Medicating/Sedating Horse

[IPEsq]

First step, if you want to try a not entirely drive by approach, is to pinch the skin and give treats. I will practice neck and pecs (stand to the side). Hold off a vein and give treats. Then add a poking sensation. Needle cap. Pen. Toothpick. If you have nothing more failure proof to inject, you could in theory then progress to a sterile needle with nothing attached to it. You can start even with a super fine, short thing that won’t do a lot. I haven’t done that personally because I do still want to try to minimize the actual poking they have to endure, and also because after the prep work from the trusted person, it’s not been that big of a deal once it is time for injections. Especially when I’ve done the pecs, as the approach to the neck is usually the worst part of it all.

If you expect a fight, even when practicing, you’d want to position pony in the stall with the opposite side right up against a wall. With my big guy, we have to kind of shove him into the wall to keep him from trying to point any of his sharp ends at the vet or use his body or head as a defense. It’s way safer than on the cross ties or something. (I can inject that horse IM now on the cross ties, but I always ask the vet to inject, especially if IV, in the stall and then bring him out if he needs to be somewhere else for the exam). But practice on both sides. One may be easier for pony. One may be easier for you depending if you are right or left handed.

At some point, vet may have to just teach you appropriate technique and give you some drugs to try. If pony needs a lot or a mixture of things (i.e., not just Dorm), what you don’t want to have happen is trying it for real on the day of the appointment and then you don’t have enough sedation when the vet shows up, and then no one can get any more into him. I have a feeling that even if he responds pretty well to the twitch, you may still need to twitch + pre-sedate.

I am assuming you have tried xrays without sedation and that doesn’t work? I try not to sedate much for xrays if possible, especially if you are also blocking and trying to see the horse move after, potentially. I’m guessing that vet phobia is too much for him to stand for imaging without something?

[Rel6]

@Strangeways

Thanks everyone! I should’ve mentioned that we’ve tried dormosedan several times and he fights it. A barn worker was mildly injured trying to administrate it. As “his person,” I managed to get half a tube in him after 20 minutes of fighting.

A horse at my barn is bad about having meds syringed - the owner spent a lot of time syringing molasses water into the horse’s mouth to get it to have a positive association. Could be worth working on (even if you don’t plan to use dorm again) since so many meds can be administered that way (ace, SMZs, dewormer, etc).

As far as traz, my experience is that horses react very differently and dosing is a matter of trial and error. My finer boned TB mare blew through a high dose pretty easily. My 1300 lb WB gelding started on half of her dose and was KO-d from that.

[Strangeways]

Got it. Dissolving the traz could be the trick.

[SonnysMom]

Have the vet out for for first appointment of the day and ask for freshly washed clothes/scrubs. I had a vet that felt that made a difference and he would sometimes change his coveralls mid-day

[Strangeways]

My goal was to reply to people individually, but that didn’t work. Anyway, thanks again for all the replies! This is my most successful thread and it’s great to have the support.

The pen – The owner and I have poked him on the neck/hindquarters with pens and toothpicks. We’ve pinched him. He doesn’t care. He knows the difference between the vet and us, and between needles and other pokey things. But we’ve never tried the hamstring/pecs, and we’ve never drilled the poking such that we could do it without pause, hesitation, anxiety as sascha suggested. Agree that we should try a very short, fine needle before trying the real thing with the vet.

The molasses syringe – I will definitely try that. My original pre-dormosedan plan involved molasses, but then he started letting me put an empty syringe under his tongue, so I thought I could skip the sweet stuff and go straight to the gel. That was obviously a mistake, which I should have predicted. No short cuts with horses.

Unsedated x-rays – The vet said that she couldn’t do x-rays without sedation because pony’s anxious dancing would endanger her equipment. I think you’re on to something, however. I believe that we could probably acclimate pony to the presence of the vet faster than we could acclimate him to the tools of sedations. But it would require the vet to visit him several times and love on him and give him treats. I highly doubt the vet would be willing to spend the time doing it. But should we practice standing him on blocks? He stands on wedges for his body worker and he’s good for the farrier.

Trazodone versus other sedatives – Traz is what I have to work with right now, along with the dormosedan. The traz did have a minor sedating effect, so I’m hoping it will work at a higher dosage.

The twitch – I still have to think about it. It could the easy solution of my dreams or it could go badly. My best prediction is that he’d let us do it with positive reinforcements because he’s good for grooming, farrier-work and his regular body worker. In other words, he’s tractable in many situations. But I think he might panic despite the twitch when the vet arrives. So I think IPEsq is right that we’d still need sedation.

But simkie is right, it self-perpetuates. I know he was aced 5 years ago. Each time a sedating agent hits his bloodstream the fights more next time.

[GraceLikeRain]

I am not a vet please check with an actual vet*

A vet once told me that anything that can be absorbed by mucosal lining (dorms, ace) can be given through other mucosal lining. We were specifically talking about a difficult mare so it was in reference to vaginal administration. He indicated having done so with success in the past. I have no idea if this is legit and if rectal is effective or totally different. It’s out there but may be worth asking your vet to confirm one way or another. If it is actually a thing, a little ky and a needle-free syringe seem like it would make things a pretty non event.

[IPEsq]

Does the vet have many other clients at this barn? One of my vets came out today to do another horse’s teeth while I was riding, and my guy was definitely on edge (he just got vaccinated last week). So it got me thinking about this. My other sports vet is happy to give extra cookies during her visits whether she is treating my horse or not that day. He does like her better., though not much

[Strangeways]

I’ll have to ask the vet about a suppository approach. He is annoying about the thermometer, but it’s doable.

[Strangeways]

Vet has no other clients where pony is boarded. When she came out last time, she mentioned how she hadn’t been there in years.