Mortar and pestle to grind the meds and mix with the applesauce. Put into a piping bag, cut off the end and fill your syringe, trying to leave a little space near the tip. When you get the dose in, gently put in the plunger and expel the air while tapping the side of the syringe gently. Although I’d attempt to get all of it within reason I wouldn’t kill myself over a couple mLs.
Love the piping bag idea, too!
Such great ideas guys, thanks a lot!!
My horses would beg to differ with you. They will willingly accept being dosed with applesauce.
Plain meds, not so much.
Why not make the experience pleasant for all involved?
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Could you try 30cc syringes?
You may have to dose twice, but once the horse is used to being dosed, not sneaked up to get that one dose, they learn being dosed is part of life.
What we do is not go at it once, but maybe first time with the medicine, then with something good without the medicine as a chaser.
At first horses may feel offended that you repeat the dosing.
Then they resignate themselves to it and eventually relax enough to lick their lips and even the syringes.
They think it is normal for humans to come around and dose horses, quit seeing the dosing as humans sneaking on them with something strange.
We have used the dosing syringes, they also have some with a curved metal end that will fit in there easily without poking if a horse fusses.
The problem with those, you have to clean them super well and maybe oil them after every use, they get sticky and hard to push faster than regular syringes do.
Just more to try.
Interesting, I CAN NOT get my sucralfate to dissolve so I grind it first then make a paste out of it. I either grind it with a peppermint or add a few drops of peppermint extract to make it more palatable…
Crush up pills
Mix with smallest amount of applesauce you can (enough to make a thick paste, not runny/watery)
Use a spoon and put it into the syringe part
Put the plunger part into the syringe as far as you can (squeeze the concoction up but not out of the tip)
Using as little applesauce as possible helps keep the volume down so it’s easier to get into the syringe and less volume the horse has to swallow.
If the rubber plunger starts wearing out, I rub a thin layer of Vaseline around the sides of it so it glides easier. Nothing is worse than trying to push the plunger when your arm is shoved in their mouth and the plunger is stuck :lol:
I know you are a vet, so wouldn’t you rather have horses that accept your ministrations with little to no fuss? I stopped eating applesauce when I was five, as did my kids. So I’d have to go out and purchase applesauce, and then keep it cold if it’s the jar, or pay $$ for snack packs that can stay in the barn.
I’ve found that once you’ve trained your horse to be accepting of things, even things they don’t “like,” the become easier and easier to train to new things. But that’s just me, a bit on the lazy side and more willing to front load the effort than to have to deal with every.little.thing that comes up the road.
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Would it surprise you to learn that applesauce-wielding owners make my job easier?
Compliance with medication improves outcomes.
I don’t consider the price of small containers of applesauce onerous.
(I used to know somebody who used strained carrot babyfood–that was a bit pricier.)
WRT training–I’ve found that rewards make training easier, which, for the lazy like myself, is an advantage.
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Prednisolone comes in suspension (as do many medications, just request it that way). The bottle in my fridge is 20 mg/ml. I have not tasted it, but the pony seems to like it. The liter bottle has a syringe adapter. Shake bottle, insert tip of oral syringe, upend bottle to withdraw dose. Squirt in horses mouth.
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I looked for this when I purchased mine but could not find it. Can you tell me who supplied yours, and if they can make suspensions out of pills? The mare would have to take 500mL of your stuff - can they make it stronger/more concentrated?
Tada!
https://www.wedgewoodpetrx.com/items/prednisolone-oral-suspension.html
Your vet will have to call in the script. Wedgewood is great! They’ll even flavor it for you 
The mare will take it just fine today, tomorrow, and the day after - but at some point, even the best trained and most tolerant horses (like my old man) have had enough of the BS and won’t tolerate it any longer.
This mare is likely to be on this stuff the rest of her life - at any rate, I am guaranteed that she will have to take it for another month and a half. Somewhere in there, she is liable to tell me to shove it if I don’t make this a fun or pleasant experience for her. I don’t want to shorten her compliance rope any faster than it already will be.
I have two 50cc drenching syringes on order, those look way easier to handle than the catheter tip 60cc. Thanks for the suggestion!
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bows to you
Let’s order it in anchovy and make a new problem! :lol:
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Have you trained your horses to voluntarily keep their mouth open while all rear molars are thoroughly investigated by a vet/dentist for any sharp points or waves, and then still keep it open while their teeth are floated? Wouldn’t it be awesome if vets didn’t have to use speculums or sedation?
I stopped eating applesauce when I was five, as did my kids. So I’d have to go out and purchase applesauce, and then keep it cold if it’s the jar, or pay $$ for snack packs that can stay in the barn.
You do realize it’s not about applesauce, right?
I’ve found that once you’ve trained your horse to be accepting of things, even things they don’t “like,” the become easier and easier to train to new things. But that’s just me, a bit on the lazy side and more willing to front load the effort than to have to deal with every.little.thing that comes up the road.
Honest question - have you ever had to syringe in nasty tasking medicine for more than a week? A month? 3 months? Did he willingly accept the nastiness twice a day, just as well for dose 180 as dose 1?
I don’t understand all the fuss against doing something fairly simple that makes a yucky procedure at least a little more pleasant for the horse.
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You know if you do that, the horse will shock everyone and love anchovy :lol: :lol: :lol:
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I’m not sure how it compares to the pills cost wise, but in my human-dosing job, we regularly use liquid sucralfate. I was on it at one point and it was surprisingly not disgusting.
I’ve only ever seen it in liquid form as Carafate (the brand name), though, so cost might be prohibitive.
I get it for my cat from Wedgewood. He gets fish flavored. I’m sure they have flavoring for horses.
(sorry didn’t read all of the above), but back in the dark ages when I ran a post op layup barn and everything except bute came in pill form (most especially SMZs) and the layup horses were on a hay only diet so no feed to mix even if that was an option, I became something of a pro at this.
You need those cheap cone shaped water cups. Not cup shaped cups but cone shaped!
Grind your meds up, put a tiny bit of your mixing fluid in the bottom of the cup (we used hematone, I suggest molasses). Add your meds. Add some more molasses. stir with a chopstick or plastic knife. Add more molasses as needed. Pour into syringe with your finger on the other end, and you can squeeze out 99% of the stuff from the cheap paper cup. Insert plunger and dose your horse.
Also if you are going to give meds for a while, after a couple of uses, put some mineral oil or veggie/whatever oil on the rubber seal and insert/remove the plunger before you mix up meds, that will keep it working smoothly for a while
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Last time I had twice daily SMZs to get into a horse, I’d set up two large syringes per day in advance. Then similar to what @DMK said:
You need the following:
- A pair of really big syringes with the end cut off, and a plug for the mouth end (a large dewormer tube with the cap saved works great.)
- A place where they can be stood upright - in a cup or something.
- Molasses, water, pills, a stirring stick and maybe some cooking oil.
Put the end caps on the 2 syringes, pull out the plunger, drop in a little molasses, then your pills or ground powder, then some water, then another gob of molasses. Place them in your cup or whatever to keep them upright while they dissolve.
When dissolved, use a kebab stick or similar to mix the meds up inside the syringe, and add more water as needed to make it smooth enough to squirt. Depending on your meds it might be a stiff mixture - use a little cooking oil in the mix to make it easier to squirt.
Pop your plungers in the end, invert the syringe and tap any air to the top, squeeze that out, recap and you have two medication doses for the day ready to go.
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