Valley vet is sending me the drug and they sell a gun but it gets mixed reviews. Does anyone have experience with this and have a recommendation? Thanks
We have used the Regumate dosing gun with several mares. It is easy to set up, simple to use, ensures accurate dosing, and protects barn staff from skin contact with the Regumate. Highly recommend this!
1 Like
I agree, the reviews seem mixed and would definitely give me pause given the apparent risk of failure and the cost of regumate! I provide my horse’s feed in baggies which I make up once a week. I just add the regumate to the feed bags. The barn staff just have to tip the baggie into my horse’s feed bucket and they just are careful to avoid contact with the interior of the bags. There is no way I could convince the barn staff to dose my horse with a gun every day, so that wouldn’t be an option for me.
1 Like
One of the mares at my barn has this and it is so convenient. We just squirt her regumate on a handful of soaked beet pulp and she eats it right up. Have had no issues with dosing gun and it’s been about eight months.
3 Likes
I work on a breeding farm so I suspect we give more Regumate than your average barn. We have the gun and it’s the only way I’ll give it. If the horse is in it’s own stall, I’ve had luck squirting it on feed. If the mare is out with others, they learn pretty quickly that they get their Regumate and then I feed them so no one has been hard to catch or bad about it.
Our gun is many years old and still kicking. It does occasionally stop filling to the appropriate CC amount (other than if the bottle is low) but is quickly fixed by a male employee. I don’t mess with it when it breaks so I’m not 100% what the issue is and it’s about once every year or two. I’d assume maybe a washer? They fix it within a couple of minutes so it seems like an easy job. I still wear gloves when using it. We keep it in a bucket with a handle for easy transportation around the farm and I make sure to keep the tip of the gun level or up, as sometimes when it points down, it leaks and then the bottle/tubing becomes covered in the Regumate oil.
We do have a male worker who finds it easier to use a syringe. Us females all use the gun.
1 Like
I should clarify that the Regumate dose is added (with the pump) to the mare’s grain ration. We do have gloves if someone needs to handle Regumate other than the dosing gun. But that dosing gun really makes a difference.
One of the alternatives was drawing up a week’s worth of doses into 15cc syringes (without needles). That worked ok, better if we had the luer-lock caps to put on each syringe. But it still meant someone had to draw up the doses and risk unwanted exposure, plus the added time to prepare the doses.
1 Like
Oh that makes more sense and seems easy! I think I am lucky in that the bottle I have my regumate in (got it from my vet) has a syringe attachment rather than just a regular bottle cap, so I just attach syringe (without needle), draw up correct amount, squirt into feed. Risk of exposure is pretty much zero as long as I keep my hands out of the feed bags (although most of the regumate is absorbed by the feed so not all over the inside of the bags).
That worked ok for our situation. But since the Regumate is an oil based medication, it eventually will degrade the rubber plunger of the syringe. Then it won’t draw back smoothly when drawing up a dose from the bottle, or won’t push forward easily when dispensing the dose. Probably not a major issue if you change out to a new syringe when you start feeling it get sticky/not smooth in either direction. The pump means we don’t have to draw up the dose in syringes, which is good because there was still risk of contact when taking the syringe off the threaded tip, or when dispensing.
1 Like
I thought all Regumate bottles have the syringe top. I just put on gloves and draw up 10 ccs and either squirt it on the feed or right into the horse’s mouth. I don’t give it a second thought. The gloves stay right next to the bottle.
1 Like
Personally I did not have good luck with the dosing gun. It gummed up and broke in about 4-6 week’s time. I figured it was like spray bottles, sometimes you just have to get a good one so I ordered another. Same results. After that I just put gloves on every day and drew it out in a 10cc syringe.
Now Wedgewood sells a compounded gel that comes in a large dose syringe. (Actually I think they have 2 sizes, a small one for 5 or 6 days and a large one for 12 days.) It seems palatable and we just squirt it on the horse’s feed. If I’m careful not to get the tube messy, I can do this without the need for gloves. This is by far the easiest solution and it’s WAY cheaper too.
I don’t use a “gun” at my barn. Not even sure what you are referring to. I just screw on the syringe, draw back 10cc’s and put in the grain. If it was my horse, I would be always be using a feed bag to prevent spill just as i always do with my gelding for his supplements. Too much waste!
I don’t use gloves…should I be? Its not messy when I do it and I don’t plan on being pregnant (male, lol).
I use the blue and clear nylon syringe from Valley Vet. It is about $7.00 if I recall and it lasts at least 2 years. I love it! The actual regumate ones stunk! It does not wear down the rubber on this syringe.
YES! The Nylon syringe holds up great. It attaches to the nipple of the Regumate bottle well and it does not wear out like a standard syringe. I have not had the seals go bad yet. I had to replace one as the top depressor unscrews and my guy lost it…But I have one now that is going on three years. I have a friend who attached a little hose to it and applys it in the mouth. I top dress my mares grain with it, so it is perfect the way that it is.
1 Like
