Reactions to Dex?

[cswoodlandfairy]

So my boy had a bad case of hives. Vet gave me liquid Dex to give via IM since my horse will not eat anything if in his food and medicine…

so the BO gave him his nightly dose and when I saw him next had a large swelling near the injection. Now we also noticed a small cut in the same area. We had assumed that it was related to that as he can have similar reactions.

However the swelling never went down. Finally talked to the vet when he had a fever of 102. So told to do dex orally 2x along with bute 2x and monitor his temp. Temp finally went down, swelling is down some but not much though not as tender and a bit hard.

Has anyone had this type of reaction giving dex IM? He gets monthly adequan shots with no problem.

[bt1]

Honestly I don’t ever recall seeing Dex being given IM (seen IV and oral for sure), maybe I am just “lucky” to not have had that experience, hope he heals up fast!

[AKB]

I have given a lot of IM dexamethasone to children with croup and have never seen swelling at the injection site.

[cswoodlandfairy]

Thanks both!

At this point the swelling is slowly getting smaller and starting to harden. Not nearly as painful to the touch so for now well just keep cold lasering it daily and hope the fibers breakdown over time

[EquineJunky]

Not the topic of your question but a suggestion for oral admin if you haven’t tried… I give dex orally to my MILs horse when he needs it to control heaves. I use the needle on the syringe to draw out the appropriate amount, remove the needle, grab horse chin and point it upwards, insert syringe in side of mouth, wait for him to open and squirt. Of course this all assumes your horse is as acceptable of this procedure as my MILs is. Got so tired of waiting to make sure he finished the little bit of food I top dressed with it before giving him the rest of his ration.