Could anyone help? Xylazine sedative

Kellys Heroes

Kellys Heroes

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As some of you may know, there was an incident at the yard last week in which one of the horses reacted badly to the sedative Xylazine.
The horse now has developed bad infection from her injuries, with a possible hairline fracture in her back leg.
Just wondering if anyone had had similiar experiences and what they had found out on it/where I can find more research on why it happened etc?
TIA
K x
(Also in Vet!)
 
I have never seen a horse have a reaction to this drug! - We use it all the time on the stud i work at - (during the breeding season - putting things though the crush!! we have blooming crazy horses).

We use it in conjunction with other drugs as well as giving it on its own - depending on the level of sedation required! (under veterinary direction of course!)

Was it a vet that gave the sedative and was it given IV or IM?

I looked this up... it gives quite detailed information on xylazine.

http://www.drugs.com/vet/xylazine-hcl-injection.html
 
It was given IV and the vet gave her 2ml - she's approx 15hh ISH mare, I think she's about 6 or 7. Has been sedated before.
No sooner than the injection had finished, she went up vertical, came down onto her side, rolled onto her back, fitting then went into blind panic mode and did a fair bit of damage to herself (and me, I found myself under her!! :p). The vet said it was the 3rd time she'd seen it happen although the other reactions were more severe.

Thanks I'll have a look - her owner just obv wants to know more about why it happened etc thought I'd see what I could come up with! Thanks
K x
 
What did the vet say the reason was?

I have never heard of a horse having a reaction to it.. but obviously as with all drugs and all animals.. each are individuals and there are risks at administering them any drug!!!
 
KellysHeroes said:
It was given IV and the vet gave her 2ml - she's approx 15hh ISH mare, I think she's about 6 or 7. Has been sedated before.
No sooner than the injection had finished, she went up vertical, came down onto her side, rolled onto her back, fitting then went into blind panic mode and did a fair bit of damage to herself (and me, I found myself under her!! :p). The vet said it was the 3rd time she'd seen it happen although the other reactions were more severe.
Click to expand...

I saw a horse react like that to a sedative although I can't say for certain that it was xylazine. Someone told me the vet missed the vein (went straight through) and put it into an artery but I don't know this is true.
 
I'm not a vet!! But that sort of reaction (after reading the information about the drug from the drug companies that make the drug) does seem to be associated with being administered into an artery rather than the vein!

- again.... Not a vet, wasn't there when it happened!!! - Maybe ask the vet if that was a possibility or for another reason for the reaction?
 
did the vet put the needle in first then attatch the syringe? if so its pretty easy to see if your in the artery as then blood comes shooting out under higher pressure than a vein. its pretty difficult to miss the jugular but depends wether the horse was standing still or bouncing around.
 
Mare was stood perfectly still and she put the syringe in first and showed us the blood coming through - not under high pressure so I don't think she hit an artery. She thinks it may have been a bad batch but they're researching into the drug anyway atm, as a few horses have had severe reactions and seizures to it!
She said its like penicillin in humans you never know but there must be SOMETHING in that drug to make certain horses react like that???

Poor girl is a right mess, very weak and sore, swollen everywhere :( The vet was very good I must admit, once everything was under control she rang the office straight away filled out the necessary paperwork but the first thing she did was explain what she could to us.

I'll never have mine sedated with xylazine, purely because of the risk now! It was the most horrific thing.
K x
 
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