My horse has gone through a full lameness exam and the vet has prescribed a tapering dose of robaxin for the next six weeks. He is supposed to get 19 pills in his feed 2x per day. My horse can smell medication a mile away and I can’t figure out how to get him to eat it. I want to avoid dosing if at all possible, as he is also getting a tube of gastroguard every day. I have already tried to put molasses and ground up peppermints in his feed. No dice. He doesn’t like applesauce. Any suggestions?
When my mare was on robaxin, I used to grind the pills (I know it’s a lot of work), put the powder in her grain meal and mix it all together with 2 oz of oil. The oil makes sure everything kind of sticks together and helps mask the taste. She generally thinks you are trying to poison her with any new additions to her feed, but topping with oil always works for me. Good luck!
Mix with applesauce and use a worming syringe
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You can get compounded powdered flavored bute. Obviously RX but I have used it at the barn. Even if your horse doesn’t eat it at least it makes it easier to mix with water and syringe
The only way I’ve ever gotten it down was by using a dose syringe. Perhaps others will have more ideas for you.
I’ve had some very, very, very picky ponies over the years, but none of them have objected to eating ground Robaxin pills in their regular feed. No soaking or special mixers required.
Yep, I got compounded flavored methocarbamol from Rood & Riddle’s pharmacy. Best option by far.
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Robaxin will dissolve in hot water. When I am using it, this is what I do. Dissolve the pills, and make a mash. For the first few days I will increase the senior I use to help with ‘flavoring’.
That said, 19 pills, especially twice a day, is A LOT. When my mare is on it, she gets 10 once a day, and I have to work up to that over a couple days.
Hmm. Is there anything this horse truly loves and will scarf down?
I agree that 19 pills is a lot, but the University weighed him while he was there and he clocked in at over 1500lbs.
It appears that it is ground up pills plus peppermint water for the win! I tried it this morning and mixed it up in a beet pulp mash and down it went! Thank you for the ideas! It seems that he didn’t prefer chewing up a full sized pill. But who could blame him when there are 19 of them!??
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Glad you found something that works!
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You could try adding some soaked hay cubes or pellets and something very tasty …mine really like ground flax and also Purina Outlast …Uckele GUT powder is a tasty good smelling supplement that I’ve used to help disguise medicine …if that won’t work I would grind pills in electric coffee grinder , mix with some water and a scoop of Uckele GUT powder and dose orally …pain yes but at least you know he will be getting it.
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Please tell me about using Robaxin in horses. I’ve never heard of this. My retired senior horse is on adequan and occasional previcox when he has old man aches. I’m wondering if Robaxin is a less expensive alternative to previcox? This horse will eat anything, so I’m not worried about that.
Robaxin is a muscle relaxer and it is generally used to treat back pain. My horse has back pain and SI pain and he is on a tapering dose over the next six weeks. Previcox is a pain reliever and anti-inflammatory. They do different things, so I wouldn’t think that one would be a replacement for the other.
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Interesting, thanks!
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