Danilon and ulcers

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scats

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God I feel like flying off to a foreign country and not coming back at the moment!

Hooligan has been on Danilon for 10 days now, first 5 days on 2 a day and now on 1 a day (half morning and half night), suggested by vet for long term use due to hock arthritis and navicular. The plan has been to keep him on one a day. We decided on Danilon as he point blank refuses to eat bute.

Last week he started with severe diarrhoea and gut noises.
Now he does have problems with his stomach as he is actually allergic to grass and certain times of year cause problems but not usually diarrhoea. The gut noises are normal for him and he usually poos a lot more than normal horses when he is struggling with the grass, but he never usually has loose droppings.

As well as this, he is behaving more stupidly than normal. He's always been a bit silly, but he's started leaping out of his skin in his stable, much worse than normal over things. I had been advised to get back on board this week and do some hacking and and some very light walk and trot in the school to see how he gets on hock wise, but he was even more tense and stupid than normal and very nearly had me off.

The diarrhoea, gut noises and will behaviour points towards ulcers, so I will be speaking to the vet tomorrow.

The only thing that has changed is the addition of Danilon, so I'm absolutely kicking myself now that it's my fault. Has anyone had a similar problem with Danilon?
 
Mine had appalling diarrhoea (needing legs/tail washed several times a day) during a course of Danilon, but no wild behaviour; apparently it can cause colitis too.
He improved as the dose of Danilon was decreased. He also had some Gut Bind.
Impossible to know which caused the improvement, but I suspect it was a combination of the two
 
He may be having a reaction to the Danilon, check with your vet if s/he thinks it would be OK to do a dechallenge/rechallenge.

Danilon is a pro-drug of phenylbutazone; it is enterically coated so it isn't absorbed in the stomach, but further down the GI tract. It is metabolized into phenylbutzone in the liver. Theoretically it should have less GI effects than bute, but not all horses read the instructions ;)

Sorry your boy is having issues :(
 
Thank you for your replies. The wild behaviour isn't so much of an issue (we don't call him the hooligan for no reason!) but the diarrhoea is dreadful and he doesn't look at all comfortable. Speaking to the vet at lunchtime so will mention this.
 
I posted a few days ago about trying to find something topical to rub on the diva mare's hocks because her stomach can't take danilon.

She's been back on a single sachet in tea for 3 days now (rock vs hard place decision) and there were cow pats in the field this morning. I've just ordered some more DMSO because that took her splint down last year and I'm wondering whether it might work to take the inflammation out of her hocks. No steroid jabs until her weight is down to 'skinny', but she isn't going to lose weight without exercise and she can't tolerate much with sore hocks. I might join you in that foreign country!!

ETA - she has been treated for ulcers in the past and is known to have a very sensitive tummy.
 
Sorry your mare isn't great either SEL. It's a nightmare isn't it?

Just spoke to vet and he's said take him off it and keep a close eye on him as it could be colitis. I've ordered some equishure to on express delivery to arrive tomorrow to try and settle his hind gut a bit.

I'm also reluctant to go down the steroid injections at this time of year, he's a sports horse type but looks very, if a little too, well. He wasn't right at all yesterday though.
 
My vet put mine on Metacam as this is not at all harsh on the stomach and Jay was ulcer prone, but controlled by management. I think it cost a fair bit more, but did not affect his digestion at all. It was temporary for an inflamed ligament.
 
Red-1 said:
My vet put mine on Metacam as this is not at all harsh on the stomach and Jay was ulcer prone, but controlled by management. I think it cost a fair bit more, but did not affect his digestion at all. It was temporary for an inflamed ligament.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I think we are going to go down the injecting the hocks route now. As I didn't see any difference while on the danilon, I am also going to ask for a back xray as well, just so I have a complete picture and for peace of mind.
 
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