Need Bute-giving suggestions (sorry if this has been discussed before :-) ))

[RZ1]

I’m needing to give my horse 2 Bute, every other day. If it’s in his food, he often won’t eat it (would you?!) and he really needs to be eating all his grain w/supps right now. I’ve had to resort to giving him loads of Dengie to make up for uneaten dinners lately.

I tried hiding it an apple but even that is not foolproof (he often spits it out).

I hate using a tube & paste but may have to go that route. Anyone have any suggestions? Is this the easiest way? What kind would you use and where do you get it?

Any other helpful hints regarding administration of Bute are appreciated!

[DMK]

a 20cc syringe (or larger), with the tip cut off (and use a knife or scissors to widen the hole) makes a great oral dosage syringe.

Get some paper cone cups, pour a teeny bit of molasses in the bottom, add bute, add a bit more molasses, mix (with a little stick or paper knife), pour into syringe casing (put your finger over the hole), put plunger in syringe, dose like paste bute.

A syringe will last quite a while if you clean it out after you are done, and put a little baby oil or mineral oil on the rubber seal.

Option B would be to try Buteless (BL solution) since it is much more palliative, and is pretty effective

[Reginapony]

I know you are not singling me out, but I have never had a problem with giving my horse a bute a day. I have tested his blood and urine and he is fine. He gets hay or grass all day, and he is a QH, which is probably why he is OK internally with the bute. I use him for trail riding, which is low stress.

If he is uncomfortable on his right stifle, and strains and bows his left front compensating for the pain in the stifle, That is a problem. This has happened in the past, and a low dose of bute has kept him serviceably sound.

I could use the Milk of Magnesia for my stomach. I am under more stress then my horse! Thank G-D my health insurance pays for my Prilosec!

[Louise]

I don’t know how easily vets can have this done, but, my vet has someone (maybe a chemist, maybe a pharmacist) compound apple flavored powdered bute for him. The stuff isn’t much more expensive than the bute tablets, you can refine the dosage more (my gelding gets 3/4 of a gram of bute per day, the very least he can be pain free on) and, because it is apple flavored, it is very palatable when mixed with a little sweet feed. Check with your vet, see if this might not be feasible for him. I bet he would have a lot of very happy customers.

[barngirl]

I have two horses that hate bute. Luckily I don’t have to give it to them for maintance purposes… But when my mare had a bad infected fetlock I need to give… I ended up with the apple powder bute… I would mix it with Karo syrup… just enough warm water to make the syrup not to thick and use a big syringe down her throat. Usually got most of it down… but she ended up having to be in a lip chain, and twitch after the first couple of doses… especially as she felt better. i gave up and tried the BL solutions( aka bute-less) she ate it and it seemed to work.
My gelding hated the bute too, but this time he is on it for a muscle tear and it is being mixed in his feed with karo syrup, and his next level, so I thin it is masked pretty well. I like the powder, as it is a lot easier to cover up and mix in… doesn’t need to be disolved and at least smells good… though i tased a little bit and it is still very bitter… though the karo seems to mask it pretty good.
Good luck.

[Dianna]

more aggravating than it needs to be. Bute will dissolve in water and then add a little syrup to it, suck it into a syringe and squirt it down the throat.

[Reginapony]

KV Vet has Kaopectate for $6.99 a gallon. I wonder if they keep this size on the stock trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange!

[moose]

A vet assistant we had suggested crushed peppermint- said it masked the taste of a lot of drugs, worked like a charm and not as messy as the molasses.

[This message was edited by Moose on Jun. 24, 2001 at 09:22 PM.]

[Pistol_n_Me]

Well, my pony just had a mild laminitis attack, so he’s on 1 gram/twice a day. Since he’s also on a no-grain, restricted hay diet for now, we’re using a balling gun to shoot the bute in. It works pretty well, but it takes a few tries at first to get it all the way in.

Otherwise, when I need to feed bute, I crush it with a mortar & pedstal and mix it directly with his grain. He’s a big and doesn’t mind it that way.

[Reginapony]

My poor horse lives on bute. So would you if you had knees like his stifles!

I put the pill in a catheter syringe, which I get from an Endurance riding supply catalog. I mix a tablespoon of Cherry Koolaid with 6 to 10 ounces of warm water in a cup. I draw up some of the Koolaid into the syringe and let it sit for a few minutes until the bute pill is dissolved. I dose my horse with the bute Koolaid mix, then give him the rest of the Koolaid to wash the bute down. My horse winnies for his bute and Koolaid when he hears me mixing it!

[Just_My_Style]

My old arthritic gets bute form time to time. I can’t put it in his feed at all. He won’t go near the bucket if he even senses it. I have used bute with applesauce in a syringe, it works ok. Carrot baby food works really well. I think the carrot taste is stronger then apple and masks the bute even better.

[RZ1]

I’m needing to give my horse 2 Bute, every other day. If it’s in his food, he often won’t eat it (would you?!) and he really needs to be eating all his grain w/supps right now. I’ve had to resort to giving him loads of Dengie to make up for uneaten dinners lately.

I tried hiding it an apple but even that is not foolproof (he often spits it out).

I hate using a tube & paste but may have to go that route. Anyone have any suggestions? Is this the easiest way? What kind would you use and where do you get it?

Any other helpful hints regarding administration of Bute are appreciated!

[Flash44]

If you are dosing him with bute, you may want to dose him with a little milk of magnesia as well.

[Leather]

Has anybody had any experience with the veterinary line from FlavorX? The original line was developed to help childrens’ medicines more palatable, and now I see on their website (flavorx.com) that they’ve expanded into an animal line that includes horses, dogs, cats, birds, ferrets, etc. Those ought to be some interesting flavors!

[Cactuskate]

I assume you are crushing the bute into a powder and coating the grain with molasses or some other tasty con??

I always keep a supply of cheap little envelopes in my tack box. You can put the Bute tablets in them fold them well and smack them a few times with the back of a horse brush on something solid and, Voila! powdered Bute.

Long ago I would use a 2’ piece of garden hose, or it could be tubing, and poured the crushed bute in one end. Then carefully holding both ends up I would take a big breath, put the hose in my horses mouth, such that it was to the back of his tounge, and blow real hard. Poof, it was in his mouth and he would swallow it. Of course the important step is taking the breath BEFORE you put your mouth over the hose. Or YOU will feel no pain that day!

It really did work, and this guy got Bute daily when showing, and always when we schooled over fences. He just stood there like a good little guy. Now my gray mare got to where she would see me coming with the hose and head to the back of her stall. Had to be more sneaky with her, but it still worked.

Best of luck.

“The older I get, the better I used to be.”

[Janet]

The latest Horse Journal has an article about this.

The best flavorings were

• “Grass Juice” Pick a bunch of grass, and mix it with water in a blender, then mix that with the bute and feed
  -Something called “CocoSoya”

Apple sauce and mollasses were effective with some horses but not others.

[Paddys_Mom]

I have to give 19 year old Paddy Bute now and he’s never had it before.

Thanks to my non-horsey mom for the suggestion. I ground it in a coffee grinder and dissolved it in some Coke. Paddy loves Coke so he literally slurped it up!

I had a crowd gathered around his stall who didn’t believe he’d drink it. We showed them!

[Cap]

For my extremely picky horse, I mix any medication with a bunch of applesauce and molasses. Carrots that are cooked and mushed up also work! He will usually eat it all up, but if there’s any leftover, I mix it in with his dinner and he will finish it then.

[JB]

Uckele makes this stuff - coconut and soybean oils, along with Vit E and something else (gone blank here!). It smells like a combination of movie theatre popcorn, caramel, and butterscotch. Yum! I use it to add fat to my horses diets - they both love it.

[Janet]

I would check with a vet before mixing it with Coke. Coke has some acids in it (that ia why it works as a rust remover), that might chemically react with the bute and reduce its affectiveness.

It might be fine, but I would check first.