told me take him off the Equioxx 3 days prior, and the other said I can keep him on it
Is it in the realm of sensible to take him off it the days he will have the banamine in his system then go back on 24 hours post banamine?
My experience is that those horses which have a hard time with vaccinations do better on Prevequine daily than banamine. I’ve stopped using banamine for vaccination-related fever reactions.
My gelding is on a half dose of Equioxx daily in his PM feed. When vet came to do vaccinations mid-morning, I mentioned that he’d had a half of a pill the night before and she said that was no issue at all.
(Re: half a dose, I know it’s not the norm, but it seems to keep my 1300+ lb. with minor hock arthritis comfortable. A whole pill and he’ll start getting ulcery).
So, maybe cut him down to a half dose on those days so you can keep him on it but have less risk of it reacting with the Banamine?
My vet has told me my horses can have a regular dosage of banamine or bute when on equioxx. From what I understand they are different NSAIDS so there’s no worry of overdose (liver/kidney issues). It’s not recommended for long term use because of a significant risk in developing ulcers.
For so few doses, personally, I would not change his Equioxx routine.
I listened to a vet presentation at Equine Affaire last fall who talked about Equioxx v. Bute v. Banamine. I can’t remember what comparison he made between Banamine and Equioxx, but he said that in terms of hits to their kidneys, you’d need to give your horse 5 Equioxx to be the equivalent of 1 Bute dose.
So doubling up for 36 hours seems like it should be okay.
I know for me personally, if I’m fighting inflammation somewhere, I’ll take a high dose of ibruprofen for 3 days, when I wouldn’t do such a high dose normally. But because it’s for a short period of time, it’s okay. According to my doctors, anyway.
