Bute dose for a donkey weighing approx. 200kgs ?

[Donkeyslave]

Hi everyone.
I'm hoping someone can help my little donk. I rescued her from slaughter here in Spain. She was grossly overweight, had a club foot and a wry foot on the front and two ok hind feet. I have a good English farrier who has managed to keep her sound despite arthritis and laminitis. I have managed to reduce her weight considerably over 2 yrs. and also her fat pads/neck roll with the help of mag. oxide. and she is thoroughly enjoying life living in my paddocks with my other donkey Pancho. At least until yesterday she was when she became very quiet and "footy". I am sure it is laminitis although I really don't know what has caused it. She appears to be sore on all four feet with a pronounced head nod to the off fore. She is eating well (my paddocks are completely dry, bare lots and donks are fed 80% barley straw and 20% stemmy, coarse hay. They also have handful of Care 4 Life herbal mix which is low carbs and sugar. they have mag oxide in a banana treat.
I hate to see her in pain and I know that she is suffering. The vet left Bute powders last time she had an attack and I have some left but can't remember how much she said to give. I would always start small but I want to make sure that they have some effect. I have looked at Donkey Sanctuary site but they don't give a guide. Vet is away until after Christmas and as I live in a rural part of Spain and halfway up a mountain I have to give her some palliative care myself. Oh, I do have some styrofoam that I could cut to fit her feet and bandages, duck tape etc. but do I do all four feet as she appears to have pain in all four? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[paddi22]

i have a 9hh mini currently on half a bute a day for lami, and a 420 g pony on . two a day for a cut. so if she was mine i'd try one and see how it goes. im sure someone more experienced and knowledgeable will advise better, but if i was stuck in your position that would be my guess

 

[Donkeyslave]

Thanks for this. When you say half a bute.........how much is that in grams? I have Spanish bute (Eq Zona) and the sachets are 5gm. Are yours the same?

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

If my donkeys ever need bute I always start on 1 whole sachet a day (that isnt a huge dose) for about 3 days to get it in their system and working and then depending on if it is big donkey or smaller donkey lower to between 3/4 and 1/2 a day for as long as needed. all sanctioned by my vet BTW.

If it is lammi I would be doing my utmost to get her inside on a nice deep bed until you can either get your vet out to look or when she seems in less pain and moving better. I imagine the land you have her on is hard and compacted so would be very uncomfortable for a donkey with lammi. I am not sure of the wisdom in trying to make and attach any sorts of pads yourself really, it could potentially do more harm than good if you are not 100 percent sure what exactly you would achieve if she would still be out and about struggling to walk around like that?

Well done for how much you have achieved so far in improving her life so much - it is very difficult with overweight lammi donkeys - my eldest one has cushings and it is a constant battle with weight and avoiding lammi.

 

[tankgirl1]

My shettie (9.2hh approx) was prescribed half a sachet a day when he needed bute. Do donkeys metabolise it in the same way as horses?

 

[tankgirl1]

From the datasheet regarding dosage

http://www.noahcompendium.co.uk/?id=-463770

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

I know they metabolise sedation very differently to horses and you do need to be very careful not to over sedate as their blood pressure can drop too low very quickly. However I have never had any adverse side affects with giving them bute and as I said - the dosage is what my vet has always recommended for them.

I would not usually give advice on any medication on forums under normal circumstances but it does seem like OP is in a rather difficult position without access to her vet so more than happy to pass on my own vets dosage advice for donkeys in this instance.

 

[Donkeyslave]

Thank you so much for replying! I feel very alone trying to help her without making things worse. It would be hard to keep her in the stable as she panics if she can't touch Pancho. They do have a good bed in their stable and she does tend to stay in and lay down at night for quite long periods. I do have a small area that I can confine them both to during the day and it would be possible to cover this with deep straw. I could then let them into the stable paddock at night. I'll try this. I'm lucky in that I can spend lots of time with them and the weather is cold here but sunny. I'll take a book and sit with them for most of the day tomorrow as she will often rest next to me when I do. Could you tell me how many grams in a sachet?

 

[Donkeyslave]

Thanks Tankgirl. Duly noted!

 

[tankgirl1]

Thanks Tankgirl. Duly noted!

No probs. The Noah compendium site is great for looking up dosages etc, it has all the veterinary licensed drugs datasheets available online

 

[paddy555]

bute in the UK ie equipalazone says 1.5 g on the sachet and on the back says each sachet contains 1 g phenybutazone.

So presumably 1g bute and the .5 g is powder to make up the contents.

I would give my horse (with the vet's approval) ie 500g 2 in the morning, 2 in the evening and the next day 1 morning, 1 evening and the third day 1 sachet only. So I suppose a donkey is about half of that.

If the weather is cold I would be wondering about winter laminitis and if her feet and legs need to be kept warm. I have a small pony who has to be kept warm due to this.

 

[paddy555]

https://drkhorsesense.wordpress.com/2017/02/06/winter-laminitis/

if you google "dr kellon winter laminitis" there are other sites.

Not sure if this is your problem but may be worth reading. For my small pony (also a rescue who hadn't had a good time) the ground doesn't have to be frozen hard just cold and warm days don't help her either. I bring her in at night to keep her feet warm and I boot her in the daytime if it is cold.