If my vet won't prescribe Pentosan?

[Stitch_In_Time]

I recently had a conversation with my vet about starting my mare on an injectable joint supplement, I made mention that I had heard good things about Pentosan and asked if she would be willing to prescribe it. She informed me that they used to prescribe Pentosan, but there were issues with fungal contamination and she will no longer prescribe it. Instead she suggested injectable Glucosamine.

This option sounds nice because it is relatively inexpensive, but I am wondering how effective it will be? Does anyone have experience with this? Most threads I read are singing the praises of either Pentosan or Pentaussie, I haven’t seen any on just the glucosamine.

About the horse: She is a 12 yo paint mare, we do low level eventing (BN), trail riding, dressage, etc. She’s ridden 3-5 days per week. She does not have any lameness issues, but if she has been stalled for a while she does start out a bit stiff but works out of it. The only supplement that she currently gets is 10,000 mg of MSM daily.

[MorganJumper848]

Have you tried consulting with another vet? Some seem for or against it.

[Simkie]

Ask if she’ll try it from a different compounding pharmacy than the one who had the contamination issue? IIRC, there’s more than one that sells pentosan.

[katyb]

I did the glucosamine with mine, and I couldn’t tell any improvement. Pentosan has been effective. I used Wedgewood. I know there’s a thread that says one of the compounding pharmacies doesn’t even require a prescription.

[wendy]

Even if your vet isn’t willing to do compounding (pentosan) adequan is not compounded and is far more effective than injectable glucosamine.

[jennycash]

I didn’t notice a difference with the glucosamine, my barrel horses are now on Pentosan. They will never be without it. I first bought mine from HorsePreRace because my vet wouldn’t prescribe it. We saw such a huge difference in my horses the vet then became a believer and wrote a prescription which we got from Wedgwood.

[IFG]

My vet did not want to prescribe from a compounding pharmacy. He prescribed polyglycan, and I have seen major improvement.

[beau159]

I have my horse Red on Adequan. He has some lameness issues and it’s one way we are trying to treat it. It is expensive but I will never not have him on it.

My colt is going to be 4 years old this year. And he’s healthy. And I want to keep it that way. I don’t know that I want to spend the big bucks for Adequan so I am going to start him on Pentosan, just as a preventative.

Basically, Pentosan is the “cheap version” of Adequan. I don’t see why your vet would recommend glucosamine (instead of Adequan) as an alternative to the Pentosan.

You can always go to a different vet; one that will prescribe it.

[findeight]

Are you sure you want to start a young horse on anything as a preventative? Theres no research at all anything given regularly to the young and healthy prevents arthritic changes in horses or humans. No research on possible side effects or interaction with other supplements or meds when giving over very long periods of time either.

[UKYeventer]

Pentosan is actually being distributed in the US by CEVA (same people distributing Tildern). Your Vet should be able to buy it through any distributer that they buy the rest of their supplies from. Since it is made in the same plant as Pentaussie there should not be any concern with fungal contamination. If you have any questions please feel free to message me as I work in the Veterinary Supply industry.

[Larbear]

[QUOTE=Stitch In Time;8075840]
I recently had a conversation with my vet about starting my mare on an injectable joint supplement, I made mention that I had heard good things about Pentosan and asked if she would be willing to prescribe it. She informed me that they used to prescribe Pentosan, but there were issues with fungal contamination and she will no longer prescribe it. [/QUOTE]

I didn’t hear/see anything about issues with fungal contamination. What compounding pharmacy did your vet get the pentosan from?

[chisamba]

Pentosan is used for humans in other countries. It is different and not just a cheaper adequan. Your vet could easily get pentosan from a viable pharmacy.

[chisamba]

http://arthritis-research.com/content/12/1/R28. A study for human medicine showing how it promotes cartilage repair and suppresses bone spurs.

I have a friend whose vet told her it causes white patched on the body So they do not use it snymore.

Maybe adequan is encouraging these vets to promote their product and squash the other. Or perhaps there is a fear of using compounding pharmacies because of mistakes and horse deaths…but pentosan can be found from legitimate sources.

[borntobewild129]

why don’t you just use adequan or legend?

[mlb722]

[QUOTE=UKYeventer;8076691]
Pentosan is actually being distributed in the US by CEVA (same people distributing Tildern). Your Vet should be able to buy it through any distributer that they buy the rest of their supplies from. Since it is made in the same plant as Pentaussie there should not be any concern with fungal contamination. If you have any questions please feel free to message me as I work in the Veterinary Supply industry.[/QUOTE]

This is what my vet said she would prescribe. She won’t use the compounding pharmacies.

[wendy]

Theres no research at all anything given regularly to the young and healthy prevents arthritic changes in horses or humans.

there have been a few studies in dogs showing that these agents are remarkably effective in preventing arthritis.

[IFG]

[QUOTE=wendy;8077224]
there have been a few studies in dogs showing that these agents are remarkably effective in preventing arthritis.[/QUOTE]

Can you share the references?

[DressageLin]

The pentosan EQ available from CEVA seems much more expensive. A quick google search showed that most 6 ml doses range from $50-70 each.

[DesignerLabel]

I use the injectable glucosamine for my gelding. He went from dragging his toes, swapping back leads at the canter, and slight bucking on a canter depart, to his beautiful, fluid canter. It has made a night and day difference with him

[FrittSkritt]

The PentAussie is almost as much, if not more as Adequan per dose… I think the cheapest I’ve found a 7 dose vial of Adequan was maybe $280?

Some vets are weird about prescribing compounded medications. For example, mine has no issue with distributing Pentosan out of the back of his truck, but when I asked him for a written prescription (or at least let me pay the pharmacy directly through a called in prescription so I wouldn’t have to pay through the vet practice, which tacks on a huge surcharge), he refused. :mad: In VA, this is considered illegal as vets can only hold a certain amount of compounded medication – and what they DO hold, they can’t charge more than what they paid for it – plus they’re required to give a prescription to a client who asks for one. (This applies even in the cases of compounded medications.)

Not sure what the laws are in your state, but just FYI.