out of idle curiosity after seeing several threads about horses being difficult about eating meds - you can get a fair number of meds compounded into transdermal gels for impossible to pill cats. Other than surpass/voltaren has anyone ever heard of doing the same for horses?
Well, technically, many of the DMSO concoctions we make and use are transdermal gels. I think the main compounding problem with transdermal gels for horses might be concentration and volume related. Horses require such large doses of many medications and sometimes dosage must be increased for transdermal delivery. It wouldn’t be much fun to have to slather your entire horse with his medication. :eek: Not to mention the potential liability for pharmaceutical companies and vets when Susie Horse Owner mishandles her horse’s highly concentrated transdermal gel medication. Yikes!
JackieBlue brings up some good points.
Transdermal medications are very difficult to make. Penetrating the skin is actually quite difficult, and not everything can be added to DMSO and still work. I’m sure there is someone with a good understanding of pharmacology on this board that could explain some of the difficulties associated with DMSO. Additionally, absorption varies a lot based on species and what part of the body it is applied to. When you have much easier ways to give it (orally, IM, IV), it doesn’t make a lot of sense for a drug company to invest money trying to develop a transdermal form of a systemic drug. You may be able to get some of these drugs compounded by a pharmacist, but compounded transdermals are not FDA approved, and can have varying degrees of efficacy. This includes common transdermals used in cats, like Methimazole, although there have been a few studies supporting transdermal Methimazole use. I believe Surpass is the only FDA-approved transdermal on the veterinary market to date. So you are dealing with a little bit of a black box.
Cats, of course, are notoriously difficult to pill (some of the anyway), so sometimes that’s the only option for them.
A very effective tranquilizer is administered under the tongue…but no, I don’t know of anything else except in humans…nicotine, hormones…
Except the oral mucosa is a different type of tissue and is easier to penetrate.
Horses are HAIRY! Kitties have relatively hair free ear flaps. With Surpass, you’re not looking for a specific mg dose to penetrate the skin, just some amount of the dose to get there. I’d think it would be really tough to guarantee a specific transdermal dose in an equine without a surgical clip on the site.
I did transdermal pergolide for my horse, it worked great. The vet said I could rub it on her udder, around her anus (gross) upper, inner gaskin, or underside of her tail. I went with the underside of her tail. Quick and easy!
VTMorgan06 - Where did you get the transdermal gel? What was the concentration?
I have a mare that will not eat her prascend orally.
