Bute..

[Fairynuff]

I am seeing more and more posts on this forum,and others, where owners are giving bute willy nilly. The subject may have come up before, if so , I'm sorry for the repeat. How many of you give bute or other NSAIDs without the vets advice, and why? How many of you know when to use it and its side effects? It's something that really bugs me, bute is a powerful drug and it seems to be used like asprin. I would never use it unless the vet gave me the go ahead. I tried to do a poll but Im having a blond moment

. Mairi.

 

[Happytohack]

One of our heavy horses has arthritis and my vet advised giving him bute once a day and keeping him lightly ridden to keep his joints as mobile as possible. We kept him ticking over for quite a while like this, however when I felt he was no longer happy to be ridden, we retired him and he has managed to be bute-free all winter. I agree with you that bute should always be used under veterinary supervision only.

 

[fizz-tally]

i have used no-bute that you buy in liquid from feed shops, but only use bute on vets advice

 

[Marnie]

I only use on vets advice - I had a horse that suffered a reation a few years ago, ulcerated his digestivee tract. I am concerned that if something similar happened without me getting vets advice, my insurance would be invalidated as I would have self medicated.

 

[kcgibson]

Dont mean to upset you but my vet told me that giving a horse bute is just like us taking ibuprofen and if inflammation is present, giving bute is beneficial. Reducing inflammation asap can help to reduce recovery time (i.e. the injury or whatever will get the chance to heal more quickly). Yes i agree that they shouldn't be given willy nilly as i have seen people who's horse is 'walking funny' give their horse bute in case it is lame and/or sore. If people dont understand what it is they are giving their horses and for what reason, they shouldnt pump the drugs in, on the other hand, if my horse ever becomes lame (has been frequent recently!) then i give him a course of bute (i would like to point out im a vet nurse so understand the side effects of nsaid's and the reason i am giving the bute. if im in doubt, i ring the vet!). But then in my opinion people seem to have no problem in chucking in the odd herbal remedy here and joint supplement there (which actually have little scientific evidence of eficacy), without finding out how the supplements work and their side effects. Just my opinion (oh and my boss's, who is my vet!). I know thats prob gonna p**s a lot of people off who swear by joint supplements, but there's also the placebo effect to consider. Me and boss were discussing this whole issue just the other day, and thats what we came up with!

 

[KateStartin]

I would also consider myself an experienced horse person with 20 years of horse ownership, a degree in equine sport science and 6 years working full time on a variety of yards with lots of horses behind me. However i am not a vet and by law bute is a POM (prescription only medicine).

I do keep some bute at home but have never used it on my own horse without a phone call to my vet first. I should add though that i have administered it to horses at work on the say so of yard owners without veterinary advice.

 

[rema]

I too have a stash of Bute at the yard but have only ever used it once when my lad stuck his leg through a gate.It is probably gone out of date by now!.If i need something like Bute i will use Buteless from Equine America.

 

[Fairynuff]

Sorry, I dont agree with your vet. Have a read -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylbutazone. Mairi

.

 

[vicijp]

I have a stick of bute that I use without the vets say so. Simply because if I rang the vet for something as trivial as to need but to reduce the damage and speed up recovery he would laugh at me.
Rest assured I know when to use it, and that probably wouldnt be for half the things pleasure horse owners use it for.

 

[GTs]

I am all with you Mairi about owners trying to play Doctor with their horses - although I would not think twice about giving my own horse bute, I never ran into the situation where I thought I should! But bute is really quite safe for owners to have, and that is coming from a pperson who saw a lady give her horse 16g of bute when it coliced (she thought the whole tube was one dose - OOPS).

 

[Chex]

I give Chex bute (Danilon actually) a lot for his arthritis, but it was the vet originally that told me to do this, even though I now decide how much and how often. The only other times I've given it is when I've phoned the vet and they've told me too.

 

[Dougie]

exactly u have tons of horses(literaly) think maria means the owners who really dont understand what it is etc.

 

[Thistle]

I have a stash of it too, give it when needed but never for more than a day or two without consulting the vet. It is a very important tool for emergency 1st aid for laminitis, not to mask the pain but to reduce the inflamattion.

 

[Llwyncwn]

I too have a box of bute sachets for absolute emergencies. Our old boy Harry who died last year aged 42 had been on daily bute for the last 3 years of his life (none during summer months) for his arthritis, after Cortaflex began to have no effect.

To me, at this stage of his life, quality was more important than quantity, if that makes sense.

A newly qualified vet prescribed 6 bute per day to a 16.2hh mare on the yard with an inflamed tendon. When the horse owner told me, I advised her strongly to take a second opinion (she did, and gave the horse 2 instead!).

Vets are so quick to prescribe bute and antibiotics. I always question my vet if there is something Im not comfortable with.

 

[_daisy_]

I too like many on here gave a stash of bute and danilon. I have had lengthy chats to my vet about problems with my horses - eg Sasha who has athritic changes in her stifles and Ebi who has ringbone in her coffin joints. He has told me how much I can give them as a max and for how long. He trusts me that I wont use it all the time nor that I will overdose them. He also knows that if I have any problems/queries that I will ring him straight away and take the horses over to see him.
The majority of the problems I have had with my horses when I have given them a sachet or so of bute is an ongoing problem or I know what the vet will advice. If I am worried then I will call the vet, but normally when I do speak to him after the event he said I have done the right thing.

I do agree Mairi that some horse owners havent got a clue about bute or anitiotics but some owners have experience and the vet trusts them to behave responsible with the drugs.

How many on here have given/sold bute to someone else though? I know someone who has (not a HHO member) offered to sell it to me for the price of what she was charged by the vet and not given any thoughts about what she was doing.

 

[Fairynuff]

Why did she give bute for colic in the first place? I knew someone (Italian) who saw me giving Tom some Epsom salts in his tea. He copied what he thought he'd seen me do the day after. His mare had dysentry for about a week! I gave Tom a fist full of ESs-he gave his mare a tub full and when she wouldnt eat her feed he bought another and drenched her with it

.. I realise that there are many experienced people who keep and use bute wisely but it seems that more and more very young people are getting their hands on it AND using it without advice. I noticed this more on an American forum and when I queried the over use, I was told to'stop making such a big deal out of it' as it is'available in the tackshop, therefore it can't be bad'! It seems to be the IN thing to do amongst the young American stable bratts . Mairi.

 

[GTs]

Well she gave it bute as she unloaded everything in her medicine cabinet into the horse - 2 wormers, tube of bute, 1,000,000 herbs, etc. It died - probably best for it.

Bute is not avaliable in tack shops, but pretty easy to get your hands on - but tbh bute is the least of horses concerns - Barbaro had a neighbor at UPenn whose owners tried to castrate him with, branch cutters. he got lucky too and died.