Do vets always suggest Bute?

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Joanne4584

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Hiya.

My horse has been retired due to kissing spine and bone spavin. My vet is saying I should put him on bute to keep him comfortable. I'm looking into more natural products (NatureBute solution is looking good at the minute) but was going to ask my vet what he thinks. Will he just say stick with bute? Don't get me wrong, I really like my vet but it seems to me that bute is their solution for a lot of things.... ideally I don't want my horse on bute long term.
 
There are a lot of supplements containing devil's claw that work well and might be worth trying before you resort to long term bute. Also Trinity Consultants (www.trinity-consultants.com) are very good, there are others on here who have also used them. TC helped me a lot when I had an arthritic sheep who I didn't want to put on bute!! Ultimately the horse has to be comfortable and that has to be the main consideration.
I don't know if there are any in-hand exercises you can do in retirement to keep him supple but there are many kissing spines experts on the forum who can perhaps give you advice. Best of luck.
 
Why do you assume a 'natural' but totally untested substance is preferable to a clinically proven drug which has known safety doses etc?
 
I have just put most of mine on Turmeric which is a powerful antoxidant. There is a clsoed user group on Facebook - Turmeric user group which has really interesting files. It was set up by an Australian vet and I know Turmeric is used by my vets in their joint supplements.
 
Jesstickle said:
Why do you assume a 'natural' but totally untested substance is preferable to a clinically proven drug which has known safety doses etc?
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We gave our ex-broodmare devil's claw, for some reason (can't remember what) years ago. We had to get the vet because she was losing a lot of blood when in season. We found out that DC can cause spontaneous abortion in mares.
 
I think you will find that vets, by their terms of practise - ie law!- cannot recommend herbal remedies as they have not been subjected to the proper clinical trials. Hence they advise bute which the drug companies have spent huge amounts of money putting through the proper testing procedures.
 
sport horse said:
I think you will find that vets, by their terms of practise - ie law!- cannot recommend herbal remedies as they have not been subjected to the proper clinical trials. Hence they advise bute which the drug companies have spent huge amounts of money putting through the proper testing procedures.
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Yeah I figured that would be the case. My vet did suggest Cortaflex when I asked him 12 months ago if he could recommend any supplements. I don't know if it made any difference tbh, I think it was the IRAP therapy that made him sound. A year later he's still on Cortaflex and is pretty stiff. After this bottle I won't be getting any more.
 
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